Zee on the top of the charts

Last year wasn't a good year for Zee as far as TRP figures were concerned. Star Plus, Colors and Sony were forging ahead of Zee. 2012 however has a different story to narrate. Zee has been steadily rising. This week Zee is on the top of the charts even beating Star Plus. The main reason? The DID Lil' Masters Finale fetched the channel a whopping 8.0.

Judge Marzi Pestonji of DID Lil' Masters Finale told us, "Viewers find this show inspirational. In Jhalak Dikhla Jaa we do see stars dancing, but they are first and foremost stars and then dancers. However DID Lil' Masters is after all about pure talent."

We have often heard from producers that weekends are a weak TRP slot for fiction. Of late, this prediction has been proved wrong on Zee. Fear Files on Zee has been doing quite well on the weekend slot. This week the TRP was 3.1 on Saturday and 2.5 on Sunday. Zee has brought back the supernatural genre on Zee TV with a bang. What makes Fear Files a success is that it's based on true stories. The people who have actually experienced the events narrate the stories adding credibility and a paranormal expert explains the supernatural happenings.

When Pavitra Rishta had undergone a generation leap- the popularity of the show had dipped. However it has got back some of its loyal audience. Lead actress of Pavitra Rishta Ankita Lokhande explains, "For a while negativity had crept into the Pavitra Rishta track. The positivity is coming back now. Nobody wanted to see Archana's kids abusing her. Archana's kids are now accepting her. Arjun and Purvi's engagement went down well with the audience. Soham's return was also welcomed. This has made our show hike in popularity." 

Punar Vivah on weeknights on Zee TV is giving ZEE TV good TRP. It helped ZEE TV to shoot up its TRP. Producer Sumeet Mital has this to say on the popularity of the Punar Vivah. "Definitely the viewers are identifying with the show and it is working, else we would have been rejected by now. We have not added masala in this sensitive issue of remarriage at all. Genuine emotions have added to viewer's positive response."

Producer and writer of Punar Vivah Shashi Mittal adds, "We have handled the subject with utmost sensitivity. There is no drama or unnatural track. It is very humane and anybody who has been through the experience of remarriage or knows somebody who has had the experience will connect. We do get feedback about how authentic we are in our story telling."

Channels seem to be opening up the Sunday morning slot. Like Satyamev Jayate was simulcast on both Doordarshan and Zee, now Ramayan is being telecasted at the same time slot on Zee. Before Ramayan went on air the TRP at the Sunday 11am slot was at 0.6, it has now hiked to 2.7. Raghuvir Shekhawat of Ramayan admits that Ramayan nowadays can't weave the same magic that it did in the 1980s on Doordarshan. He explains, "The young generation nowadays doesn't know about Ramayan. We, our parents and grandparents knew about it. Also at that time we had no other choice but to watch Doordarshan's Ramayan as we just had one channel. Moti Sagar wanted to make this Ramayan like his father had. This version is however much better. When I write it I make sure that it imparts a social message."

The Zee Gold Carpet Awards could have done better. The average TRP was however just 3.0.

It's to be seen how Zee fares in the weeks to come. With the curtains falling on DID L'il Masters; Zee will be dependent on its fiction shows for TRP. Phir Subah Hogi which was doing quite well has dipped this week.

Author: Pallavi B.