|
 Tu
Kahe Agar launched recently on Zee is pitted directly
against STAR Plus’ popular daily Kyunki
Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. Not only is the slot challenging,
even the story is a departure from the saas-bahu sagas. But
the makers are confident of having a winner on their hands.
This is not
a saas-bahu saga nor a kahani of “everyone’s” ghar
or a tale of an illicit relationship between jija-saali - the kind
of standard staple entertainment that viewers of satellite channels
are used to these days. This is also not an extended joint family
drama where the women play politics of kitchen. This is a love story
of a boy and two girls, where the two women are caught in the web
of destiny. With well-defined characters and focused storyline revolving
around three major characters Tu Kahe Agar which premiered on Zee
TV on April 1 is taking on STAR Plus’ stupendously successful
daily Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi.
An EDIT-II
Production, written and scripted by Praveen Raj and directed by
Imtiaz Punjabi, Tu Kahe Agar is a story of love where destiny works
in strange ways and changes the course of lives of the main protagonist
for good. To start with, it is the story of Vishal and Maya, both
deeply in love. As their respective families get together to fix
the date for their marriage, the pandit reveals that Vishal’s
kundali shows that his wife will die within six months of their
marriage. While both the families are against the relationship materialising
into marriage, Vishal and Maya defy the prediction and decide to
tie the knot of bliss secretly. But an accidental fire during the
saath pheras confirms the pandit’s prediction and they call
off the marriage.
This is when
Trishna enters the scene. She works in Vishal’s office and
knows both Vishal and Maya are deeply in love and can’t live
without each other. A terminally ill person who’s supposed
to die within six months, she proposes marriage to Vishal. He refuses
pointblank but Maya convinces him to marry Tirshna who is fated
to die soon and therefore he should grant her last wish. Vishal
and Trishna get married. That’s when the twist in the tale
begins. Trishna starts her married life like any other young woman,
full of joys, anticipation, expectations and dreams of a happy married
life. Vishal, though deeply in love with Maya, treats Trishna with
love and care as she starts sinking. Death is expected but destiny
intervenes. Call it miracle or whatever, Trishna doesn’t die
but instead recovers and starts living like a normal wife and develops
a close bond with Vishal. What happens then is the main crux of
the story and producers Sanjay and Binnaiferr Kohli prefer to remain
silent about the later part of the story.
 “It’s
an interesting and dramatic story of fate separating the lovers,”
says Sanjay Kohli, a model-turned-actor-turned-producer who has
conceived and written the story of Tu Kahe Agar. “Almost 80
per cent of the story revolves around Vishal, Maya and Trishna.
We have deliberately kept the focus on the three characters to grab
viewers’ attention because if you have too many characters
and sub-plots, viewers get confused and lose track of the story
and characters which is what is happening with so many soaps.”
Another plus point of the show, according to Binnaiferr, is that
there are no wicked witches in Tu Kahe Agar. “There are no
villains here. The only villain is the destiny.” According
to director Imtiaz Punjabi, “Some times destiny can be ruthless
and it’s the same in our serial. But when you try to defy destiny
the consequences can be dangerous and can change the course of your
life. From a totally positive person it can make you grey. Though
there are no outright negative characters here, we do have one or
two characters with grey shades to add dramatic elements to the
happening.”
But try to
tell Sanjay that the story of Tu Kahe Agar sounds more like Amol
Palekar’s film Ankahee made in the late 80s and he says he
hasn’t heard about the film nor seen it. “But then Amol
Palekar is known to have picked up good subjects and made good films,”
he observes adding that he will definitely try to see the film to
know how the subject was treated. “But a film has lot of limitations
whereas the advantage in a television serial is that one can play
with the psyche of the characters at length and explore the story
in depth. That’s what Ekta(Kapoor) is doing. So many of her
soaps are actually based on old Hindi films. But she is doing a
very good job and that’s why she is so successful.” However,
Punjabi admits that Tu Kahe Agar is indeed inspired by Palekar’s
Ankahee. “Probably the initial happenings are somewhat similar
but we have taken the story somewhere else and treating it differently.”
But the most
important fact is that Tu Kahe Agar is pitted against Ekta’s
immensely popular Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi(KSBKBT). It is
no secret that after KBC, it is KSBKBT which helped STAR Plus take
a firm lead over rival satellite channels and also created the fad
of daily soaps on satellite television. And with its recent relaunch
of the story taking a 20-year leap the show’s TRP has jumped
from 10.5 to 13.1. “Yes, we are very much aware of the competition,”
admits Binnaiferr. “There is no denying the fact that KSKTBT
is a hugely popular show. But one has to stand up and fight the
competition rather than ducking it. If in KSBKTBT, the story has
taken a 20-year leap and the focus is now on the younger generation,
Tu Kahe Agar is youthful and vibrant too.”
“Moreover,
we have fewer characters and there is no confusion. The story unfolds
in a linear pattern,” discloses Sanjay adding that they are
shooting and treating the show like a weekly. “It’s not
knock-off work like other dailies. In 20 days, we shoot just about
12 episodes which is possible for us because we have a good bank.
Also we are not shooting it in one static bungalow or set. We have
multiple locations and in every schedule we shoot for at least five
days at outdoor locales.” All said and done, what now remains
to be seen is how Tu Kahe Agar, though different in its theme, making
and treatment, fares against KSBKBT, given the fact that Zee’s
share at 10.30 pm is on a far lower side. “It’s very low,”
admits Sanjay. “But we believe in our product. On television,
first and foremost, the content is the hero and the rest comes later.
The content of our show is very strong and we hope to fight the
competition successfully.” Adds the director, “I welcome
competition because it makes us work very hard. But the fact is
that there is a lot of difference between a hit and good show. KSBKBT
is a hit show but I firmly believe that Tu Kahe Agar is a good show.
It’s not typically cliche and commercial. It’s sensitive
and close to reality.”
—A.L.
Chougule
|
