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Ratings dip as small screen heats up - TOI Article
Industry insiders say that the moment an adult issue is touched upon in a show, it means that there will be a decline in ratings.
Gajra Kottary, writer of 'Balika Vadhu', says, "It's that whole shyness thing. The whole family tunes in for such shows, but it becomes embarrassing to watch such things with the family. This is why women tend to shoo the children away or decide to watch the show at a time when others are not around. Not that they don't want to watch it, but it becomes very awkward for them. Until recently, when we had an 11pm repeat of 'Balika Vadhu', we would find that the rating of the repeat telecast was higher than the 8pm slot. We found that if there was some adult content, which viewers know because of the highlights and promos, they would watch late-night repeat. We showed Anandi, when she was a child, getting her first period, which was a logical thing to show. Usually, when girls go through that phase, their mothers explain the bodily process to their daughters, but Anandi was a child bride and was in her sasural during that time.We wanted to explore how a child who doesn't know about this, but has to follow rules and regulations that stop her from entering the kitchen and make it mandatory for her to sleep on the floor, would feel during such an experience. A lot of people asked why we showed such a topic at 8pm, but we wanted to encourage mothers to talk to their daughters about menstruation by highlighting Anandi's plight. We had also touched upon the issue of child abuse in our show, but we have seen that people are a little squeamish about watching such things during prime time."
Link to full article: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tv/news/hindi/Ratings-dip-as-small-screen-heats-up/articleshow/47770537.cms
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