Why Shivika Deserve A Happily Ever After... (Open Letter for SP)

An open letter to Star Plus

Why Shivika Deserve A Happily Ever After...

Dear Star Plus,

For the last 2.5 years I have been an avid viewer of your show Ishqbaaaz, which has captured my imagination and that of many other viewers like no other show before. What made Ishqbaaaz so special and stand out among the 800 other shows on air for me is its lead couples popularly known as Shivika played by Nakuul Mehta (Shivaay) and Surbhi Chandna (Anika).

So what made Shivika special? After all there are many other love stories on TV with the same basic template of an angry male lead with a dark past and bubbly girl who brings light into his life. The same production house has churned so many of these before. But every regular viewer of Ishqbaaaz who has stuck it out with the show through its ups and down knows that even if the on the surface of it it seemed a love story with that same template if you scratch beneath the surface Shivaay and Anika are different. Have always been different. Their off the charts chemistry was never merely about good looking people looking deep into each other's eyes while the soft breeze of love gently ruffles their hair and music plays or about innumerable trip fall catch sequences although they could pull those off as well as anyone else. Those are seen everywhere and other TV pairs do have that kind of chemistry and that's not unique to Shivika. Shivika's chemistry lay not just in good looks and sexual tension and surface charm. Their chemistry lay in the depth they had and their conversations which were so special and rare to find on TV. They made it believable why they understood each other so well and were soulmates. They could talk. About anything. Where in an unwittingly intimate moment he could very naturally and easily ask her "are you embarrassed? Those were the kind of things that were unique about Shivika and cherished by those who love them. That they spoke about these things. Many Shivika scenes took the viewer through a whole range of emotions from banter to romance to poignancy in just one single scene and the lead actors who played them navigated this range easily and seamlessly and beautifully. There was a reason why the lead pair won so many awards and won 6 best Jodi awards in the last year and a half, the most recent being as recent as the Star Parivar awards held just a month ago which also included televisions first HeForShe award. And Nakuul Mehta and Surbhi Chandna played Shivika to such perfection that it is impossible to separate them from Shivika. They not just acted Shivika but lived Shivika or so it felt to the viewer.

And Shivika truly embodied the StarPlus tag line of nayi soch and baat nayi as much as it is possible to within the constraints of a GEC soap and it's compulsions. Here was a girl who responsible and yet free spirited and fun and independent. Whom life knocked down many a times but who picked herself up, dusted herself and stood tall. Who was Sirf Anika and wore that as a badge of honour instead of letting it defeat her. But who was afraid to believe in love because life had only dealt her disappointments and heartbreak. And here was a guy who to begin with didn't believe in love and only believed in lineage and family name but fell in love with a girl with no surname and no lineage. But once he did he loved this girl like no other. For a man who took so much pride in his lineage and family name never once did he ask her to take on his name. He never expected or tried to change her or crush her spirit after he fell in love with her. In all his arrogance he did wrong her and very gravely before he fell in love with her but once he realised the error of his ways he never repeated the same mistakes, always stood by her, acknowledged her as his strength and did everything he possibly could to make it up to her. Instead he changed himself to become worthy of her love and fought for their relationship against every obstacle that life threw at them and didn't give up and held on tight even when she sometimes did. They never tried to change each other, retained their individuality and yet became the best versions of themselves purely out of love for the other. They were a team, strong and unbeatable together. And continued to remain fun with a touch of madness instead of being cheesy and sappy. Never made speeches or grand gestures and declarations about their love or paid heed to labels but their love showed in their every action. Their magic didn't fade with the falling in love or even with declaring of that love or even getting married or even consummation or all the standard milestones in a love story after which a romantic couple loses some of their audience appeal. Shivika's appeal outlasted all of that and the recent awards are a testimony to that. They won every people's choice award.

Ishqbaaaz and Shivika became such a brand that Star Plus used Shivika to launch many of their new shows and new ventures. They became the face of many of StarPlus's new campaigns and forays into new international markets.

Shivika's story was a story that made one believe that ishqbaaazi takkar ki honi chahiye. That truly love is an equal partnership. Shivika were always a team and an equal partnership which was so refreshing to see on television. Two strong characters who remained strong but complemented and completed each other beautifully. They made one believe that true love triumphs against all odds and that soulmates shall prevail no matter what life throws at you. That even if life gives you lemons, if you don't lose your fight and your spirit, good things will one day come to you.

That soulmates are forever and that their love would always triumph is premise that started off the current alternate universe in the show. A "what if scenario which was a very novel and innovative way to refresh the show without losing any of its unique brand value and Shivika's USP and which had great potential if done right. However poor writing, inconsistent and cliched characters with abrupt flips in characterisation of even the lead characters every other day without any proper story or character graph soon killed everything that was special about the show. Loyal viewers still continued to watch only in the hope of seeing Shivika but soon Shivika too began to disappear from the story line and this was seen in the ratings. Over the last few months the writing has been extremely below par and the show lost its way amidst irrelevant cameos and tracks where Shivika almost disappeared and Anika became a wall paper. And this has been reflected in the ratings too. When viewers tried to provide feedback to the makers about how the writing was failing badly and how disconnected they felt from the characters and how Shivika needed to be brought back into focus they were only mocked or rudely snubbed by the makers and told to change the channel and watch any of the 800 other shows.

What has sustained the show through all its highs and lows is only the Shivika magic. Remove Shivika from the show or mute them or fade them and the show will flounder as it has done everytime this has happened. It's a shame and ironical that when a show has something so special that is cherished and valued by the viewers across the globe, it is the makers themselves that don't value or cherish or nurture it. It reeks of not understanding your market nor the USP of your own product. Or not caring.

And now we hear that Shivika will die and Surbhi Chandna has no choice but to exit her own show and the brand that she built equally along with Nakuul Mehta. The fact that Shivika will die without living out their dreams negates the whole narrative of the show. Considering that the whole AU was built on the premise of Shivika's love being challenged by someone who didn't believe in soulmates and a forever kind of love, is this how it's going to end for Shivika? Without love winning the day? That no matter how hard you battle there is no happily ever after is the message that you want to leave all the loyal viewers with? Is this the only way to take the story forward? And is there is any need to take it forward in this way just because the creativity of the makers has run dry? Is marraige the end of a love story? In life I would think it is the beginning of one. In fact I would suggest you visit one my most favourite scenes in Ishqbaaaz where Shivaay talks of it being a journey, a continuous process where they have to work at it everyday. How a journey is not short. Takes time and effort and will. And of course lots of love. And how they would always safeguard their love and relationship because it had them in it and they would hold on tight and never let go no matter what. And after all that Shivika just die? Brutally? Ruthlessly? And for what?

What is the greater good that this damage to what has been the narrative so far is going to serve?

Is it to retain the Ishqbaaaz brand? In which case the thinking is completely flawed because Shivika IS the IB brand. Whether the makers acknowledge that or not doesn't change anything. And any business savvy enough to use a brand and its equity should be savvy enough to recognise what makes the brand. Does destroying that brand help your cause?

Is it for ratings? Does leaving an extremely hurt and bitter viewership in its wake augur well for ratings? What about goodwill and public image and viewer loyalty? Does it count for nothing? How can damaging that in a very negative way help ratings? Is it the assumption that piggybacking on the success and popularity of Shivika will get you a ready made viewership? If so then you will find yourselves disillusioned pretty quickly. If you try to build something new on the ruins of something that was so loved and cherished it has failure written all over it because the very foundation is so flawed. It's strange that those who made the show haven't understood what worked for the show. IB has always had a different audience from the usual soap audience. An audience who loved the humour, the parody, the tongue in cheek trolling of the standard TRP tropes and cliches on the show, the sometimes outrageously weird styling and above everything loved Shivika. With all their heart. The cliched TRP stuff that works on other shows never worked in Ishqbaaaz because it's audience is different. And to this audience Ishqbaaaz is Shivika's show and will always be. Take Shivika out of the picture and that too in the manner that is proposed and you will lose that audience. If you will anyway have to build a new audience base for the new story why not do it as a new show? Why hurt the audience that has been so loyal to the show? That's definitely not going to fetch ratings.

To resort to something so cliched and old and tired as a generation leap in a show that has always been innovative in so many ways has nothing nayi soch or baat nayi about it. And to throw out quite unceremoniously a lead actress who is one half of what makes this brand that too immediately after awarding Shivika television's first HeForShe award is not only unfair but beyond embarrassing for the channel. It makes not only your own tagline but also the campaigns that you represent and claim to stand for appear fake and hypocritical. And I have not even talked about the misogyny that certain actions reek of. Where is your conviction Star Plus when it comes to standing up for the things you claim to believe in? Please stand up and be counted. We expected better of you.

And of course how can I forget all the media spin and the PR machinery at work which has been blind and deaf to a fan base which is crying itself hoarse to be heard. In today's connected world Star Plus cannot be so much in their ivory tower as to be unaware of the fact that the #NoSurbhiNoIshqbaaaz trended globally and trended continuously for 12 hours. Not just that it trended for some periods at number 1 above the Deepika Ranveer wedding which was the hot story of that day. That is huge no matter who pretends what. And this was not a planned trend but a spontaneous outcry when the news first broke. If you see that as merely a "small bunch of faceless people because that is how the producer of the show labelled them, it shows you don't value your customers enough. The tag not only trended but a new tag has been trending everyday and the tag has to be changed daily because of the sheer number of tweets on each tag that won't allow it to trend. There are closer to a million tweets if you add up all the various tags of this movement since it began.

As part of the PR machinery being used there have been articles making a victim out of the poor producer who has abuse being hurled at her by a supposedly vile fan base. This is laughable to those that have been witness to the social media exchanges of the producer over not just the last few days but over the run of the show. While admittedly there are some young and volatile and immature fans who when angry cross the line and use language that is rude and even abusive and uncalled for, the mature adult response is to just ignore it and let emotions cool down. The kind of hate that your lead actors often get on a regular basis (after all it takes all kinds to make the world) is much more than anything anyone else on the show gets and yet not once have they allowed themselves to be provoked and engage with it. They have always dealt with it with utmost grace and dignity. The producer sahiba on the other hand will always react and provoke people more and use language as rude and abusive as that used by any immature angry teenager. Doesn't do any good for the image of anyone or anything that production house represents which includes the channel. In fact any criticism of the writing or content or the show even worded in the most polite and unprovocative terms has always been met with a rude, provocative, mocking and even bordering on abusive response. Feedback has never been respected let alone valued. And has always been either mocked or belittled. I am sure there are enough screenshots floating around social media to substantiate this. Is this how you respect your viewers? They engage because they care about the show. It's not too big an ask to ignore if you don't like it or respond politely if you choose to. Show yourself to be better than those you mock or ridicule.

And all the hue and cry and bleeding heart stories about the fan base being selfish in asking for ending the show with dignity with a happy ending for Shivika if the creators don't have the imagination or creativity left to take the Shivika story forward all because it will put so many people out of work sounds like such a sham. Do channels not think of the livelihood of the crew when they axe shows? Is it only the responsibility of the viewers just because they are asking for creative integrity? No show should end or get axed in that case because it will always put people out of work.

If the makers believe that Shivika have reached the end of the road in terms of story telling (although we don't agree) and now want to tell a new story so be it. End Ishqbaaaz. Make a new show and a fresh start with a new cast and tell your new story. And employ all the crew who will be out of work on your new show.

Why tell it by making it stand on the graves of Shivika?

Why deny Shivika their Happily Ever After?

Why leave the loyal fans with bitterness one more time?

Why not instead give viewers something they can cherish and hug close to themselves and remember with a warm fondness long after the show ends?

Because for the viewers of Ishqbaaaz this always was Shivika's story and will always remain so. Ishqbaaaz IS Shivika. There is no Ishqbaaaz without Shivika and no Shivika without Shivaay and Anika and by extension without Nakuul Mehta and Surbhi Chandna. For all that Shivika have given StarPlus in terms of a much loved brand and a very large and loyal fan base and viewership globally, their legacy needs to be cherished and preserved. Not destroyed.

Star Plus and the production house should be proud of what they have created in Shivika and how much love and popularity they have garnered instead of being all set to kill them. No one can replace Shivika in the hearts of Ishqbaaaz viewers. If there is nothing further left then Shivika deserve to win this challenge in the alternate universe, go back to the real universe and have a happily ever after there. Shivika and all those of us who have loved them as well as the lead actors who brought them to life deserve this closure. Run this long enough to complete this arc and then bid goodbye with grace and dignity. You will only get love and affection and gratitude of a large fan base in return on which you can then build your new show afresh. With goodwill. You owe it to us and yourselves, Star Plus. I hope you are listening.

Putting all our faith in you to do right by all of us,

Your loyal viewer

Ps: Last one week social media is circulating many articles pitching for makers, channel and actors point of view on issue and nobody is giving us (fans) fair chance to put across our side of story. I requested couple of media portals covering stories on the subject but did not received any response so writing this open letter to give a fans point of view.