STAR’s one-hour prime time slot to be down by half-hour

Since the launch of Kaun Banega Crorepati in July 2000, the 9.00 pm band on STAR Plus has been synonymous with one-hour shows on weekdays. KBC, the one-hour game show, was instrumental in changing the fortunes of the channel, helping it secure the 9-10 pm slot firmly.

Post KBC, the mantle of maintaining a grip over the 9-10 pm band rested on the one-hour weeklies – Des Mein Nikla Hoga Chand (Mondays), Kehta Hai Dil (Tuesdays), Sanjivani

(Wednesdays) and Saara Akash (Thursdays) – which were launched one-by-one in 2001 (Des), 2002 (Kehta Hai Dil and Sanjivani) and 2003 (Saara Akash) respectively.

The shows, incidentally, did enjoy significant viewership with Des emerging as the top rated C&S programme for a few weeks in 2003. Over time, though, viewer fatigue has set in and the moot question has been in connection with the replacement of these shows. Will the weekly offerings finally bid adieu?

Shailja Kejriwal, creative director, STAR Plus, reiterates that apart from the UTV-produced Kehta Hai Dil, which will conclude “sooner rather than later”, STAR has no plans to phase out the other three weekly offerings.

What it does intend to do, though, is clip the 9-10 pm band and launch a new daily show Kkavyanjali in the 9.30 pm slot on January 25. In effect, the one-hour weeklies will be reduced to half-hour shows marking a shift in the channel’s programming strategy. For the first time in four-and-a-half years, two half-hour shows will clamour for attention instead of one in the 9-10 pm band on weekdays.

Kejriwal says that it was time the weeklies got crisper. “Unlike dailies, which are moments-driven, weeklies are plot-driven, and somewhere we felt a need to make the storyline crisper,” she says.

Des, Sanjivani and Saara Akash will see the introduction of new tracks based on the storyline, while Kehta Hai Dil will bow out owing to the finite nature of the tale. “We were clear that Kehta Hai Dil will conclude because we are talking about a girl, who seeks revenge for all the atrocities perpetrated on her by her in-laws, especially her mother-in-law.”

Incidentally, Kehta Hai Dil began as the Indian-version of the hugely popular English show Picket Fences (on STAR World) in 2002. The focus, however, shifted to the daughter (Karishma) of the protagonist SP Aditya Pratap Singh a few months later with the conflict between her and her in-laws taking centre-stage when she marries into a new family.

The story at the moment is nearing its end, and what is unclear is STAR’s new show in that slot in the coming months.

Meanwhile, the soon-to-be-launched Kkavyanjali is not the out-and-out love story as projected in the on-air promos. It is, in fact, a family saga with romance and thriller elements thrown in. “The romantic element is an entry point into the story,” says Kejriwal.

The interesting bit is that former Bollywood actress Amrita Singh makes her small-screen debut with the show.

© 2005 agencyfaqs!