MUMBAI: Sony Sab is all set to transport viewers to an age-old story with a modern twist. After giving three new launches this month, it is close to launching the fourth one Aladdin: Naam Toh Suna Hoga, produced by Peninsula Pictures, which will be aired on 21 August, Monday to Friday at 9 pm. Its recent launches were India Ke Mast Kalandar, Namune and Super Sisters.
Aladdin took almost a year to execute the whole story in a show, that too with the aspect of making it a family entertainment show. Peninsula Pictures co-founder Nisser Parvej said that everyone must have heard about ‘Aladdin’ but very few must have seen it. “The idea was to bring to the new audience because this generation has changed and keeping that in mind, we have made Aladdin with full masala of emotions, thrill and a complete family entertainer,” he said.
The show took a lot of research to fit it into today’s generation’s requirement. Peninsula Pictures director Alind Srivastava said, “We saw all the versions of Aladdin because we wanted to make it relevant to this generation, we just didn’t want it as a kids’ show.”
He added that the only challenges that they faced while producing the show was to get the cast correct and also to set design, costumes and the look in a contemporary style was quite difficult, which took a lot of planning and research.
Since the past one year, its attempt was to bring out compelling characters and stories as well which would help in growth. Programs like Jijaji Chhat Per Hein, Tenali Rama, Sajan Re Jhoot Mat Bolo and Tarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashmah are the shows that are working well with the audiences.
Sony Sab Hindi movies and music business head Neeraj Vyas said, “It’s just all about ideas that you select, it is not just about launching a show. It is actually the basic philosophy that derives from your thinking and strategy. The move towards more compelling content, more engaging content and more engaging characters is the way forward for the new segment,” he added. According to him, the cluster wasn’t much known for the genres other than comedy and now the channel is experimenting.
In the process of the making of the show, the only thing to keep in mind about the story was to portray it in a manner that was relevant to the viewers and also keeping in mind that today is 2018 and not 2008. Vyas said that the show’s episode run isn’t decided yet. It will depend on the performance of the show.
Vyas said that Sony Sab has observed a 20 per cent growth in viewership and advertisers. “We have also seen a good growth in terms of advertisers. A lot of people have now started realising the fact that we have moved the arc dramatically in terms of our shows and its production values. The way we have created the characters, the way we have marketed our shows, so that the arc has moved dramatically and I am happy that for the last one year, we have been able to at very conscious level become a lot more relevant in TV space than what we used to be.”
When asked about Peninsula Pictures retaining its IP rights in the near future, Parvej said, “With the onset of digital, we have certain subjects to only produce for our self and for the platform where we can retain our IPs. But sadly on TV it hasn’t started yet. We are preaching the good shows and we are trying to negotiate on those lines and we hope for the best.” The next fantasy show that will be produced by the company will be for Zee Networks as Vikram and Betal which is expected to be launched during the end of September.
Sab’s flagship show Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, the channel seems to have had a sudden downfall in terms of viewership due to the absence of the two main characters, to which Vyas disagreed and said that the characters will always be missed. “But there are certain shows that are a lot more iconic, we still have a long hold on this show. The show’s viewership hasn’t been affected yet.”
