Article - 'Kahani mein Twist'

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Hussain and Juhi (TOI Photo)

Dead men (and women) walking (Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki, Kasauti Zindagi Kay, Kasturi, Kasamh Se, Ghar Ki Laxmi Betiyaan) reincarnation (Kumkum, Banoo Main Teri Dulhan etc), generation leap — all the twists in a storyline that you can think of happen in prime time (and afternoon) soap sagas.

From plastic surgeries (someone should thank Danielle Steel for having introduced that episode in her evergreen romance The Promise) to rebirths etc, soapmakers in India never run out of froth when it comes to thinking of new elements that can give sagging TRPs a new high.

More often than not of course, the so-called 'kahaani mein twist' defies imagination and seriously makes you realise that television soaps need you to follow the suspension of disbelief adage as well. Much loved characters like Om, Mihir, Tulsi, Sumit, Kumkum, Vidya etc have undergone more trials and tribulations, face-lifts, and return from death situations than humanly possible. Of course, production companies and channel heads have no choice but to ensure methods that help translate changes in script and plot to revive interest in a particular show.

Explains Payal Patel, creative head of a show, "Technically, TRPs are the only reason why we introduce such twists in the storyline. It is a minute-to-minute detailed episode graph which results in such twists." And now even soap sultana Ekta Kapoor and Tulsi aka Smriti Irani have patched up after their 'differences', to mark the return of Smriti to the show.

In Kumkum and Banoo Main Teri Dulhan, lead characters were made to 'reborn' to boost TRPs. But are TRPs the only reason for such twists? "There are times when serials get very boring, so we need a high point. To match up to the interest level of the audience, we need such turns in a story to pep it up," says the outgoing Tulsi, Gautami Kapoor.

Audiences, nowadays, are discerning and most by now, expect the predictable formula —when a popular character quits the show, they hope the actor will return after a brief hiatus — to happen. Don't actors find some of these twists in the plot way too unreal and difficult to swallow? Says actor Hiten Tejwani, "Scriptwriters must have had something in mind before penning it down. And if everything goes on smoothly why should any actor have a problem?"

If the audience is fond of a particular character or a track, producers try and make those changes if possible. Actor Naman Shaw feels that "viewer's choice" really makes all the difference and the audience seems to "love such illogical yet predictable things on television".

One constant on Indian television soaps seems to be 'twists' in the plotline. But who's complaining anyway!