There was a lot of hype around your show based on Extreme Makeover when you had announced it. However, it went on air quietly two weeks ago. Why?
That’s what happens on TV when a show is in the making for long. It’s been two-and-a-half years since we started working on it. Among the current media hypes of IPL, ...Paanchvi Pass and music reality shows, Naya Roop Nayi Zindagi is a clutter-breaking serious reality show. I think the problem is that the show was started under one set of people at Sony and is being executed under a different regime. By the time the project went on air many things had changed. Out there it’s become a battlefield of TRPs. The channel’s perspective has changed and finally I think the main problem was of slotting the show.
I know all shows are launched with a lot of hype but, for us it is working the other way round. Journalists are calling up Sony Television for more information on the show!

What was the idea behind launching this show?
The original show produced by Warner/Disney is skin-deep and is more to do with beauty stuff. We didn’t want to take that route. We wanted to take it to a higher level by taking on people who needed a real break in their lives. We have taken a holistic approach that takes into consideration not only the looks but also their dreams and aspirations.

Will you elaborate on that?
There’s Johnny from Punjab who at the age of three fell off from the roof while flying a kite and landed on his face. His jaw was completely mangled. A taxi-driver by profession, he found that nobody wanted to eat with him because his looks spooked them. Still, the guy was optimisic and spirited. He had a desire to learn English, meet an actor and drive a certain kind of vehicle. The format of the show is such that we take him away without telling his family about our plan. In seven months, we change his face and personality. We put him on a diet and excercise regime and encourage him to meet people. After seven months we introduce him to his family.
Another girl Richa wanted to meet John Abraham who is her favourite actor. John came on the sets and told her about how he had a horrible scarred face and how with exercise and diet he changed. She was deeply moved.
I think this show will inspire a lot of people.

Why did it take so long to produce the show?
This show challenged the craft of TV, the techniques and timelines of a television show.
Producing it has been a humbling experience. Usually, as TV producers we are always on the move, under pressure, working on deadlines. However, time or deadline didn’t matter in the show. If a person took three months instead of one to recover from a surgery, we had no choice but to wait. On any given day, if the candidates felt low and drained we had to just pack up and help them unburden their emotions.

Did any of the candidates feel like giving up mid-way through the show?
Yes. The thing about them is they are all victims who feel comfortable being in the state they are in. They have built defences around them and don’t want to move the prism. It is natural because it is very difficult to start life as a new person. If you watch the show you will see all this as a part of it.

At any point did Sony feel like giving up on the show?
The relationship between a producer and a channel is like a marriage. As I said, this show’s been like a mughal-e-azam for us. From discussing the idea, doing research, modifying, finishing and airing it, the show has taken the longest time. At the moment we have rounded off with 10 episodes. We have lot of ideas in and around the show and we are happy that we could do it.

Reality shows are a dime-a-dozen and frankly we are at a point when we just want to switch them off.
Suddenly reality shows are getting a bad name. That’s because you keep seeing the same people in different avatars. So much so that you end up wondering which show you are watching! It is messing up your mind. Frankly all those currently being aired as reality shows are not reality shows. A quiz show is definetly not. Just because you have a superstar on the show and somebody breaks into a dance does not mean it is reality. A reality show is completely unscripted. Nobody knows what will happen. But on all these shows there’s a feeling of things being manipulated or staged.

Yet you are producing the fourth season of Indian Idol?
It is the only format that has fresh people on the show, who grow on the viewers. It has an excellent graph. This time we have a set of new judges in Javed Akhtar, Sonali Bendre and Kailash Kher. Chang and Deepika, last year’s contestants, are anchoring the show.

Is it a new trend to opt for contestants as anchors? (Abhas, Star Voice Of India contestant, hosted Chhotey Ustad).
We had taken these kids (Chang and Deepika) along with us when we were on our rounds to different cities auditioning contestants for the fourth season. It was amazing the way the public reacted to them.
They wanted tips from them on how to prepare and some even asked for autographs. It was a different kind of chemistry between them. We realised that with top-notch TV actors, contestants feel some sort of initimidation. They perceive them to be from a different world. On the other hand when contestants anchor, they feel one with them.

Iqbal Khan’s contract with Choona Hai Asman is over. Are you looking at replacing him? Won’t it affect the serial?
At this point all I can say is that Iqbal’s contract is over. He has not quit the show. Now, it is for the channel and us as the production house decided what is to be done.

Choona... also underwent a slot change..
Yes and we are working around it.

What are the shows you are currently working on?
Besides Choona... there is Parivaar, which is doing well in its 7.30 pm slot. There’s a daily soap Kyunki...Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hai on DD. The soap is in collaboration with UNICEF and has a lot of values woven into it like the girl child, the role models for sarpanch, the right attitude etc. It is a bold initiative from UNICEF and we are proud to partner them.
We are also working on Hotel By The Bay, a 13-part reality series based on Mumbai’s Taj Mahal hotel situated at Gateway of India. It tells the stories of a set of people who represent different levels in the well-defined hierarchy from the executive chef to a front office manager and a new recruit in the laundry. The stories will reveal the ‘human’ side of the establishment. It will be aired on Discovery and Travel & Living. Then there’s the third season of Gali Gali Sim Sim besides MAD aired on Cartoon and POGO. In Kannada we have the highest-rated reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Little Champs on Zee Kannada, besides Legends.

What is happening to the GEC that you are launching with Turner?
It is a 50:50 partnership between us and Turner and we are working intensely on it. It is a seperate broadcast venture with Sunil Lulla as the CEO.

In the last one year we have seen many new GECs being launched. Is there space for more?
There’s a completely fragmented market out there and lot of avenues are opening up with the NDTV Imagine, 9X and Colors launches. There will be a complete re-alignment of programming. The huge gaps you saw between channels will be a thing of the past.

Will your channel be launched this year?
I really can’t say that now.