Learning to adjust

For The Youth

General entertainment channels have always tried to attain success by catering to the entertainment needs to a wide spectrum of audience. Their programming was always a mixed bag of shows trying to capture the eyeballs of everyone from eight to 80. While most channels have been successful with this strategy, some like Real have failed.

 But if one has to name a channel that has been constantly focusing on youth-based shows and trying to woo the present generation, it will undoubtedly be Star One. While other channels tried to offer a mixed bag and cater to all categories of viewers, Star One retained its focus on youth-based shows and is reaping rich dividends now. Almost all the popular youth-based shows on television today — Dill Mill Gayee, Mile Jab Hum Tum, Love Ne Mila Di Jodi and the new Hum Dono Hai Alag Alag — are being telecast on Star One.

In fact, Hum Dono Hai Alag Alag has created quite a rage amongst the nation’s youth. Says Hemal Thakkar, theatre actor-turned-producer of the show, “The idea of this show originated within the creative team of Star One. They approached me with it and asked whether I would be interested to make a show based on this theme. I agreed immediately and passed the idea to the creative team of our production house, who started crystallising the idea and converting it to a serial.”

Produced by Playtime Creations (a company owned by Hemal Thakkar, Swaroop Sampat and Paresh Rawal), this new show is about the love life of two brothers Varun and Aditya, set against the backdrop of a traditional Gujrati family. The elder amongst the two, Varun, is simple, soft spoken, polite and scared to try out anything new. He joins the family business of selling saris ands leads a mundane life. Everything was predictable about his life, until he met Avantika, a dreamer who believes in living life at its fullest. She is just the opposite of Varun and it would be really difficult to think of the two together. But Cupid strikes, and the two fall in love and get married.

Aditya, on the other hand, is charming and outgoing. He is always trying to convince his father with his innovative business ideas. Adi, to all his friends, is suave and street-smart. In every possible way, he is just the opposite of his elder brother. He’s always been in love with attractive and modern girls, but as luck would have it, destiny ties him up with Rajeshri, a quiet, homely girl who believes in putting others’ needs before hers. A traditional girl whose objective in life is to keep her husband happy, Rajeshri is quite the opposite of what Adi would have had in mind.

Hum Dono Hai Alag Alag is about these two mismatched couples and how they manage to live under the same roof. The show is about their marital journey, and how they try to make things work in their marriage. The producers feel that they are sending a very important message through this to the youth of the country, that of the need to adjust in relationships. With divorces due to frivolous reasons increasing rapidly, this definitely is a message Indian youngsters can do with.

“It was a big challenge working on the characters. Once we finalised on the characters internally, we hunted down a writer to tie the loose ends. He also worked overtime to make sure that we have a ready script for shooting. Right from the initial days, we were confident about the success of the show,” recalls Hemal, when asked about the initial days of the show.

“But the real challenge was in finding the right people to play these roles. We had worked so hard on the script that we just had to find the right faces to bring the characters to life. In fact, it was due to the casting problems that the show got delayed. We went to Delhi, Pune and a number of other cities to conduct auditions and find actors for the lead roles. But as luck would have it, we found them in Mumbai after concluding our search all over the country,” explains Hemal.

“But it was worth the wait,” says Manish Raisinghani, who is playing the role of Adi, the lady-killer who has been paired with Harsha in the serial. “I am pretty sure that our on-screen chemistry will be liked by the audiences. Though every time before the shoot, the director reminds us of the fact that as per the story, we are not supposed to have a good chemistry!”

Yash Pandit, who had an aborted attempt at a film career with Rok Sako To Rok Lo, is playing the role of Varun, while Dimple Jhangani is playing the role of Avantika. Hum Dono Hai Alag Alag is also the first show to come up with a blog. “It is a great channel to interact with the viewers of the show. We get instant reactions from our viewers. I personally look after the blog, the feedback and posts,” says Hemal.

The show is being aired on Star One, every Monday to Thursday at 10 pm.