"It's the way of storytelling which differentiates stories"

Jaan is an extension to our style of Madhubala –

"Madhubala - Ek Ishq Ek Junoon has a backdrop of a movie. It's all about a life of a star but Do dil ek Jaan is a story related to the issue of migrants. The story has the issue of Kashmiri Pandits. The family in our show is compelled to leave Kashmir and what turn their lives will take after reaching Mumbai, is what the story is all about. Madhubala and Jaan are not going to be similar stories but every individual has his own style of storytelling which will be seen throughout the show. We started with Madhubala that way and Jaan is extension to the same. Everything is larger than life and the visuals are like movies. Narration will also be in the same space."

The way of storytelling differentiates one story from the other – "Around 30 shows are running on-air at this point of time on television. Every show or the other is matching each other. The thing which matters a lot is the way of storytelling. If this formula is cracked then the show will look different by default. It all depends upon how a story is narrated."

Making the show run on a 9 o'clock slot is a responsibility for us – "9 o'clock slot is a very tough one because the TRP leader show Diya Aur Baati Hum on Star Plus is there; and a brand like Pavitra Rishta on Zee TV is there. Also making the second show work becomes more responsibility as compared to the first (Madhubala) one."

Decision of choosing new comers for the show – "It was a conscious decision of casting new comers for the show because for me, Drashti Dhami and Vivian Dsena were also new comers."

Songs will take the story forward – "We have 8 different tracks which have been used in the show because we wanted the songs to take the story forward. Antara is performing in a rock band with her friends in the beginning of the show. We recorded a track for that which is shot in Kashmir. Recently, there has been an issue raised in Kashmir, where the rock bands of the girls was banned saying, girls should keep themselves away from music. It was a challenge for us that we were shooting about an issue which was banned there."

The idea of taking Kashmir as a backdrop of the story – "Taking Kashmir as a backdrop of our story was not in our mind initially. Earlier, the story was to revolve around the fact that a girl is forced to leave her hometown and come to Mumbai for some reasons. We tried to work on different issues so that we can show as to how an incident changes a families' life. We had an opportunity to raise an issue. So, we thought of making it on an issue related to Kashmir because visually, it's going to be a perfect one. There should be an entertainment factor too and I have always wanted to shoot in Kashmir."

Working with Farookh Shaikh – "It was little difficult for us to cast him in the show. When we interacted with him, he was interested, but he also had queries. He said he had heard a lot of stories of actors working for 12-14 hours. We agreed on all the conditions given by him because we wanted to give credibility to that character. If the credibility of that character will go missing, then the story won't work well. We would have chosen some other actor than Farookhji but because of the credibility factor, we chose him only. Once there was some patch up work left due to the bandh in Srinagar so we decided to create a set in Mumbai and do the patch work here only. Farookhji was required to change 22 costumes, after which he told us, ' I have never changed these many costumes for any of my shoots. It's going to be my last show and I won't be taking up any other show from now onwards whatever condition is put before me.' It was fun shooting with him and he takes the scene to a different level which will be seen easily in the show."

Working with new comers – "It's a challenge to work with new comers. Sometimes, it becomes tough to mould them in the character but they come with no baggage so it becomes easy for us to mould them in any character. Getting viewers' acceptance for the new comers is difficult. I believe that there are no 'stars' on TV; it's the content which creates a star."

Experience of shooting in Kashmir – "Shooting in Kashmir is very tough and the schedule used to be very tough. TV has limitations in aspect of the budget. Sometimes, we had to work there on jugaad."

Anwesha Kamal