Small screen apes big; creativity down the tube

Where has all the creativity gone, wonder television viewers who find that an increasing number of soaps have annoyingly familiar stories, taken from one Bollywood blockbuster or the other.

Where has all the creativity gone, wonder television viewers who find that an increasing number of soaps have annoyingly familiar stories, taken from one Bollywood blockbuster or the other.

From "Kya Huaa Tera Vaada" to "Hitler Didi", many serials are taking a cue from the movies, whipping up storylines and adding some small screen flavour to keep the track going for as long as possible.

The twists and turns in "Kya Huaa Tera Vaada" are akin to Salman Khan's "Biwi No. 1"; the latest track in "Main Lakshmi Tere Aangan Ki" reminds viewers of the wife selling the husband in the Anil Kapoor-Sridevi starrer "Judaai".

If in the 1997 "Judaai" Sridevi sells her husband to Urmila Matondkar to become rich, in "Main Lakshmi...", the protagonist Lakshmi sells her husband Arjun to his ex-flame Soumya to bail her in-laws out from a financial crunch.

In Ekta Kapoor's "Kya Hua Tera Vaada" about an extra marital affair, Pradeep (Pawan Shankar) decides to move in with his ex-flame Anushka (Mouli Ganguly) and divorce his wife Mona (Mona Singh). The way Mona is handling the situation bears uncanny resemblance to how the wronged wife (Karisma Kapoor) reacted in "Biwi No. 1".

"As a writer, when we keep writing stories and there are times when it comes to a point 'now what?' Then producers and writers take the decision that such a story can be incorporated and we tend to experiment with the storyline," said writer Rajesh Joshi, who has penned shows like "Kyunki S", "Kkusum" and "Pavitra Rishta".

"Though it might prove to be a TRP safety measure to some extent, one isn't sure how prominent will it be. The success depends upon the popularity of the show and its characters and how we incorporate it (new storyline) in the script," he added.

Mona admitted that the story of "Kya Hua..." and ""Biwi No. 1"were similar but said the treatment was different.

"To a certain extent I agree because the man did have an extra-marital affair and there was infidelity (in the film). But that was a three-hour movie and it got over, but this is a serial and it will last for one or two years at least."

The story of Life Ok's show "Dil se di dua.Saubhagyavati Bhava?" is close to "Daraar", which starred Juhi Chawla, Arbaaz Khan and Rishi Kapoor. In the serial, Karanvir Bohra plays the over-possessive and violent husband, Harshad Chopra is the saviour and Sriti Jha is the distressed wife.

Zee TV's "Hitler Didi" recently wrapped up a track, which was loosely based on the film "Khosla Ka Ghosla", where the protagonist Indira's father sells the family home to a builder without telling his family. And how she fools the builder to get the house back. The serial has lots of incidents similar to the hit film.

The trailers of the forthcoming "Rab Se Sohna Isshq", to be aired on the same channel, shows a guy trying to reunite with his newly wed wife with her lover, pretty much like Ajay Devgn wooing Aishwarya Rai in "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam".

If that is not enough, news is that TV czarina Ekta Kapoor is planning to make a show based on Shah Rukh Khan-Kajol starrer blockbuster movie "Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge".

She is even planning to bring the epic romance of "Jodhaa-Akbar" on the tube.

There is therefore no fixed time to end a show and to keep the story going, makers have to introduce new tracks, says director Ravindra Gautam.

"In a film, you tell a story in three hours and wrap it up, but in television shows you don't know for how long would the show go on? How many tracks can you incorporate?

"There are very few combinations when it comes to making a TV show. The volume of television is much more than films. There are times when the stories go out of stream and then you think of different tracks."

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Shah Rukh Khan Thumbnail

Shah Rukh Khan

Salman Khan Thumbnail

Salman Khan

Ajay Devgn Thumbnail

Ajay Devgn

Anil Kapoor Thumbnail

Anil Kapoor

Juhi Chawla Thumbnail

Juhi Chawla

Karanvir Bohra Thumbnail

Karanvir Bohra

Pawan Shankar Thumbnail

Pawan Shankar

Mouli Ganguly Thumbnail

Mouli Ganguly

Urmila Matondkar Thumbnail

Urmila Matondkar

Ekta Kapoor Thumbnail

Ekta Kapoor

Arbaaz Khan Thumbnail

Arbaaz Khan

Harshad Chopda Thumbnail

Harshad Chopda

Sriti Jha Thumbnail

Sriti Jha

Rishi Kapoor Thumbnail

Rishi Kapoor

Kkusum poster

Kkusum

Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi poster

Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi

Main Lakshmi Tere Aangan Ki poster

Main Lakshmi Tere Aangan Ki

Dil se di dua.Saubhagyavati Bhava? poster

Dil se di dua.Saubhagyavati Bhava?

Kya Huaa Tera Vaada poster

Kya Huaa Tera Vaada

Hitler Didi poster

Hitler Didi

Pavitra Rishta poster

Pavitra Rishta

Star Plus thumbnail

Star Plus

Sony TV thumbnail

Sony TV

Zee TV thumbnail

Zee TV

Life OK thumbnail

Life OK

Comments (118)

Karanvir u rock as Viraj! Ur da highlight of this show!!!!

11 years ago

HC you rock no matter what ... God bless you

11 years ago

Harshad and the rest of the cast make this show watchable not the weak writing

11 years ago

watching SB only for u.Harshad rocks as Raghav.u r amazing & mindblowing actor.love u...

11 years ago

Doesn't matter! Dsddsb hav the best cast n I love to watch it
Harshad Chopra rockss!

11 years ago

ah what ever...as long as the serial is interesting im watching it,,,,,who cares if the track is copied frm a film...i barely even remember wht KHOSLA KA GHOSLA was about...

11 years ago

I m more shocked that people like this type of over cooked stories :D

11 years ago

Harshad Chopda Rocks!!!
love him a loads.
Raghav is his best character.

11 years ago

luv u harshad.. U r d best.. Keep roking as raghav..

11 years ago

Mera Harshad jaan hai Dsddsb ka!
Luv him sooo much!
N IF dis article is total pointless everystory gets It's roots frm a novel or a foreign mvie :p
N dez days all bollywood r made frm southindian mvies so plz post some sensible articles !

11 years ago

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