Of 'twisted' tales and knotty plots...

Picture this: You switch on the tube to watch your favourite soap. The time is 8.30 pm. The scene is a courtroom drama revolving around an innocent man and his scheming, conniving wife. The guy produces his final witness, his wife's former husband whom she hasn't divorced legally. You are filled with anticipation even as the protagonist (read: husband) and his family rejoice that good will finally prevail over evil. However, just as you, and the family on the telly, feel that things will eventually be hunky-dory, a surprise awaits you. The star witness changes his statement claiming that the woman seated in front of him is not his lawfully wedded wife but his fiancée instead!

A very familiar scene? To refresh your memory, let's add a few names. The guy is Anurag Basu, the woman is Komolika Basu and the star witness, Akash Dasgupta. Of course, the serial is Kasautii Zindagii Kay (STAR Plus).

Twists and turns are not unfamiliar to storylines. On Indian television, the use of twists and turns goes back to successful family dramas such as Hum Log and Buniyaad (Doordarshan) of the eighties. In the nineties, serials such as Tara on Zee TV were popular for their "cliffhangers" as Raman Kumar, producer-director of the marathon epic, chooses to term it. "It is a need, a necessity," he claims, adding, "You have to compel audiences to come back."

Prophetic words or plain business speak? The fact is that almost all soaps today depend heavily on the element of surprise to keep their viewers glued to their television sets. Because high TVRs mean greater advertiser interest, and therefore, more advertising revenues.

As one senior media planner based in Mumbai explains, "Currently, there are no dearth of launches on various channels. Hence, when a channel announces the launch of a programme during a particular slot, its rivals automatically take a long hard look at that slot with the objective of trying to protect their viewership during that period. Naturally, they employ different strategies to protect their turf. One such device is to have fairly unimaginable scenes incorporated into an episode of a programme around that time with the objective of creating a stir and keeping the audience hooked on to that particular programme. The idea is to stop then from zapping channels and sample a new product on a rival channel."

Some examples of this trend - death of Mihir Virani on Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi to coincide with Zee's efforts at revival. His death triggered off such a mass hysteria that production house, Balaji Telefilms had to cut short some of the mourning scenes to hasten the entry of the a new character Anupam Kapadia (played by Aman Verma, a popular small screen personality), claims Monisha Singh, then with Balaji and now creative director with rival UTV. Moreover, Balaji had to eventually consider resurrecting Mihir, which was an even greater surprise!

"I guess every intelligent person would try and create some masala in their shows in an attempt to try and counter another programme," says Singh. "I see it as a product of intelligent programming," she avers.

Agrees Vinta Nanda, who was earlier writer-director and consultant with Zee TV (she used to head the channel's ideation department), "Twists and turns should be part of the plot anyway. Don't forget that there is a certain malaise that creeps in with long-running serials. Twists and turns help keep the story going and are a healthy television trend. Of course, it gets fiery when competition is around."

While such last minute changes may add that much needed zing to a plot, at times, it comes at a price. For instance, the usual practice among producers and production houses is to hand over the tapes of at least three to five episodes to their channel partners in a couple of weeks in advance. According to informed sources, many of the "big names" in the business keep their channel partners on tenterhooks by not handing over the tapes and use this time to dissect the developments in other serials on rival channels and tailor-make the episode to suit market demands.

UTV's Singh says not everybody indulges in such practices. "We hand over our tapes according to the stipulated time-frame, which varies from channel to channel and show to show." At the same time, she justifies the trend in this manner, "If it positively impacts the TVRs of a show on a channel, I think it is well and fine as long as it is not done on a regular basis."

Nanda, on the other hand, attributes this practice more to "bad management" than anything else. "I rule out topicality as the issue behind this practice. Topicality would apply more to news- and current affairs-based programmes and not hackneyed serials. I think this stems more from the fact that we not only look up to our audience for viewership but also for ideas," says Nanda, who was the writer and producer of the serial Tara on Zee TV. "Those times were different," asserts Nanda in a nostalgic tone. "Today, people seem scared to experiment, and want to put in their money only when they are sure it will reap rich rewards."

Shradha Kulkarni, executive producer of The Simply Shekhar Show, has this to add, "Successful twists have always existed. That's what makes a programme interesting. Right now it appears that Ekta (Kapoor) is the frontrunner in the art because most of her shows appear across channels. But the fact of the matter is that it is a fairly common trend and, above all, it works." © 2002 agencyfaqs!