Zee plays down on Ardhangini's sliding TRPs

For its pet project 'Ardhangini', Zee TV not only invested a huge amount on the look of the show, but also re-shot some of their previous episodes for complete creative satisfaction. However, all these efforts seem to have gone in vain when one scans through the gradually dropping TRPs of the show.

"The main story has not started yet. The concept of the show is about a beautiful girl and her problems after marriage. The real thing is that the 11O'clock slot was not substantial in our channel and we are building that slot. We are sure of the success and the TRPs are increasing," argues a confident Pearl Shah, creative director of the show from the channel. Obviously, the producers have to think on the same lines. The show's producer Kinnari Mehtaa too agrees that the real story is yet to start, "We are looking forward to Kangana and Priyam's wedding which will bring an element of excitement and newness to the show. Our main story will start with the wedding."

But then it's not only the huge production cost that makes a show popular, but the story also has to move with every episode. If the real story is starting now, then what was going on all these months?

One dissatisfied source from the creative team on the condition of anonymity says, "The story was previously like 'Bidaai' aired on Star Plus, but due to the channel's consistent pressures on making the show look larger than life, the main concept ended up being compromised upon. It was being made on the lines of 'Devdas' and thanks to too much gloss and glamour, the soul of the show got lost. Moreover the two leads are badly cast. Sudeepa Singh the lead actress who is average looking tries hard to look beautiful and be like Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. And the male lead Ajay Krish tries to act like Shahrukh Khanand ends up looking quite silly."

Pearl Sahi is quick to defend, "It was never to be based on 'Bidaai' or Devdas. I don't know why people are comparing the two. 'Bidaai' is a family drama, while 'Ardhangini' is a love story. There are few similarities like it being a story of two sisters and a few scenes, but I will like to say that our show started much before and these things happen in creative fields. I don't think all this is intentional."

On the other hand, Kinnari Mehtaa says, "We were sure that we wanted to base the show on the 'Devdas' storyboard. We knew from day one that we wanted to make a show based on 'Devdas.'

Well, we think that the producer and the channel's creative team would have to meet and decide first what they really want their show to look like, for the betterment of their 'dream project.'