Two types of successful Hindi shows

Yesterday I read the news that the latest TRP is 1.1, and everyone was saying that it is the lowest its ever been. And it was once 2.1! And the show is no longer second on Zee, but third, with Woh Apna Sa becoming second. Now I'm sure that the makers of the show think more about this than us, as it is tied to their bread and butter. I don't have anything pathbreaking to say, but thought I'd share this here to see what all of you think.

I think there are two ways in which Indian tv shows become successful. The first sort is the obvious type: you get very high TRPs. Now though we may dismiss most of them as being repetitive, unimaginative or just plain disgusting, they work for their target audience. I don't think there is any one formula for making such a show, because otherwise all such shows would be hits, but within the formulaic there are those that find TRPs and those that don't, and there often isn't a correlation between quality and success.

The other kind of successful TV show is one which manages to create buzz. It may not have high TRPs, but has a good and loyal following, both online and in the real world. People are aware of the show, know the names of the characters and say mostly positive things about it. A lot of these shows have younger viewers, who then also spread that positive buzz around online. A few such shows that I can think of are Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon and Kuch Rang Pyaar Ke Aise Bhi. In its initial stages, Yeh Hai Mohabbatein had both TRPs and positive buzz, but that changed as the show lost steam. And I'm sure there are other examples that you can tell me more about.

Our show used to be the second type of show. Online chatting and a reality show within the show were both initial things that generated a lot of positive hype, and attracted a loyal fan following. The Ajay track made the liberal credentials of Shaurya clear and the pre-wedding track was I think quite popular because the highest TRPs are from that time. The half wedding lost a lot of loyal fans, and it was an uphill climb again. And then when Mehak left Shaurya, a lot of the fans came back. Because those were also intense and excellent episodes and drew people in.

I think they lost steam again when Mehak was kidnapped and stabbed. Shaurya's realisation of love seems anti-climatic in retrospect, and again we were off on a "will they be able to get married or not" chase with Kanta chachi becoming the villain and what not. Which has now brought us to the big secret from the past, to Nani and a slew of villains.

If from day one they had shown that Shaurya also has these type of relatives, if they had made "apshagun" and "lalla" an integral part of the show, it wouldn't have jarred so much now. I for one wouldn't have been watching this show, but someone else would have been. But now they are losing their core audience while new audiences are not going to start watching midway only because of nani and apshagun.

To be fair to the makers, I think they are aware of this and perhaps that is why they brought in the inspector, to provide an antagonist worthy of Shaurya rather than weaken his character by making him vulnerable to the likes of Nani. We complained so much about that, didn't we? I don't mind watching any face off between this new inspector and Shaurya because at least there will be good acting. I would also welcome anything that gets Mehak out of good bahu mode.

Anyway, the point is that the makers have to figure out for themselves what sort of show they want to make and what sort of audience they want to attract. I don't have a problem with saying that we want to appeal to the lowest common denominator and that is what we are trying to do. But it is difficult to change tracks, and in trying to be all things to all people you just end up being all over the place.

You know what they say about great minds... 😆

Yes, decide. Thats exactly what they need to do.

I'm not even asking them to decide to go the way we want them to go!

More than us the producers n the creatives would b worried. I m sure the CVs hv planned some amazing tracks for us after the Mehrya marriage.

Shristi, that is really nice and optimistic of you. Hope it happens 😊

And yes, I do agree that they must think of all this far more and in greater detail than us.

Its like they are giving a full platter of meals but no one is willing to touch it as it is over cooked, makers better have some good track under their sleeves after they wind up this marriage and see off the new characters they have added to drag the wedding🤢

And you are right too, you can't out of the blue get new audience coz of Naani and Dolly without having them connect to these Characters both old and new. And we can't connect to the new ones and our interest wanes...I really hope they reealize soon and get the show on course soon... It is sad to see a show with actors and characters that we all loved so much turn South...

How does this trp work? Does this just take the audience who log in at 8 pm into consideration? Or do the online and recast viewership weigh in too?

There are people who watch tv serials just to kill time and the shows they watch are routine enough with some thrilling aspects to attract them. These viewers watch a lot of shows from 6pm to 11pm, switching between channels. My mom does this! She probably watches at least 10 shows everyday while doing her chores. Then there are other viewers who have little time for entertainment, so they pick one or two shows to unwind and relax. The shows this set of people watch are usually pleasant, less dramatic and not-so-routine stuff.

Either of these categories can get good trps and the Ajay phase is the proof that this youth genre of serials also can garner good trps, that too with little known actors! All they have to do is not lose the essence of the characters that people fell in love with. What people loved about Shaurya was his softer core in spite of his harsh outer shell, which was evident in the online chatting and Ajay phase! What people loved about Mehak was her inner strength in spite of how meek she looks on the outside.

Alas! They successfully destroyed these characters during the recipe chor track / half-marriage track. But once Mehak left Shaurya there was scope to build it all back up, with Shaurya realizing his mistakes and trying to make amends and Mehak standing strong for her family. But here again they chose to bring up Kanta's craziness to the fore instead of keeping the focus on the leads. If they didn't go overboard with Kanta and they built a decent food truck track with Shaurya supporting Mehak in his own way, it would have been a pleasant ride for us. But they just made it too bloody with one too many attacks on the leads instead of concentrating on food and food business. Couldn't they come up with a nice food centric track for Mehak di Hatti? If there is an intense phase, it should be followed up by a fun phase, so that people can relax a bit. So after the intense phase of break up, they should have come up with something fun around the food truck. They failed there. They chose to bring the intensity back by making Kanta crazier than normal and there by forcing Shaurya take drastic steps towards winning Mehak back. That worked a little bit as it showed Shaurya in a comparatively better light. I personally feel that they could have done a much better job if they didn't rush this track!

Now again they are rushing into the next track of separation without letting people enjoy the wedding festivities. They decided to damage the hero's character again by making him a juvenile criminal. All the characters they introduced on his side of the family lately make him look like a congenital criminal🤢 instead of a broken child. And Mehak is going into Sarvgun Sampann Bahu mode at supersonic speed! Puhleez! Thats not what I signed up for! This show makes me tired lately instead of entertaining me. So I am watching only the parts that make me happy.