Points of View: Is there life after the ‘saas-bahu’ serials?

It’s Balika Vadhu that’s topping the TVR charts now. afaqs! takes a look at whether this spells the end of the 'K' serials

The two top TVR garners, the long-running Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii, have come to an end. More such audience pullers are winding to a close. What will TV look like now? Some industry leaders speak their mind.

Rameet Arora

Marketing head, Colors

Much has been said about the ending of eras and the emergence of stars. But to my mind, there’s only one thing that’s started, ended and remained true… it’s the choice of the remote wielder. Kahaani… and Kyunki… stayed in millions of Indian homes for years – full credit to them for having survived and succeeded.

Now, there’s a new generation of shows and stories that have laid stake to the popularity ratings. Good for them. Shows such as Balika Vadhu only reflect the willingness of Indian women to accept and enjoy fresh, untold stories. They’re not only pushing the existing fare harder, but also giving many others the courage to think differently, push the envelope on entertainment and abandon the stereotyping of successful programming. Most importantly, the words “fresh” and “entertainment” are finally becoming part of the same brief. As far as the end of the ‘K’ era goes, the show that started the beginning of a story called Colors had three Ks: Khatron Ke Khiladi. Maybe it’s not as over as we think it is.

Nilanjana Purkayastha

Business head, SaharaOne TV

Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’s end signals the end of an era, the end of a trend that has dominated television for an impressive eight years now. Just as Kyunki… was the harbinger of the trend of ‘saas-bahu’ serials, as they came to be known, its end will usher out the many replicas it spawned.

All trends die and it is commendable that this trend lasted for so long. As for Balika Vadhu, there is no arguing with its meteoric rise. However, whether it will become a trendsetter will depend on how long its success lasts, and whether the flavour of its story telling can be replicated by others, or even repeated by the same team.

Ashok Abraham Cherian

Vice-president, marketing, UTV Bindass and Bindass Movies

It would be too much to expect that the general entertainment channels will replace the ‘historic’ ‘saas-bahu’ sagas with cutting edge television concepts and formats. The dinosaurs may have been phased out, but the GECs will definitely be trying to create new unreal first families of TV. And the Indian viewers’ strong family experiences/ traumas will continue to keep the ‘saas-bahu’ shows top of the pops.

It’ll be tough to constantly find new stereotypes though, as they’ve scraped the bottom of the barrel with everything from ageing ‘bahus’ to pre-pubescent ones. Slowly, but certainly, viewer fatigue has set in. Audiences will want individual niches and clutter breaking concepts.

A good example is Bindass’ Cash Cab. Here, unsuspecting commuters hail a normal city cab only to realise that the cabbie is also a quizmaster and they are on national TV, being recorded live by cameras in the cab. And by merely answering spot quiz questions correctly, the passenger goes home with Rs 20,000 in cash. The good news is that the show has found both great buzz as well as an astute sponsor in Airtel.