Reporters will have 120 episodes! - Shrishti Arya

Known for creating unique content, thriving to break the norms, she is the daring producer on Indian television who always came up with unconventional shows for the audience. From Lipstick on Zee TV, Remix on Star One to today's Reporters on Sony, Shrishti Arya has always created distinctive shows unlike anything else on Indian TV. We got to discuss more with her about her current on air show Reporters and the ever unforgettable classic youth show Remix. Excerpts;

How has the journey of Reporters been so far for you?

It's been a very exciting journey. It was actually something we were working on for a very long time, hoping that somebody on television would have the willingness to put it on air even though it is not exactly like most of the shows. Luckily the condition paid up and people like Rajeev and Kritika joined in only making the project better and better. It's been a very fun journey. It has been very encouraging due to the feedback, thanks to internet. But it is a bit disappointing with the ratings. We didn't expect it to be so weak. We weren't really expecting to give takkar to Diya Aur Baati at any point. But we just thought we would get a little more encouragement in the ratings as well. But I hope that people don't believe that this is a reason not to make such shows anymore. Honestly, that is always a scary thing. It's like a chicken and egg. The audience say they don't get anything different and the channel says that when we make something different nobody watches it.

How did you conceptualize the show Reporters?

Given that you draw from what you see the most, this is the whole genre that we all come across very closely in our line in the media business. It is so exciting when you see Arnab Goswami coming on your screen. We thought that people will be interested in the drama and it would be nice to watch the behind the scenes of it. But at the core of it, it's a love story between two working professionals. The news is the backdrop to it. We try to stay true to the characters making the news or running up a news as palatable as possible.

How did you zero down on Rajeev Khandelwal to play Kabir Sharma?

I called Rajeev. I think the fact that the show has limited episodes is what attracted him. He knew what's going to happen at the end of the show right from the beginning and he also knew exactly what his time commitment was going to be to us. When all those things were in scene, it was not interfering with the larger idea of his career. So he was much more open to doing the show. Also, can you imagine anybody else playing Kabir?

Jaane Se Pehle has become an intriguing part of the show that viewers dearly wait for. Who came up with the idea of Jaane Se Pehle and who writes those engaging and encouraging words daily?

The idea of doing this was of Satyam Tripathy. We were looking for something to bookend the show. So he thought that may be he can do something which kind of defines the thought of the episode in one go. And it's called Jaane Se Pehle because it comes at the end of the episode. He is the dialogue writer of the show but this idea of Jaane Se Pehle was also his.

Remix was one of the first youth shows on Indian television. Today the concept is been replicated across channels. How does it feel as a producer of the show who gave Indian TV its first ever youth show?

In a lot of ways, it is encouraging that more people are doing this but its also a bit sad that the reference point is ten years old. As a producer, as a part of the industry or somebody who is looking at both the business as well as the craft of it, its a little discouraging that people still take references from Remix, in the sense that it's a ten year old show. It's flattering but it's still contemporary. It just makes you wonder about how much as an industry we have grown?

Did you ever think of coming out with a season 2 for Remix?

I think about it all the time. But Remix was far more edgy than anything that anybody is doing currently. We dealt with all kind of stuffs within Remix. We dealt with underage drinking, parents getting separated, underage sex, public display of affection. We dealt with a lot of things that people are scared to do now, ten years later! But I can't do Remix season 2 and water it down. In fact at the time that the show shut down it was because we didn't want the characters to get married and the show to become saas bahu. Unfortunately that's the way it plays out. But I would love to make another youth show. It's a dream to be able to do a youth based show, not Remix part 2 but a youth based show.

Lastly, Reporters is a finite series. So how many episodes are left? Too many speculations are there about the number of episodes.

It's supposed to be of 120 episodes.