Posted:
I noticed the credits in yesterday's episode. I think the writer of the episodic story has changed. It was Damini Shetty earlier but is now Shrinita Bhowmick. The dialogue writers have changed too perhaps. Edited to correct - the creative Head is still the same.
And I think this is a transition time while the new team is settling down.
Now here's the thing. Lets consider the logistics. Hindi tv shows air 5 days a week, and so the team is effectively producing (22X5) 110 minutes of content a week. It is like making a movie every week. Such a schedule is not only exhausting, it is almost inhuman. Yes, people working in television get a lot of rewards - in terms of money, fame and so on - but it does remain an absolutely crazy ride while the show is on air. When they first go on air they may be ahead in some ways - for example have a broad outline for the first 100 episodes and so on - but once they are on air the team loses such an advantage very quickly and you're just on a treadmill - running furiously but at the same place.
Writers and other members of the creative team do have the option of changing this. They can work on a show for 6 or 8 months, and then move to something else. Actors cannot do the same in quite the same way. The show has to work around their holidays, and they cannot leave the show without facing some sort of consequences or the other.
This is the industry normal, so most people don't question it. Those who work in the field learn to deal with it, or bow out. And this is one of the major reasons I've always given much more leeway to Hindi tv shows than Hindi films or American/British tv shows. Most times, bloopers, erratic changes in characterisation, random shifts don't drive me as mad as similar things in other media, because of how crazy the work situation here is.
And so perhaps yesterday's episode and the next few episodes are the new team settling down. I don't think they have quite the same understanding of these two characters - Shaurya and Mehak - that we do, but then we have been watching and analysing and explaining from episode 1. Ideally, they should know the broad outlines but sadly very few writers have the mind-space to actually pick up all the nuances that the preceding writers brought in. Also, not two people conceptualise and write in exactly the same way, as all the FF writers in the forum will know. So these bumps will occur.
I just hope and wish that someone on set - either the director or the creative associate - will take the onus to keep some sort of continuity, and add some small touches that remind us that these are the same Shaurya and Mehak we fell in love with.
Itti Si Khushi Sab TV
Anupamaa
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