On-screen success isn't guaranteed on TV

On-screen success isn't guaranteed on TV

Lack of production values and poorly-framed questions seem to be affecting Suriya's tryst with the small screen

Team CT

Everyone from Amitabh Bachchan to SRK to Salman and now, namma Suriya, have taken to the small screen. These extremely successful stars of the big screen made a conscious decision to move to the small screen but not as actors — they have turned game show hosts to entertain the audience in a completely new format. However, success on the big screen does not always translate to success on television. While the Big B and Salman Khan charmed their way into the audience's hearts and sent TRPs soaring, other celebrities have not managed the same. Shah Rukh, for instance, took over a game show from Amitabh Bachchan in the third season but unfortunately, that season didn't set the TRPs on fire. Recently, the Singam star has started playing host on a TV game show. Though Suriya's charisma and personality are unmatched, there's a buzz that the actor has not been able to connect with the audience and create as big an impact as expected. TRPs of the show have also apparently been on the decline since the launch. Ask R Balachandran, senior vice president, strategic planning and marketing, of the TV channel that hosts the Suriya show about this and he says, "There's no comparison between Suriya and Amitabh Bachchan. We usually tend to compare the Amitabh of season four or five, which is the result of the actor's work after five years, with Suriya, who is just in his first season. Of course, the show is a learning process for us and we will improve in the weeks to come." On social networking sites, the show has come under flak for the type of questions being posed by the Tamil actor on the show. Says avid TV-watcher and IT consultant, Sidharth A, "Some of the questions being asked are extremely silly. For instance, one question was what's a Bangalore kathrika with chowchow and beetroot as answer options and another one was who's Rama's mother with Sita as an answer option. I really don't think the audience is so dumb! A show shouldn't become a mockery." Brand guru Hairsh Bijoor believes that there's a major difference between shows produced in Mumbai and those in the south. "Production value and slickness are major determinants of a show's success as much as the charisma of the host. This is where the south Indian versions seem to fail, because they lack in both slickness and the production value," he explains. Whether it's the production or star power, it's all factors together that determine whether an actor succeeds on the small screen. But controversies also generate interest in a whoe believe some. In Karnataka, Power Star Puneet Rajkumar will be hosting a game show on TV soon but he's already embroiled in a controversy as he's supposedly not very fluent in Kannada. We'll just have to wait and see whether this will turn in his favour.

Suriya