Is Remix losing its touch?Telly chakkar

Once upon a time, it was the daily fix of teenagers looking for the right story, the right attitude and the right lingo.

Star One's Remix spoke straight to the collegian, the high schooler and the fresh grad longing for the womb of academia. One and half years down the line, changes have crept in. The one hour daily was snipped down into a half hour package, the focus sometimes slipped away from the kids to their parents and to add to the frustration, the channel stayed blank in several areas.

If viewer feedback is any indication, the Remix gang is as loved as ever. Which explains the constant refrain of 'bring back the hourly episodes' on Internet forums. But which probably also explains the plateauing of interest in the show that once dictated teenage fads, dialect and attitude. It's still cool to sigh 'hey bhaggu…' after 190 odd episodes of Remix, but the number of tongues saying it are fewer.

Why, we wondered. The show's producer Shrishti Arya, responsible for putting together the funky gang and its antics, believes that the Remix fervour is still as strong. "We have managed to create a cult show. People who watch it, get influenced, it has that kind of power. Our show has been very different from the beginning…how many one hour dailies do you get to see? And now, we have the world ahead of us; there are many issues which have to be explored - like Tia's relationship with her mother, and other teenage issues like sexuality.
"Besides," points out Shrishti, "We didn't use any marketing strategies for the Remix album too, and it still did so well!"

No leap without looking

Shrishti admits that people come up to suggest that they would like to see these four students married. "But we don't want to do that, because, we want to be in touch with reality," she explains.
And she adds, "I don't see people losing interest in our show, as we have created a niche for ourselves. The kind of things we have incorporated in our show like the language, hairstyles are very gratifying as they are influencing our audience in a positive way."

Star India's Senior Vice President, Deepak Sehgal agrees that the show has been phenomenal but that the response may have mellowed a bit as reflected by the ratings. "The main reason would be the shift in the time slot. Remix best suited the one hour pattern and people enjoyed it too. The story telling in the half an hour is not doing justice to the characters."

Reflecting, he says, "Definitely, the storyline isn't the reason for Remix plateauing, as Goldie and Shrishti have been working on it throughout."

No more fan mail?

That may be so, but how do the four leads view the changes in the last one and half years? Raj Singh Arora who plays Yuvraj aka Yuvi, agrees that there has been a change in the response they receive. "I feel my character as Yuvraj has grown 10 fold. Perhaps, the response has cooled because the repeat telecast was stopped and also perhaps because the time slot changed. Otherwise, I feel Remix is riding on its best high!" What's one thing Raj would like to see happening in the show in the future? "Arshi and Yuvi falling in love!" pat comes the answer.

Shweta Gulati who plays Tia, however doesn't sense any difference. "Kids still come up to me and demand the one hour slots back! Tia too has reached incredible maturity levels, she was not the kind to go a police station to meet her love, but now she's different." What Tia would like to see happening however doesn't match Yuvi's idea, "I don't want to see Arshi and Yuvi falling in love!"

The wacky and crazy red streaked hair Priya Wal, better known as Anvesha has something practical to offer, "When Remix started, it was very new, and so there was an excitement. Perhaps by now, the excitement has stabilised, and I guess it happens to every show. Honestly, 80 per cent of the audience will still find Remix interesting as compared to other shows. Anvesha as a character has not experienced any stagnant moments. What I would like to see is more masti and more fun!"

Karan Wahi who plays the soft and subtle Ranvir has a different opinion altogether, "Well, not a major change, but the interest levels may have dipped a bit. We miss out on many things when we have to wrap up everything in half an hour, we can't show 12 characters, right? I did feel that it's getting a little monotonous, in between, but now I guess we are back on track."

No back tracking

This is the show's second year of running, does the channel plan a third, or will the funky gang take a season break before returning to entertain?

Sehgal says that the channel hasn't taken a call on continuing for a third year, but that they would 'like to start with a different season altogether. We now need to recharge the audience'. He adds on a serious note, "Remix has been a brand for us; the album was the second bestseller in India, for four weeks continuously."

All that seems to be in order then, is a dash of excitement with a possible return to the elements that made Remix the cult phenomenon it was. Remix, original, is that the writing on the wall?