It's official now :(:(

After weeks of dithering, Sony has finally decided to wind up its woman-centric bi-weekly Rihhaee. The show should be off air by mid-September, say sources.

Begun as the 'female equivalent' of BAG Films' successful series on Sahara Haqeeqat, Rihhaee started as a promising offbeat show in February this year. Touted as 'television with cause', Rihhaee's New Delhi launch was attended by Delhi CM Shiela Dixit, social activist Nafisa Ali and activist lawyer Indira Jaisingh, all of whom pointed out how crimes against women is on the rise in the Indian society and need to be tackled urgently, but delicately because of the sensitivities involved.

After a few months of taking up causes however, the show took off at a tangent, turning into an 'investigative' show, and two new characters were introduced into the serial. Sony also introduced scripts that included Indian Idol finalists and Mona 'Jassi' Singh, innovations that deviated from the original idea of 'har aurat ki zulm se azadi'.

Nevertheless, encouraged by the initial good response to the serial, producers BAG Films started a 24 hour helpline for women, setting up the infrastructure in its Mumbai office, and even had the support of the National Commission for Women, in July.

Poor ratings, sources inform, have become the reason the show will have a premature death on the channel. While Rihhaee could never have commanded a mass audience, given its content, it had the potential of building Sony's record of experimental serials like Bhanvar and Missing.

Rihhaee will now end with protagonist Nakul Vaid shown dying in the last episode, we hear. Says lead Nakul Vaid, "I had a contract for only 30 episodes, but they extended it. Probably the show's falling ratings may have been a cause of concern for the show. At the same time, the show was pretty expensive to produce. Whatever, the reason I'm happy with my part on the show. I'm glad it is not going to be stretched like chewing gum. When a show has a good, unique theme, it starts losing out if you extend it unreasonably. I'm going to take a break now, I have to recharge!"