Posted:
Mrinal Jha, the acclaimed Writer has
bagged yet another feather in her cap
with her association with Naagin, the top-
rated show on Colors produced by Balaji
Telefilms.
The Writer who has written for popular
shows like Kahiin Kissi Roz, Banoon Main
Teri Dulhann, Maayka, Agle Janam Mohe
Bitiya Na Kijo, Qubool Hai, Ishqbaaaz etc
was the story Writer of Naagin when it all
began in Season 1. Now again, as Story
Writer, Mrinal along with the entire team
of Naagin has been welcomed by
audiences with a huge rating start (4.2
and 4.5 being the first two episode
ratings).
Says Mrinal, "As a nation, we connect very
deeply to our folklores, and Naagin is one
of the popular folklores available in
various forms across the country. So it has
that immediate connect. It was a very
smart decision by Ekta Kapoor to initiate a
show on this line. Overall, what has
worked for the show is also the telling,
the way the story is told. It is fast, pacey,
with lot of twists and turns constantly. The
casting of course, whether it was Mouni
or even now, has really stood out with
their great screen presence. It is not an
easy task to convince audiences that you
are a Naagin'. The conviction has also
worked in the favour of the show.
After Mouni's iconic' Naagin performance,
did the team expect the newer cast to
break barriers in terms of ratings yet
again? Mrinal answers, "Mouni did a
fabulous job, and definitely it was a tough
act to follow the route. But the advantage
of the character perse of Naagin
automatically makes the character weighty
that anyone who is a fine performer and
can do it with conviction can get accepted
by viewers. Although Mouni has a great
following, the current actresses are also
having a good response. In the first
season, Adaa Khan too did a great job. So I
would say it is a combination of the
concept (which I call Snake Lady') and the
performance that does the trick.
Ask her about the difference in the
creating thinking over the years and
seasons with respect to Naagin, and she
avers, "The thing that we have kept
constant and has worked for us is the
pace of the plot. Also, the grammer of
keeping it as unpredictable as possible is
what we have worked upon. The biggest
challenge for us in Season 3 was that
there had already been 2 seasons
preceeding it. So we had to constantly
keep finding ideas that have not been
done so far, and this has been a challenge.
This is what we are looking at right now.
She goes on to say, "Season 3 is about
thinking a little more, keeping in mind
what has been done as I said. Other than
that, I don't know any other show in
recent times, where there has been a
seasonal format with a fantasy character
like this. We have the Marvel series and
Star Wars internationally; there is a
Universe that gets created and you keep
exploring it deeper and deeper. So other
than the large audience acceptance, the
bigger breathrough in Indian Television
comes from the fact that we have been
able to create a franchise which can be
explored over various seasons. It is a big
plus for the whole industry. I call Naagin
the Wonder Woman' of India.
On the targets set for the success of
Naagin 3 after the huge opening rating,
she states, "Celebrating too early is never a
good thing to do. Ekta is very relentless in
her expectations of ratings. We take the
start as just the push for us to do better.
All we can really do is to do our work to
the best of our ability. Rest is upto the
audiences. But the one thing that we are
clear is to keep the story gripping and
engaging so that audiences think of
coming back.
Comparing the present scenario of TV
ratings to the one that prevailed when
Season 1 happened, Mrinal states,
"Ratings in total have dropped by half or 1
TRP point now. In this scenario, to get a
rating more than 4 is really good. In
Season 1, Naagin's success was a big
thing that happened, but the possibility at
that time was a lot more. But now, things
have changed. So we are happy with the
start and ready to work our way.
Naagin as a franchise can be loved, hated
but simply cannot be ignored. On this
statement, the Writer justifies, "I cannot
speak for those who criticize; they will
have to expain their stands. That's fine
and they have a right to criticise. But
finally any TV product is judged by the
audience. We are all here to service the
viewers and not to indulge in our own
creative urges. We need to make sure
audience is entertained. And Naagin has
done that repeatedly. And you cannot
deny this fact at all. The fact that Season 3
also has brought back the audiences to a
certain measure is proof enough of this.
Way to go, Team Naagin!!
http://www.iwmbuzz.com/television/personalities/call-naagin-wonder-woman-india-mrinal-jha-story-writer-naagin-3/2018/06/16.
bagged yet another feather in her cap
with her association with Naagin, the top-
rated show on Colors produced by Balaji
Telefilms.
The Writer who has written for popular
shows like Kahiin Kissi Roz, Banoon Main
Teri Dulhann, Maayka, Agle Janam Mohe
Bitiya Na Kijo, Qubool Hai, Ishqbaaaz etc
was the story Writer of Naagin when it all
began in Season 1. Now again, as Story
Writer, Mrinal along with the entire team
of Naagin has been welcomed by
audiences with a huge rating start (4.2
and 4.5 being the first two episode
ratings).
Says Mrinal, "As a nation, we connect very
deeply to our folklores, and Naagin is one
of the popular folklores available in
various forms across the country. So it has
that immediate connect. It was a very
smart decision by Ekta Kapoor to initiate a
show on this line. Overall, what has
worked for the show is also the telling,
the way the story is told. It is fast, pacey,
with lot of twists and turns constantly. The
casting of course, whether it was Mouni
or even now, has really stood out with
their great screen presence. It is not an
easy task to convince audiences that you
are a Naagin'. The conviction has also
worked in the favour of the show.
After Mouni's iconic' Naagin performance,
did the team expect the newer cast to
break barriers in terms of ratings yet
again? Mrinal answers, "Mouni did a
fabulous job, and definitely it was a tough
act to follow the route. But the advantage
of the character perse of Naagin
automatically makes the character weighty
that anyone who is a fine performer and
can do it with conviction can get accepted
by viewers. Although Mouni has a great
following, the current actresses are also
having a good response. In the first
season, Adaa Khan too did a great job. So I
would say it is a combination of the
concept (which I call Snake Lady') and the
performance that does the trick.
Ask her about the difference in the
creating thinking over the years and
seasons with respect to Naagin, and she
avers, "The thing that we have kept
constant and has worked for us is the
pace of the plot. Also, the grammer of
keeping it as unpredictable as possible is
what we have worked upon. The biggest
challenge for us in Season 3 was that
there had already been 2 seasons
preceeding it. So we had to constantly
keep finding ideas that have not been
done so far, and this has been a challenge.
This is what we are looking at right now.
She goes on to say, "Season 3 is about
thinking a little more, keeping in mind
what has been done as I said. Other than
that, I don't know any other show in
recent times, where there has been a
seasonal format with a fantasy character
like this. We have the Marvel series and
Star Wars internationally; there is a
Universe that gets created and you keep
exploring it deeper and deeper. So other
than the large audience acceptance, the
bigger breathrough in Indian Television
comes from the fact that we have been
able to create a franchise which can be
explored over various seasons. It is a big
plus for the whole industry. I call Naagin
the Wonder Woman' of India.
On the targets set for the success of
Naagin 3 after the huge opening rating,
she states, "Celebrating too early is never a
good thing to do. Ekta is very relentless in
her expectations of ratings. We take the
start as just the push for us to do better.
All we can really do is to do our work to
the best of our ability. Rest is upto the
audiences. But the one thing that we are
clear is to keep the story gripping and
engaging so that audiences think of
coming back.
Comparing the present scenario of TV
ratings to the one that prevailed when
Season 1 happened, Mrinal states,
"Ratings in total have dropped by half or 1
TRP point now. In this scenario, to get a
rating more than 4 is really good. In
Season 1, Naagin's success was a big
thing that happened, but the possibility at
that time was a lot more. But now, things
have changed. So we are happy with the
start and ready to work our way.
Naagin as a franchise can be loved, hated
but simply cannot be ignored. On this
statement, the Writer justifies, "I cannot
speak for those who criticize; they will
have to expain their stands. That's fine
and they have a right to criticise. But
finally any TV product is judged by the
audience. We are all here to service the
viewers and not to indulge in our own
creative urges. We need to make sure
audience is entertained. And Naagin has
done that repeatedly. And you cannot
deny this fact at all. The fact that Season 3
also has brought back the audiences to a
certain measure is proof enough of this.
Way to go, Team Naagin!!
http://www.iwmbuzz.com/television/personalities/call-naagin-wonder-woman-india-mrinal-jha-story-writer-naagin-3/2018/06/16.
Bollywood
CID
Hindi TV Shows
Anupamaa
