Badtameez Dil to soon go off air - Discuss Here ONLY

Star Plus is going through a rough ride of late. None of their recent new launches (Sumeet Sambhal Lega) have really rocked the TRP and they have taken off few of them (Man Marziyan and Tere Sheher Mein) in a short period of time. But what must be really hurting #1 Hindi channel is the fact that the new shows they recently launched are doing worse numbers then what they replaced.

Take for example Saurabh Tewari produced Badtameez Dill. As this youth flavoured show was not really racing the TRP chart's a worried STAR which has a resurgent Colors on it's tail hit the panic button and took off the show from broadcast and replaced it with Ekta Kapoors Kuch Toh Hai Tere Mere Darmiyaan in the last week of September much to the anger of online fans. In an apparent bid to cut loses to producer, Star moved Budtameez Dill on its digital arm Hotstar.

However this decision seem to be back firing at least for now for Kuch Toh Hai rating only (0.9 latest BARC numbers) compared to 1.2 when Badtameez Dil was taken off TV. Even if we assume that the number's go up proportionally, does it justify the huge investment made in a new show. Ideally Star would have hoped for a big bang start. For taking of Badtameez Dil so soon means a huge blow to your balance sheet anyways.

Kuch Toh Hai Tere Mere Darmiyaan lead Shritma Mukherjee attributes the low initial number to faulty planning. "There was some confusion, We were first penciled in as a 11 pm show, so the story line was written was for a mature urban audience. However the channel changed it's mind at the eleventh hour and the show was finally aired at the early evening 8.30 pm slot, hence a lot of changes had to be incorporated keeping in mind the revised time slot and its concerned target audience. However I am sure that the number's will rise as the new story board begins to stabilize. We have also brought in a lot of high drama in our Jamshedpur based love triangle which is the need of the time band."

Mala Punjabi creative head from the production house Balaji Telefilms seconded Shritma's view saying, "we had had created a pure love story as per the 11 pm slot. After making around 10 episodes we were suddenly informed that that time slot has been changed to 8.30 pm which is known for high family drama (Udaan and Jamai Raja etc. It would have been better had we been keep in the loop from day one." This sister of Kamya Punjabi also accepted that 8.30 pm is not a strong Star Plus slot given the above competition so we were not surprised that that the ratings have come as they have so far."

Badtameez Dill lead Asmita Sood quipped, "It is loss of the channel. I guess their strategy backfired. Ideally we should have given us more time (just three months) before we were yanked off satellite. it was a real shock for me when we were suddenly informed of it going of TV. As I had felt that any show on a major ranking channel like Star will last at least for a year"

Now we hear reports that Hotstar is planning to end it's Budtameez Dil run soon. Asmita says "we initially had a 60 episode contract for the digital arm. which should end soon." She had no clue if the show will get an extension. A more experienced actor of the cast added that shift from broadcast to digital had its effect on budgets and we more paying actors are being used less."

PS: The fall out of low number's of Kuch Toh Hai Tere Mere Darmiyaan has started as per media reports lead actors Shritama Mukherjee and Vibhav Roy have been asked to go.

Anil Merani

Star Plus is going through a rough ride of late. None of their recent new launches (Sumeet Sambhal Lega) have really rocked the TRP and they have taken off few of them (Man Marziyan and Tere Sheher Mein) in a short period of time. But what must be really hurting #1 Hindi channel is the fact that the new shows they recently launched are doing worse numbers then what they replaced.

Take for example Saurabh Tewari produced Badtameez Dill. As this youth flavoured show was not really racing the TRP chart's a worried STAR which has a resurgent Colors on it's tail hit the panic button and took off the show from broadcast and replaced it with Ekta Kapoors Kuch Toh Hai Tere Mere Darmiyaan in the last week of September much to the anger of online fans. In an apparent bid to cut loses to producer, Star moved Budtameez Dill on its digital arm Hotstar.

However this decision seem to be back firing at least for now for Kuch Toh Hai rating only (0.9 latest BARC numbers) compared to 1.2 when Badtameez Dil was taken off TV. Even if we assume that the number's go up proportionally, does it justify the huge investment made in a new show. Ideally Star would have hoped for a big bang start. For taking of Badtameez Dil so soon means a huge blow to your balance sheet anyways.

Kuch Toh Hai Tere Mere Darmiyaan lead Shritma Mukherjee attributes the low initial number to faulty planning. "There was some confusion, We were first penciled in as a 11 pm show, so the story line was written was for a mature urban audience. However the channel changed it's mind at the eleventh hour and the show was finally aired at the early evening 8.30 pm slot, hence a lot of changes had to be incorporated keeping in mind the revised time slot and its concerned target audience. However I am sure that the number's will rise as the new story board begins to stabilize. We have also brought in a lot of high drama in our Jamshedpur based love triangle which is the need of the time band."

Mala Punjabi creative head from the production house Balaji Telefilms seconded Shritma's view saying, "we had had created a pure love story as per the 11 pm slot. After making around 10 episodes we were suddenly informed that that time slot has been changed to 8.30 pm which is known for high family drama (Udaan and Jamai Raja etc. It would have been better had we been keep in the loop from day one." This sister of Kamya Punjabi also accepted that 8.30 pm is not a strong Star Plus slot given the above competition so we were not surprised that that the ratings have come as they have so far."

Badtameez Dill lead Asmita Sood quipped, "It is loss of the channel. I guess their strategy backfired. Ideally we should have given us more time (just three months) before we were yanked off satellite. it was a real shock for me when we were suddenly informed of it going of TV. As I had felt that any show on a major ranking channel like Star will last at least for a year"

Now we hear reports that Hotstar is planning to end it's Budtameez Dil run soon. Asmita says "we initially had a 60 episode contract for the digital arm. which should end soon." She had no clue if the show will get an extension. A more experienced actor of the cast added that shift from broadcast to digital had its effect on budgets and we more paying actors are being used less."

PS: The fall out of low number's of Kuch Toh Hai Tere Mere Darmiyaan has started as per media reports lead actors Shritama Mukherjee and Vibhav Roy have been asked to go.

Anil Merani