Television has lived and grown amidst huge competition! The General Entertainment Channels (GECs) are in constant battle to gain supremacy with respect to numbers and this is what channels like Star Plus follows..
Speaking of competition, the threat to TV comes from all mediums, especially from the digital medium, which streams new programming literally everyday, across platforms.
Amidst all this, there have been a lot of trends observed by the layman in the programming setup of a GEC. While new seasons and spin-offs of popular ongoing shows have picked up pace, the hustle and bustle of bringing back the evergreen gems of TV has also been happening.
Star Plus has cashed in on the idea of giving the audience huge recall value, by reliving the golden moments of popular yesteryear shows with its remakes.
So what is the idea behind Star Plus bringing back its old and popular shows?
Certainly, as we said earlier, every popular show that has made a mark, thus becoming a cult show, has a huge fan base and loyal audience. The storytelling has its own magic and aura, with the lead actors casting a spell on viewers with their amazing performances and screen presence. And the very thought of bringing back such shows connect with the viewers sooner, when compared to any new show or progam that gets launched.
So yes, the brand of an old popular show is everlasting, and the idea is to recreate the glory once again with more finesse and with a story concept that appeals to the new generation.
Star Plus has a long list of shows that have been remade!
Starting from the popular comedy sitcom, Khichdi, which was first launched in the year 2002, to the recently launched medical saga Sanjivani 2, Star Plus has pressed hard on the formula of making its ‘old gems’ do the talking once again.
Khichdi gave the Indian TV audience an unadulterated dose of laughter with the popular Parekh family, when it started in the early 2000s. Characters like Hansa and Praful Parekh, Jignesh, etc became household names. The show returned to the tube on the sister concern of Star Plus, Star One, as Instant Khichdi in 2006. Later after 10 long years, Khichdi came back on Star Plus in the year 2018. Though the excitement and euphoria created for the return of Khichdi was humongous, the show could not succeed in getting the TRP registers ringing with good numbers in the new season.
Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon has been yet another popular show of Star Plus that is remembered even today for the fascinating love story of Arnav and Khushi. Starring Barun Sobti anad Sanaya Irani, the show took the talented actors to the peak of glory and stardom. The brand has been brought back twice till now and none has worked as big as the original.
Coming to the present time, Ekta Kapoor has contemplated bringing back many of her evergreen Star Plus shows. While the reboot of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi was in the news for long, the unavailability of the popular character Tulsi, aka Smriti Irani (who is actively into politics at the Centre), pushed back the chances of its return.
However, Ekta Kapoor struck gold by bringing back Kasautii Zindagii Kay, another successful ‘K’ series from the golden years of TV. The magic of Anurag and Prerna has been recreated successfully by today’s popular actors, Parth Samthaan and Erica Fernandes.
Now the buzz is that Ekta is working on the reboot of Kahiin Toh Hoga, the other hit Star Plus show of Balaji Telefilms. The original starred Rajeev Khandelwal and Aamna Shariff and the love story of Sujal and Kashish was a huge hit in the 90s. Only time will tell whether this old gem of Ekta will work wonders again or not!
Meanwhile, the extremely popular medical saga of Star Plus, Sanjivani, has been brought back on the channel. Earlier, the show was produced by Cinevistaas. The show mixed the medical profession and romance very well and captured the attention of the youth. Sanjivani 2, which is now produced by Siddharth Malhotra’s Alchemy Films, has popular actors Surbhi Chandna and Namit Khanna on board. The essence of the original Sanjivani is maintained by bringing in actors Mohnish Bahl and Gurdeep Kohli. The remake has gotten a good start and the recall value has given it a huge impetus. Let’s see how it performs in the longer run.
Well, with Star Plus biting the trend of coming up with old popular shows, the other leading GECs too have followed suit. Jamai Raja, the hit Zee TV show has been recreated for the web now, with the title Jamai Raja 2.0.
Colors’ successful yesteryear shows, Madhubala, starring Vivian Dsena and Drashti Dhami, and Rangrasiya with Ashish Sharma and Sanaya Irani, both produced by Saurabh Tewari, seem to be in the making, as per unconfirmed reports.
Well, with few of the remakes working and few not doing well as expected, there certainly is not a 100 percent success rate to such reboots and returns of shows that have had a good run earlier.
Also, churning an old wine and bringing it up in a new bottle only means that there is lesser scope for newer themes and concepts seeing its dawn on channels. Remember, the channel Star Plus, for example, has long-running shows like Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai, its successful spin-off, Yeh Rishtey Hain Pyaar Ke, and few successful shows like Kulfi Kumar Bajewala, Nazar, Kahaan Hum Kahaan Tum, Yeh Hai Mohabbatein, doing well for the channel.
Also, there is no dearth of new concepts, considering the blooming talent that the small industry has.
Guess, the GECs should consider having a good balance between new content and remakes, and the commissioning team will need to look into broader horizons and different angles before working out its programming strategy.
After all, experimentation with newer concepts has to be kept at high priority as it only adds to the already present variety in offer on a GEC.
To create something new is the most blessed thing to do! So let us hope that the TV-viewing audience gets to see more story-driven content that is new and appealing.
We rest our case here by saying that the remakes of older popular shows can happen now and then, but GECs should work more towards creating newer brands and popular shows.
Hail creativity, is what we say!
