Paanchvi Paas fail kyun hai?

It was a show that was supposed to rewrite the history of Indian television, just as KBC did eight years ago. In fact, Kya Aap Paanchvi Paas Se Tez Hain? was expected to be a bigger success than KBC because it is a complete family show. But ratings say otherwise. After grabbing 4.6 TVR in the opening episode on April 25, the show has failed to sustain viewers' interest and ratings have dipped in subsequent weeks. This has not gone down well with the show's host Shah Rukh Khan. In fact, more than Star Plus it is King Khan who is concerned about the show not getting required eyeballs.

"We expected the show to notch 6 or 7 plus TVRs. But I guess IPL has swept away everything," says Shah Rukh. "There is too much of fragmentation in viewership because of cricket. Today success and failure is judged in two to three weeks. If one goes by the ratings so far, Paanchvi Paas has not done well," he adds. Shah Rukh confides that he found the show interesting. "I liked the format and it should have gone down well with viewers. But the fact is it has not worked. Sometimes the best show doesn't work," he reasons. In his opinion external factors probably impacted the show's appeal and reach. "It was marketed as a kid's show, which probably kept the adults away from sampling Paanchvi Paas. I think the marketing went wrong. Also, it has been slotted at 8 pm, which I think is too early for television viewing," he says.

Ask him whether the show came at a wrong time and he agrees. "The show came a week after IPL kicked off. We had expected IPL ratings to plateau in the second or third week. But it didn't happen and a good show like Paanchvi Paas suffered," he regrets.

Since he doesn't find anything wrong with the format and the creative team has also done its best, Shah Rukh prefers to blame himself for the show's non-success. "I am the major attraction of the show. And when I am not getting the eyeballs it means that I have let it down. Star is paying me huge money to get TRPs and when ratings are low it means that there is lack of appeal from my side. Or may be, as Mr Bachchan has said, quiz shows don't work anymore," says the Bollywood King, adding further that he has given his best shot to the show. "But I don't know what more I can do to take it up from here."

However, he has not given up yet. He is waiting for the IPL to get over. "Post IPL we would like to see the ratings again. May be the eyeballs will come in then," he hopes. It's not just him, Shah Rukh says even Star Plus expected the show to rock. "We will do a proper analysis of what really went wrong," he adds.

Shah Rukh confides, "Mr Uday Shankar (CEO, Star India) is also at a loss to understand why the show didn't click. We chose the best show and tried our best. I think I am a bit more tense than Star. We have no option but to understand the reasons," he adds.