There are all kinds of records being made and broken but ever wondered whether popular daily soaps which have an audience consisting mostly of mothers and females who never get tired of it, actually might be a record in itself? Yes, daily soaps such as Balika Vadhu which ran for eight years and the first to complete 2,000 episodes entered the Limca Book of Records for being the longest running fiction soap in Hindi.
Unlike the West, which has seasons for their daily soaps, the Indian small screen believes in the marathon run of popular daily soap and thus the birth of the mega serial concept. Even Kannada TV has a long list of serials that ran for years and some which are still on the run! Bengaluru Chronicle reports. “One of the main reasons some popular daily soaps run for more than 1,000 episodes stretching for more than two to three years and some even for five years is mainly because of content. This holds good for the ones in the past, predominantly based on women issues and a middle class riding high on family values that kept the audience hooked on. They were never unnecessarily dragged on,” says Ashwini, a daily soap writer.
Now, it is all about costumes, attire, and make-up, she feels. Swetha, a second PUC student says, “My mother is a big fan of these long-running serials. I always wonder how a serial can run for more than four years. It is amazing though I have failed to understand that. For instance, Puttagowri Maduve started when I was in high school, and it is still running, and I guess it is here to stay for some more years considering that it is the remake of Hindi soap Balika Vadhu, which ran for eight long years, and eventually made it into the Limca Book of Records.
Srinivas, the director feels that the characters and the plot make the audience follow such serials till the end. “Many times, some mega serials end abruptly for several reasons, and one of them could be the decision of the TV heads to make way for a new concept while fighting for supremacy in television ratings. A majority of the present serials are simply dragged on because they are afraid of losing their loyal audience. Hence, many serials are also telecast during prime time. The audience tends to lose interest if the timings are varied,” he adds.
Karthik, a techie on a lighter note points out that a female protagonist was shown as pregnant in one of the longest running serials for more than a year! Whether you like it or not, they just keep running until they come to a halt. Nobody including the cast and crew is aware when this elusive end is!
