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The prolific professional

With four of his serials on Doordarshan and sponsors willing to put their money on his serials, Alok Dikshit has never had it so good. Enthused by his success on the national network, he has now set sight on private channels.

"When we had begun with Aparajita, our competition was with the likes of Dheeraj Kumar and Adhikari Brothers. In the first three months, we faced a lot of problems because advertisers did not come forward. When they saw the audience response, things changed"

Today four of his serials are on Doordarshan and even before his programs can manage a TRP, sponsors are more than willing to back his projects. But Alok Dikshit has come up the hard way. “I had started my career as a cameraman and editor. Then I made documentary films and have climbed up the ladder step by step. I am happy that today we have reached the position where our name is associated with good work,” says Dikshit.

The “good work” he had done earlier was inspired mainly by literature. His first commercial venture with Doordarshan was the commissioned series called Prasad Ki Kahaniyan that showcased noted writer Jaishankar Prasad’s 13 short stories. “We had gone to the interiors in North India to find actual locations and backdrops. The project was very satisfactory and most of the time we worked with stage artistes because their Hindi diction was very pure,” says the director.

He also made a short film on Mahadevi Verma and another satire on the work of Prakash Purohit. Another project that he found educating as well as challenging was the documentary on lepers. He had to live with them in their basti to shoot at length. However, the experience taught him a lot about camera angles and the art of capturing moods and emotions.

Currently, Dikshit has Aparajita, Ardhangini, Aaghat and All In All on air on Doordarshan. All these serials begin with the alphabet ‘A’. A query about this penchant for this letter brings forth a smug smile. “It’s just a coincidence,” he says airily. He has made serials by the name of Muskurahat, Talian and Hamla too. But somehow the letter ‘A’ seems to be luckier than others.

Aparajita is a daily soap and has already got 520 episodes to it’s credit. High on TRP rating it has made DD-1’s 3 o’clock time slot very popular. “When we had originally started this programme, our competition was with the likes of Dheeraj Kumar and Adhikari Brothers. In the first three months, we faced a lot of problems because advertisers did not come forward. When they saw the audience response, things changed and we didn’t have to look back,” Alok said.

Ardhangini too is a daily soap on DD-1, which deals with the subject of women. Each episode is an individual story, “although each story is not directed by me. Sometimes you will find me in them as an actor also.” Aaghat has just started on DD Metro every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. “The time given to us is 10.30 p.m. Initially we were very apprehensive because by this time not many people are tuning in on Metro Channel. But surprisingly the response has been very good. We already have sponsors and I am sure that we will be able to make this slot also very popular,” voiced the director.

Out of the five brothers, Alok Dikshit is the one who gets to direct the serials produced by them. However, he is not directing their fourth program All In All, which is on Metro channel. It is a countdown sitcom that comes on every Sunday morning from 8 to 9 a.m. They chose a sitcom because a solo countdown show can become very boring after some time. A story line provides some base and humour that works as a magnet for the audience loyalty. “It is funny. The kind of time slot we get for our program is a sure shot suicide slot. Normally a producer will not take up the challenge, but with God’s grace we not only survived but also made these slots popular for DD.”

Two daily soaps and one thrice-a-week program are a Herculean task to direct. How does Alok manage to squeeze time in for all of them? “There is nothing superhuman about it. I managed Aparajita’s 20 episodes in 17 days and Aaghat requires another 10 days shoot. Others share the burden of directing Ardhangani also. Then I don’t waste too much time on retakes. Being an editor is helpful in knowing what not to do in shooting. Lastly, we go for the senior and seasonal artistes who know their job well. It is not as difficult as it appears,” he explained.

Dikshit has also acted in Aparajita. But he prefers not to act in the serials that he is directing. According to him, directing is a tiring and demanding job. While doing both simultaneously, one appears very shabby on the screen. So acting is reserved for other serials. Currently he is acting in Raju Kher’s Sanskar on Zee.

Besides this, he is now trying to make his presence felt on private channels. “We have submitted a pilot to Zee. We are also targeting STAR. We now want to expand beyond DD. As for the time factor, if one really wants to work, it can be managed.” Well, if the work Dikshit has done so far is any indication, it will not be a surprise if he does manage it, and in quick time.

Neelam Gupta