By Shailesh Kapoor
After what seems like ages, there’s something the core Hindi GEC viewer is truly excited about. The credit for ending the lull goes to Star Plus’ upcoming fiction show Naamkaran.
Promos for Naamkaran went on-air in the second week of August, a month before the programme’s September 12 launch. In the four weeks of the campaign, this Mahesh Bhatt-helmed show has managed to cut through, with a strong emotional tug at the viewers’ heartstrings. On Ormax Showbuzz, it has tracked better than all female-targeted weekday fiction shows since 2011. In times, when viewer interest in new GEC content is seeing an alarming drop, Naamkaran has set this record by bucking the trend.
Whether the show goes on to be a success will only be known with time. But at a campaign level, Naamkaran’s launch has been one of the best fiction campaigns in a long time. Relying on a child protagonist is not a new phenomenon, having been pioneered by Colors and then milked to death by most other channels. But in Naamkaran, the mother-daughter relationship and its associated challenges come across as deeply personal, than overbearingly social.
However, if there was one thing that stands out in the Naamkaran campaign, it’s the use of music. The show has a complete soundtrack to boast of, involving some of the best Bollywood talent of the day. The music videos give the campaign a distinctive edge, standing out by breaking the template of a GEC launch promo that viewers by now are too familiar (and bored) with.
It’s also a rare case when Bollywood’s involvement has worked for a GEC fiction show. In what clearly comes across as an interpretation of Zakhm with a gender switch (the daughter in Naamkaran was the son in Zakhm), Bhatt has lent not just his name but his experience and sensibility to the show. Whether that sensibility actually helps Naamkaran once it goes on air will be interesting to see. But it has helped the campaign in no small measure.
Naamkaran replaces Diya Aur Baati Hum (DABH), the 2011 launch that ruled the roost for a large part of its five-year tenure. DABH has not been milked dry like some of the other long-running hit fiction shows over the last decade. By resisting the temptation to stretch a blockbuster show that’s still doing average ratings, Star Plus may have inspired some of its competitors to think differently too.
The coming weeks will also see other action on the Hindi GEC front, particularly the launch of Bigg Boss 10 and Naagin 2. But for now, it’s time to welcome Naamkaran, a launch campaign that delivers by breaking a jaded template.