TOI why India doesnt warm up to 2nd season soaps

They say you can't recreate magic because it's a once-in-a-lifetime thing. So even if you copy a blockbuster formula that's worked once and hope for an encore, the rules of Indian telly soaps say that fictional shows seldom find a connect with even their faithful followers in the second season. In the west, TV soaps have successful track record of running into several seasons and viewers have lapped them up. In India, fractured TV viewership means, audiences are often a fickle lot and don't find any connect with a fiction series once the show's off air. 

Hindi GECs have tried to cash in on successful franchises and turn them into new seasons ' in the past Kitani Mohabbat Hai 2, Baa Bahoo Aur Baby 2, Na Bole Tum Na Maine Kuchh Kaha: Season 2, Instant Khichdi, The Buddy Project season 2, Chhoti Bahu 2, Sanjivani season 2 (Dill Mill Gayye), Dill Mill Gayye 2 and Punar Vivah - Ek Nayi Umeed but none of them have managed to live up to the standards set by the first season of most shows. Reportedly Ekta Kapoor also had plans to introduce a second season of Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi... but she wisened up and gave up on the idea. Goldie Behl and Siddharth Malhotra have also reportedly toyed with the idea of fresh seasons of Remix and DMG due to request from fans, but gave up on them eventually. 

The year 2013 is already abuzz with news of fresh seasonal reruns ofIss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon? -Ek Baar Phir, while in the pipeline are Mann Kee Awaaz...Pratigya, Dil Se Di Dua... Saubhagyavati Bhava?, Saas Bina Sasural, Kuch Toh Log Kahenge. In almost all the second seasons, most of the cast and crew have been replaced by fresh set of actors, in some cases like IPKKND 2 even the storyline and the lead couple are new. 

Actor-producer-director J D Majethia who has done seasons of Khichdi and Baa Bahoo Aur Baby says, "When one introduces a second season with a difference, the character growth has to be correct. While introducing a new flavour, it is important to retain the original flavour and the way the audience have perceived the character in their minds. A gradual growth of characters is important and if that is missed then everything goes for a toss. Across the globe audiences love the characters and not the story line. At the same time we also do leaps in the first season so much that nothing is left for the second season. Seasons are a new concept here, and in India we do a season when our show graph is declining, while in the west everything is pre-planned and it happens when they are at a high point."Ask the actors who have done seasonal shows and Avinash Sachdev who was seen in Chhoti Bahu 1 & 2 and will now doIPKKND 2, says, "The main difference between the west and us is that the west audience stick to the concept and story line while in India instead of concept and story, audience get attached to the actors. If you change the lead couple, Indian audiences are just not ready to accept the show." 



Boredom in first season of a TV show is also one factor that plays an important role for audiences to get de-addicted from shows. Broadcasters run the show for as long as possible and that is when the audiences generally get bored in the first season only because they are dragged to a saturation point. It is prudent to end a show when it's popular and can have a logical closure, so that the audiences will naturally wait for the second season. Channels need to brush up on this, do their homework well and understand all this instead of bowing down to fan pressure and hurrying up to cash in on a show franchise's popularity. Producer Sudhir Sharma says, "We've not been able to do a proper season 2 of fiction shows in India yet. When it was pre-decided that Na Bole.. would have a season 2, we decided to end season 1 at a particular point and then reintroduce it again. Showmakers sit to launch a new show and then suddenly decide to do a second season of a successful show. In India when a show's fortunes fluctuate, we come up with a new season, we need to plan things properly." Barun Sobti who catapulted to superstardom as Arnav in IPKKND, says, "I was lucky to be a part of Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon? and have very fond memories of the year and a half that I shot for it. I always believed that it's the storyline that was the biggest plus, it'd be interesting to see the second season, I hope it does well and everyone likes it." 

What about the millions of fans who crave to have a seasons of their favourite shows with their favourite actors and Majethia says, "Indian viewers are not loyal. They like to watch shows which are airing at that moment." Sudhir says, "Viewing habits are different in India. We need our TV time from 7-11 pm, while in west people watch their show on any medium ' computer, mobile, laptops. A recent study mentioned that the sale of TV sets in increasing tremendously in India while in the west it is decreasing." 

In showbiz however, every show is as good as the TVT it gets and if seasonal returns can promise that to a fiction show then, expect more to follow suit. 

Baa Bahoo Aur Baby Season 1: August 5, 2005 to March 28, 2009 Season 2: August 29, 2009 - February 21, 2010 Characters: Most of them were retained The second season couldn't impress the audiences much and so had to be off air in few months. 

Chotti Bahu - Sindoor Bin Suhagan Season 1: December 8, 2008 - September 17, 2010 Chhoti Bahu - Sawar Ke Rang Rachi Season 2: February 15, 2011- May 18, 2012 Characters: Most of them were retained The second season failed to strike a chord with the audience (unlike the first season) because of change in backdrops and overall feel. 

Dill Mill Gayye Season 1: August 20, 2007 - 2009 Season 2: 2009- October, 29, 2010 Characters: Characters were completely changed. Only Mohnish Behl who played the role of Dr. Shashank Gupta and Iravati Harshe, who played Dr. Smriti Malhotra/Gupta were retained. l The second season didn't worked as (Karan Singh Grover and Shilpa Anand) weren't a part of the second season, and with the leap and introduction of more characters the show had a major down fall. 

Kitani Mohabbat Hai Season 1: August 20, 2007 - October 29, 2010 Season 2: November 1, 2010 - May 26, 2011 Characters: The lead couple (Karan Kundra and Kritika Kamra) were retained. The entire story line and plot were completely changed and that is why it didn't click with the audiences at all. 

Khichdi Season 1: September 10, 2002 - 2004 Instant Khichdi Season 2: September 10, 2002 - 2004 Characters: Most of them were retained After the second season (Instant Khichdi), a film was released on the concept of this TV show, Khichdi The Movie. But the movie did not do well at the Box Office. Sometimes, being 'small' helps. 

Na Bole Tum...Na Maine Kuch Kaha Season 1: January 9, 2012 - October 5, 2012 Season 2: January 14, 2013 - ongoing Characters: Lead couple Kunal Karan Kapoor (Mohan) and Aakanksha Singh (Megha) were retained. A leap took place in the second season and lots of new and young characters were introduced in this season to add more flavour to the show. But it failed to recreate the magic and now there are talks of a third season. 
Edited by ...RamonaG.... - 10 years ago

Itna lamba article kyun hai 😆 Tfs. Edited by -MohanKiMeera- - 10 years ago

Tfs Ramo 😃 Edited by pc_pals - 10 years ago

nice article..but why are they all blaming the audience,..???dont u all think what needs to be rectified is the dumb system of trps which eats away the creativity of writers and actors...just for making money  and the channels which repeatedly interrupt with the story !!!!indian viewers also  are a problem...most of us dont connect to the story but actors...rightly said...and we react very fast...to the changes in story or actors...less patience but ...the fault is not cumpletely ours...we all need to work together but the first step acc to me that needs to be taken is remove TRPS...the dumbest system to measure a showz popularity...

The artcle has been put up well. Ofcourse it is the audience who are to be blammed for not having a proper fandom.
TRP is nothing but the reading of the no of audiences watching the show in its original slot. So if the TRP is low, it clearly indicates the lack of interest of the audience.
I HAD WATCHED A FEW EPISODES OF NBT1 and liked it to some extent. But I didn't find season 2 that catchy. So it didn't work out well. The only way you can retain audiences is that you run the show for 50 episodes and go for a seasonal break.

well seasons work ven things are pre planned - in the west season ends at high note many times suspense and carried on forward in the next season. it doesn't take leaps every now and then.

In India - they dont even have a bank of episodes cause they change story at the drop of the hat due to channel or PH interference. NBT SS2 came cause audience wanted, it was not planned, they cld have ended with Riddhima losing court case or something & started SS2 continuing from there. But instead in SS2 they show  a long leap & then for 100 + episodes dont show lead pair together- HOW DO THEY EXPECT THE SEASON TO WORK?

to an extent audience & to a large extent TRP is to be blamed. Season format is great for everybody - everybody gets  break & they can start fresh.

Lets see how 24 show comes up since they have shot for lot of the episodes without airing any. Banking episodes, planning, story are very important which is absolutely not there on Indian TV.

Originally posted by: pc_pals

Tfs Ramo 😃

Well there are so many things which plays an important role in being seasonal hit.. The most important is the story and its freshness..this lacks majorly in almost all the daily soaps, seasonal or not...after 40-50 episodes all look same and stretched..rather a carbon copy or diluted version of one or the other..characters behavior changes overnight  the main theme of show is forgotten as if it never existed.. and instead of story audience start looking for actors on the screen even if they fill the screen space with absolute nothing 😆 . there is more emphasis on actors rather on storyline and show gets boring after some time.. audience move ahead as they have plenty of options on different channels...since its all business now, everyday we see one or the other show starting and same cycle starts. ...and the continuous long running programmes dont give scope of any kind of art and brilliance to survive for a long time..we get only few glimpses of talent and art here and there on TV..🥱  we dont have time or patience to enjoy the art and pure storytelling in todays time like old times..we just wanna keep ourselves busy with our tv sets even if it shows craps..😆so we get to see on TV what we deserve..😆 A hurry curry or instant tasteless bhel puri..😳

agree to the T - pcpals

i agree to the fact that NBT season 2 wasnt as good and awesome as NBT season 1 which had intense moments.

i dont now abt other secnd seasons but NBT season 2 was also the best as compared to other second season shows.
NBT2 also had some very awesome cherishable moments which have left a deep impact on our hearts.

im eagerly waiting for season 3 as well😃

Well if i think in this direction, i watch a lot of western shows and absolutely love them. I think the problems in india are a lot. First is the trp system, which makes evryone run after the same old crap with some changes here and there. Second is the audience. I still don't think that indian audience is still evolved from the crap saas bahu soaps. That is why we see serials with the same old a good wife and a bad wife fighting it out. And i see such serials with good ratings. The last thing is our directors and producers. They think of introducing a new season when the show starts going downhill and when the new season is introduced most of the audience is left. And another thing is whenever there is a different seaaon we see a complete different story and not a continuation of a previous one (nbt is an exception) and that is why people loose the connect. The makers should plan all this in advance if they want a new season and when they have to close an old one..

Rofl these guys keep recycling old stuff!