When 'Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi' was launched eight years and 1,800 episodes ago, the impact was almost disruptive for the industry. It attracted a whole new set of audiences to the boob tube. It had everything to shake up the system. A ‘Rajshri Productions-esque’ large family, cultures, traditions, deceit, drama, betrayals and revenge. It was a fairytale for Balaji Productions who seemed to have charted new territory on TV. Days passed into weeks and months and years. Balaji rode high on the success of Kyunki… and went on to create new programming paradigms. Ekta Kapoor was crowned the undisputed czarina of the small screen. ‘Get into the Balaji camp and you’ve made it’ was the underlying sentiment as actors struggled to get past the heavily fortified gates of the Balaji Empire.
It seemed that Balaji couldn’t put a foot wrong. The 'Kyunki…' magic looked to be aeonian. But as it turns out, Balaji became a victim of its own success. Critics argue that the cult following of 'Kyunki…' and 'Kahaanii…' made the production house complacent and it started churning out predictable formulaic plots one after the other. The law of averages had to catch up someday and it did. And as Balaji watches the plug being pulled on 'Kahaanii…' and 'Kyunki…', it’s clear that the production house top brass is running out of ideas.
Meanwhile, the programming fiasco is not the only worry for Ekta Kapoor. While Balaji shows seem bereft of ideas, there have been a slew of other production houses that have successfully wooed audiences away from the ‘K’ bastion. What’s worse, Ekta has a blow-hot-blow-cold relationship with some of the leading industry figures, notable among them being her biggest trump card Smriti Irani.
So, where did it all go wrong? Complacency surely is one of the reasons. It’s ironic that the torchbearers of change could not read changing tastes of the audiences. Audiences have had enough of the same fare. One would hardly grudge that, considering that it’s been eight years of monotony. Even the twists became predictable and farcical. Balaji didn’t read the signs too well. As a weary janta started switching channels, it resorted to cheap sensationalism instead of making a dignified exit. Things have come to such a pass that saas-bahu has almost become a slur. There was a time when actors wouldn’t dare make a statement that would be remotely irksome to Balaji bigwigs. And today, there is a new crop that thumbing its nose at Balaji and openly declaring its aversion for ‘saas-bahu’ serials.
Undoubtedly, one can’t undermine the impact that Kyunki and some of the other Balaji serials have had on television viewing. Quite sad then that it didn’t get the dignified exit that it deserved. Being forced out after a failed legal wrangle to allow its telecast is hardly the finale one would have wanted. A bubble burst or a hard lesson learnt? It depends on how Balaji chooses to look at it but if there is one thing the exit portends, it is the inevitability of change. Last heard, Balaji is trying to cut a deal with 9x to air Kyunki… Sigh! All those hopes of a reformation seem to be nothing but some blue-sky thinking.
Click here: Television TOP TEN
No comments:
Post a Comment