Women on top

In the times of dailies,coming up with an original script seems a tad difficult and hence inspiration is the key here. “I think we should be fair and admit to the fact that we do take inspiration from movies. We had clearly used Vivah as a starting reference point for Bidaai. It was done by taking the Rajshri’s into confidence about it,” says Vibek Bahl,senior creative director,STAR India Pvt Ltd. But Bahl claims that adapting a popular story is a bigger challenge too. “It is extremely challenging to take a two-hour story and make it into something where we do two hours of content every week. Here,we also need to look at the potential in characters and how the premise of the story sets them up and possibilities of interesting relationships,conflicts and so on.”

Apart from Bidaai,Tujh Sang Preet Lagayee Sajna on Star Plus bears a striking resemblance to Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Bahl retorts,“Other than Bidaai none of our other serials have been inspired from any movie. We have a robust Internal Ideas Lab that constantly brainstorms and creates concepts.”

“When you have so many serials on television,you obviously run out of ideas. The easiest way is to lift ideas,” says Bohra. But Ajay Balwankar,programming head,Zee TV,feels that Bollywood is a huge medium. Hence when something remotely similar to a film is shown on television one terms it as a rehash. Aap Ki Antara,shows a five-year-old Antara,staring at abstract things and day dreaming While this will,at first glance,remind you of Safary from TZP,the serial is very differentfrom the film,insists Balwanakar. “Darsheel played the role of a dyslexic chils,Antara is autistic. Darsheel did not grow in the movie,but Antara eventually will,” saysBalwankar

It is not just popular films that are being remade,the not-so-known ones have also found their spot in the sun. Bhaskar Bharti on Sony is one such example. “Either take the core concept from a film and weave a story around it or take important characters from a film and place them in a varied setting,” says Avni Pandey,a viewer,adding,“Bollywood is a tried and tested setting which works for the Indian audiences.” We believe that.