Star Plus : Banking on 'Sanjivani'

Sanjivani has made its debut at a time and on a slot that's crucial to the channel.

The serial came on air exactly a week after Kaun Banega Crorepati bid adieu, leaving viewers with a choice of family soaps on rival channels. Cinevista had last year, approached Star with a concept that was novel yet had mass appeal - a series on doctors, exploring their professional and personal lives.

As the channel experiments with a variety of genres in the New Year, the one hour long weekly soap seems its best bet thus far. It has completely new faces to play the four interns, who struggle to keep pace with their image as serious medics. Fresh faces ensure that jaded viewers do not see the same faces as they flick channels. For star appeal, there is Mohnish Behl, the senior doctor who's given the charge of the fledglings, as well as Kulbhushan Kharbanda and Daisy Irani.

The marketing of the serial has been aggressive as well. Hoardings at prominent locations dot the cities, bus panels, print ads (the innovative print ads were in the shape of a red cross) taken across all metros and in the Hindi heartland. In addition, the channel distributed packets of Band-aids with the Sanjivani logo printed behind it on the morning of the launch in buses, trains and busy shopping places in Mumbai. The channel has positioned Sanjivani as a one hour slot at 9:00 pm on Wednesdays, with the intention of retaining audience interest for the later Balaji soaps too. If the strategy works, the channel will control the prime time band on Wednesdays.

The serial has already scored a march with an earlier launch over Sony's Dhadkan, a similar hospital series that is scheduled to air shortly. The decision to create a completely different hospital set for Sanjivani was taken by the channel and the production house jointly, says a spokesperson, to provide viewers with a new experience of the surroundings they dread so much. Fifty-two episodes of the serial have been cleared so far, but as Cinevista says, it is a subject that has potential to go on for many more.




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