Bring on the reboots
What started with the announcement of three major reboots last year — Sarabhai vs Sarabhai; Hum Paanch; and Khichdi — has now become a mini-tsunami of iconic shows finding their way back into people’s drawing rooms or laptop screens. Right now, there’s plenty of excitement over the reboot of producer Ekta Kapoor’s popular show, Kasautii Zindagii Kay, after 18 years. Therefore, the stakes are really high for the new version of the show. Rumour also has it that Ekta might bring back yet another of her iconic shows, Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii. The reboot is likely to start from where the show ended a decade ago, and Sakshi Tanwar, the original protagonist, could be the narrator this time.
Ekta says, “For Kasautii Zindagii Kay 2, we’ll have a huge amount of nostalgia to live up to. I feel that it’s worth it, because getting a show with established characters, especially one with a plot like Kasautii..., gives you a bit of an advantage when you begin. Of course, the disadvantage is that the audience will always look for the old characters in the new ones, and will always remember Kasautii... far more fondly now than they did then when they saw it earlier.”
The name of a show is often tweaked for a reboot. Hum Paanch came back as Hum Paanch Phir Se; Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon had a sequel titled Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon — Ek Baar Phir; the supernatural drama Naagin is already running in its third season; Na Aana Is Des Laado returned as Laado 2: Veerpur Ki Mardani. While some clicked, others fizzled away. Yet, it’s evident that the trend itself is gaining momentum.
TV producer Rajan Shahi, who was toying with the idea of making a sequel to the hit show, Bidaai: Sapna Babul Ka, calls the “lack of brand names” as the reason why reboots are the next big thing. “In today’s time, shows on TV are going off air [in very little time] and there’s very little recall value. Somehow, they’re not able to sustain [themselves] for too long, unlike earlier, where you would name a show and people could immediately recollect it. Hence, broadcasters are calling the makers to create a brand name again.”
However, Rajan is quick to add that while there might be a big initial hype, “it’s not that every sequel or brand name will work. In a reboot, you not only have to reach out to the previous fan base but also cater to a new audience and the new generation with a new taste.”
Hina Khan, who is reportedly playing Komolika in the sequel of Kasautii..., feels that audiences have a lot of expectations from reboots. “Viewers always imagine a particular character in the same light as what they’ve seen earlier. That’s why they use this term ‘reboot’, which means it’s going to be new and fresh but with a somewhat similar style of storytelling,” she says.
Assessing the risks and challenges, Ekta says, “It’s always considered a very big challenge to take up a reboot, because you never end up reaching close to the classic. But remakes like these will create the natural curiosity in the audience that TV has stopped creating for a very long time.”