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"Audiences
will make time to stay glued to Jeeto Chappar Phaad Ke" |
Friday the 26th! The first
episode of Sony Entertainment Television's long awaited gameshow
"Jeeto Chappar Phaad Ke" (JCPK) will go on air and
the clock is furiously ticking away. JCPK, which marks film
star host Govinda's television debut, will be telecast three
days a week (Friday through to Sunday) targeting weekend watchers.
There's a hive of activity at Sony's corporate offices in
Mumbai's western suburb of Andheri. After all a lot is riding
on a show which Sony hopes will set the stage for the channel
to make a play for the number one position currently held
by Star Television. And at the centre of it all is Rekha Nigam,
senior vice-president, programming and production. She's here,
there and everywhere trying make sure that all is perfect
for D-Day. Indiantelevision.com managed to get her at a free
moment for a chat on what JCPK and the show's one man laugh
riot Govinda have to offer.
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So how has it been working with Govinda?
It's been quite amazing all in all. You never know what
to expect with him and his spontaneity and sheer energy
is to be seen to be believed. He's a brilliant mimic
so there's never been a dull moment when he's around.
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How has Govinda come across
as a host? And how has his interaction with the audience been?
He's very down to earth and totally transparent which is reflected
in his relationship with the audience. I'm sure this will
come across quite clearly in the shows themselves. He's also
very uninhibited in his interaction with the public, which
was a problem for us as far as the security detail was concerned.
In fact in Film City (in the western Mumbai suburb of Goregaon
where the shootings were held) he was quite happy to sit in
a chair outside instead of in the enclosure set out for him.
We had our work cut out keeping the crowds at bay.
What of his Late Latif ways?
There are all these reports of how his chronic inability to
keep to schedules is causing havoc with your budgets.
I'd like to state here that there's
been too much made of this issue. Govinda has his own rythm
of working and he has given enough of his time to the show.
If the point is that he came late on the sets it should also
be noted that at times he was willing to work way into the
night to a point where we were all pooped out but he was charged
up enough to continue. He has only once held up a shoot and
that was due to very valid personal reasons, which need not
be discussed here.
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So have you managed to
keep to your budgets or not? See,
when we take on someone like Govinda we know what the
score is so all these problems as you call it are factored
in. If we were to sign a contract with someone like
Amitabh Bachchan we would approach the whole thing differently.
Everybody has different ways of working. One has to
be clued into it and handle it accordingly.
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What about dates? The
top actors are often accused of committing to too many projects
thereby sending schedules for a toss.
Govinda committed a full month
of shootings for JCPK, which was something that had clearly
been established at the time of signing him on. From mid-December
to mid-January, JCPK was the only project he was involved
with and we canned 15 episodes in that period.
When have you scheduled the
next set of shoots?
They will be from the 12th to
26th of February.
The show was supposed to go
on air on 5 January if I'm not mistaken. Why the 20-day delay?
That is incorrect. The only other
date we had discussed was 12 January. But we finally settled
for 26 January (India's Republic Day) as the most opportune.
Speaking of budgets, the show
is said to cost Sony Rs 700 million a year. What kind of TRPs
(television rating points) will you need on an average to
make it all worth your while?
Don't ask me about TRPs and such.
My brief was to make a great show, which the public will love
and I think I have done that.
Okay, I'll rephrase that.
What sort of TRPs do you think will make your advertisers
happy?
They're already happy. (Sony
has five sponsors - Electrolux, Coca Cola, Godrej, Hindustan
Lever, Proctor & Gamble and Videocon - lined up at present
who have paid between Rs 250,000 to Rs 275,000 for every 10
seconds of air time)
Let's move on. You have slotted
JCPK in the weekend slot, which seems a good strategy in that
you avoid a head-to-head with Kaun Banega Crorepati (Star
TV's blockbuster gameshow which has set the benchmark for
the genre in India). Have you any contingency for increasing
the screening span if the show takes off as you hope?
I can't say that it is completely
ruled out because you can never be totally certain in this
business. But JCPK has been conceptualised and designed as
a weekend viewing programme and that's how we're looking at
it.
Star TV and Zee are certainly
not going to be sitting back while you JCPK readies for take-off.
We can expect a whole slew of blockbuster films from their
stables, which might just take the sheen of your show. Your
own weekend movie slots have been moved up to the 9:00 pm
slot. Have you thought of working other programmes around
JCPK to strengthen its position?
Nothing of the sort. We believe
in the show and expect it to survive on its own merits. We
have no plans to build programming around JCPK as some kind
of buffer against whatever our rivals may come up with.
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The distinct advantage
that Kaun Banega Crorepati had was in the timing.
It allowed most office goers time to get back home with
the whole family together. The weekends are much more
difficult to pin down as far as audiences go. People
go out, see movies, whatever. What do you have to say
for that?
As I said JCPK is
a great show and we believe the audiences will make
the time to stay glued.
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Talking of great shows. The
team behind it certainly couldn't be better. You have Nitin
Desai who's designed the sets, quizmaster Derek O'Brien, dance
choreographer Ganesh Acharya, music by Leslie Lewis and Ajay
Kapoor in the director's chair and of course yourself. With
such a great set of creative minds involved, the expectations
are sky-high. It's gonna be a long drop down if you guys should
fail to bring them in.
I guess the buck will have to
stop with me on that score. We've given it our best shot.
Now it's for the audience to decide.
Looking ahead. The Balaji
Films-produced Kusum is the next big project on your
plate. Will it adhere to the blueprint successfully standardised
with the super success of the film Hum Aapke Hain Kaun?
Stories built around upper middle class, upper caste Hindu
extended families and their internal politics.
I don't know what you critics
have against Hum Aapke Hain Kaun? That a film released
way back in 1994 can still have such an impact says something.
Anyway, coming to Kusum, as the name implies the story
revolves around and is about one woman. It will of course
have the sub-plots involving the characters linked to her
story.
When will it go on air?
I can't give you an exact date
on that one. (Ekta Kapoor, the producer of Kusum, has
said in an interview to the Times of India that she's
looking at a March release)
Read more
Govinda the toast as Sony launches 'Jeeto Chappar Phaad Ke'
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here...
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