From Banegi Apni Baat to Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin,Tony and Deeya Singh are known for bucking the trend. Surprisingly,their latest TRP grabber Chhoti Bahu is an over-the-top sob saga On the face of it Bhaskar Bharti,Jugni Chali Jalandhar,Mere Ghar Aayi Ek Nanhi Pari and Chhoti Bahu are as different as chalk and cheese. Bhaskar Bharti is about a playboy who turns into a woman. Jugni is a comedy about a girl who comes from the US to change the conservative outlook of her boyfriends family in Jalandhar. Mere Ghar highlights the importance of a girl-child,while Chhoti Bahu is about two sisters who get married to the same guy. Surprising as it may seem,all four shows come from the same bannerTony and Deeya Singhs DJs. While Tony remains inaccessible for interviews,Deeya enthusiastically discusses the production houses plans for the future. The duo is prolific and their success rate is high. It was with Zee TVs launch in 1994 that the ad filmmakers ventured into making fiction shows for TV. Banegi Apni Baat,the first offering from the DJ banner,discussed all sorts of taboo issuespre-marital sex,drugs and divorce and introduced many talented actors like Irrfan Khan,Shefali Shetty,Achint Kaur and R Madhavan. The serial ran for almost six years. By then many more channels had launched and Sony,in particular,was a contender for the top position. The Singhs decided to produce Just Mohabbat for the new entrant. Based on the international hit show The Wonder Years,it dealt with the growing pangs of a 10-year-old boy. The serial successfully ran for four years and launched the career of another would-be star,Vatsal Seth. DJs next big soap was Jassi Jaissi Koi Nahin,which went on to become Sonys channel driver. An adaptation of the Spanish soap,Yo Soy Betty La Fea,it was instrumental in introducing an unattractive bespectacled girl,Jassi,as the protagonist. The shows success spawned many clones. And although they arent revealing any details,Deeya says,A sequel is definitely on the cards. Another serial that came in as a breath of fresh air was Jab Love Hua,a rom-com between a city girl and a village boy. The refreshing storyline and the settinginitially it was shot in Waiwere the highlights of the serial. Today so many serials are based in villages but we have been there,done that years ago, says Deeya. Truly enough,none of their previous formulae have been repeated. Au contraire,they have decided to conform to TV soap standards with Chhoti Bahu,which is amongst the top five shows on Zee TV. The sob fest is about two sisters,one a priests daughter and the other an adopted one,married to the same guy. It has drawn the viewers in big numbers and till last week it rated at 3 with 4.76 TRPs. It proves that the serial is not one of those run-of-the-mill ones, smiles Deeya. The only glitch in this success story has been repeated complaints of non-payments or late payments to artistes and technicians,but Deeya dismisses it saying,If that was the case,no one would have worked with us. Right now,she is excited about Bhaskar Bharti,adapted from an Argentinian show,Lalola. Deeya informs that it is completely different from the original. That is an out-and-out sex comedy with innuendoes,but weve Indianised it, she elaborates. Next up is a reality show with an edge,two new shows of which one is a love story,and a feature film. Once the script is in place,we will start work on the film. But TV will remain our mainstay, smiles Deeya.
