I guess major reasons are:
- IPL
- unconventional storyline (sassy heroine, supportive hero)
- very 21st century approach
- lack of promotion by SP (no SC spots in other serials even when it pushes mediocre serials from Life OK in SC breaks)
- no off-show promotion / buzz (cast interviews, participation in other media events (IPL awards was an exception, but notice the utter lack of promotion for this too!)
- complex storyline, requiring sufficient time for the characters to get built and related to. (notice all characters are grey. You love them one day and hate them the next).
- it makes you think. That is the difficult part. Most high trp serials are so unidimensional & stupid, you end up feeling super intelligent after you see them. For a character in these serials, you are like 'what an idiot'. I could see it coming and he couldn't. I am so smart!'. After seeing SC, some times we feel stupid. (for e.g. we all hated Dukhbaa. now we all love her for her wisdom and support she is providing to the lead pair. I am sure all of us felt stupid when the truth came out!).
- this is a modern, youth based show. Older generation will not identify at all.
- episode time slot. I mean, 7.30 PM? Most of the time I am on my way home / in meetings to see this. Lucky I can catch it at 9.30 or 11. But imagine if you miss 3 - 4 episodes in a row, you will probably not feel it if you start skipping more and your empathy with the travails of the lead pair drops.
- too much focus when promoting the show on 'Saraswatichandra - The Novel'. I know of many people who have read the novel and tell me it is too depressing and therefore don't want to get so emotionally attached to the hero/heroine only to see them suffer and get screwed time and again. (Believe me, I did not see the show for the first 15 episodes because of this. Some of my relatives still don't).
- The flip side is the purists also don't watch because they feel you are polluting the 'original'.
- In a trp dependent environment, SLB just have to clear the air. I understand his passion and all. But he still goes around saying, I have no love in my life, so I make tragedies etc. etc. Ambiguity on how you want the story to directionally shape up is a killer. Like the song in the movie Padosan 'Ya Ghoda Bolo...Ya Chatur Bolo. Yeh Kya Ghoda Chatur Ghoda Chatur...Ek Pe Reh Na".
- Come clean that while the path will be tortuous, they will triumph together (I hope) or go down fighting (I hope not).
- Sometimes I feel SP does not have enough confidence in this show.
I guess they have screwed up with the time-slot big time & marketing / promotion big time.
When you have a mega show lined up, you should go all out. Why play safe with the time and not promote it at all?
- As a channel if you have got a heavy duty show coming up, you got to take a call right at the beginning whether you are going to stand by it for say 6 months (trps be damned) and allow the creatives to build up the charachters.
- Currently with competition on trps, it is ending up with filler episodes / maha episode / vamp it up / reorder (whatever happened to the holi episode promos!) and that is creating disconnects in the narrative.
On the positive side
- the show has attracted a loyal fanbase and all characters are getting more recognized DESPITE all of the above.
- fab casting specially of the lead pair. All trps are ONLY because of these two.
- fab supporting cast.
- hoping (fingers crossed) that the latest trp is the floor..this set of loyal viewers belive in this DESPITE the above.
- Even if the above don't change, we like the show enough to stick around. Then 1.7 trp is not bad for a 2 month serial.
Apologies for the long post. I nornally dont watch hindi tele serials.
This is the first I have started to see regularly after a very long time. As my emotional attachment increases by the day, I don't like it when a superlative (by far) work gets knocked down largely due to reasons not related to the creative side.
So wanted to let off some steam among a set of people as crazy as me!
:-)
So hoping this is the bottom