Star Plans weekend bonanza led by KBC2...
Chaya Unnikrishnan
Posted online: Friday, July 15, 2005 at 0000 hours IST
A special crossover episode between Kkavyanjali and Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii in July ... KBC 2 launching on August 5 alongwith a new sitcom by J D Majethia and Aatish Kapadia ... Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kaahin To Hoga going five days a week ... More shows lined up for the weekend ... There's plenty happening at STAR Plus. And one can't but help get caught in the frenzy ...
Next, Sujal and Kashish of Kaahin To Hoga arrived for the launch of K Street Pali Hill in the latter's first episode.
More recently, i.e on July 12, the channel combined two other dailies of different genres obviously looking for another chart-topper. The family drama Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii and the romantic thriller Kkavyanjali were united in an hour-long episode. STAR had zeroed in on Kkavyanjali and Kahaani ... this time because both are on a similar track at the moment. While in Kkavyanjali Anjali(Natassha) is being persecuted by her mother-in-law Nitya (Amrita Singh), in Kahaani ... Pallavi (Achint Kaur) is hell-bent on taking Parvati's (Saakshi Tanwar) life. "We thought it would be a good idea to bring both the protagonists and antagonists together with one of them ultimately saving the other," informs Shailaja Kejriwal, Creative Head, STAR Plus.
"Usually specials have stars or celebrities coming in and making it colourful. We, however, decided to create a special by combining two back-to-back shows. Parvati came into Nanda house because it was her mother's friend's house," points out Ekta Kapoor, the dynamic young producer of both shows.
The last two times STAR Plus had orchestrated a crossover, the reasons were a celebration and a serial launch. This time though they was no such occasion. "We are looking at the crossovers as tent poles to generate interest. Both the soaps have a different audience. By bringing them together we are aiming to broaden their base and bring about a cross-pollination of viewership," explains Kejriwal. You wonder how many of the new viewers will stay with the soaps after the marriage? "There is a jump of 10 - 15 per cent," Kejriwal asserts. "And for a channel that looks for maximum eyeballs even that is welcome."
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There's another battle ahead for Ekta. She has to stretch the mother of all soaps, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and the Sujal-Kashish saga Kaahin To Hoga to five-days a week beginning from August 5. Kasautii Zindagi Kay has paved the way with Monday to Friday telecasts at 8.30 pm. According to Kejriwal, the first time an episode of Kasauti ... was aired on Friday, it garnered a whopping 11.97 TRP, higher than what it registers on other week days.
"This establihed the fact that drama is so popular that viewers are eager to watch it even on Fridays," the Creative Head says proudly. Not surprisingly, this has egged the channel onto stretching its other popular dailies by an extra day. But the decision means the wheels at the production house have to work overtime.
It also means more casualties in terms of actors and directors. Dropouts and replacements will be the order of the day. With actors fainting on sets and suffering stress-related ailments due to gruelling schedules, such an eventuality is hardly surprising. Actor fatigue is a problem producers and channels have to be prepared for.
Recently, Ekta had to reschedule the shoot of Kasautii.. because lead actor Cezanne Khan had suffered a bout of food poisoning. He was off the sets for four days. Overnight a new script was written and the schedule progressed without Anurag Basu."Sometimes one can't shoot because the light is not right or the camera's developed a snag," points out Ekta.
Her problems have just been compounded. An extra four episodes a month means that while they earlier had to shoot 22-25 days, now they will have to hang around on the sets 30 days a month.
"We have started making conscious efforts to build other characters in Kasautii ... . As it is we were working against time, now we will have to be on our toes 24/7," avers the queen of soaps tiredly. "But whatever Kejriwal and Sameer Nair, (COO, STAR Plus) say I will do. They just have to order," she says spiritedly.
Those speculations about whether Ronit Roy will continue to be the charismatic Mr Bajaj can rest, as he will be a part of Balaji soaps despite his involvement with rival soap on Zee, Sarkar. He, however, will be shown going into coma in Kasauti ...
But it will be adieu for Om soon. Though Kahaani ... will continue to be a four-day affair for the time being, Kiran Karmarkar who plays Om has requested to be relieved from the show after a four-year stint pleading physical and mental fatigue. So, over the next few episodes, he will be slowly eased out of the show. It will be an 'accidental' death and Kejriwal stresses that "he won't be back". The story will proceed with Parvati being shown as a woman of substance and the issues she has to deal with as a widow.
When asked why Kahaani ... was left out of the "five-day extension", Kejriwal informs that a new show is being introduced in the 10 pm slot. Produced by the makers of the popular Saarabhai Vs Saarabhai and Instant Khichdi, the new as yet undisclosed title, will be a light-hearted, slice of life serial. Going by their track record, on STAR specially, the new show by Aatish Kapadia and J D Majethia promises to be loads of fun.
STAR is also planning to introduce a plethora of new shows over the weekend alongwith KBC 2 which launches on August 5. KBC 2 is the first step towards building a weekend band. KBC in its earlier innings had completely changed the channel's fortune. And at the time, Amitabh Bachchan was not the best-seller he is today. With four back-to-back hits in Black, Waqt, Bunty Aur Babli and Sarkar this year, Bachchan is returning to the small-screen's hot seat at an opportune moment for STAR with people clamouring for more of the superstar. There, however, is also a fear of the show having a feel of deja vu as viewers have seen its highs and lows earlier.
"KBC is a tried and tested product. It's very difficult to predict the outcome but we know it is our best bet to tackle the weekend programming slot. People are liking Bachchan more and hopefully this will rub off on the show," smiles Kejriwal.
In its first round, it was KBC that brought in the fragmented viewership and led them towards Kyunki ... . This time around, it will be Ekta's Kasautii ... which will lead on to KBC2. "It is a role reversal," agrees Ekta. Lock kiya jaye?
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