'Keep it long' is the name of the game

doweshowbellyad=0; A still from Jasuben Jayantilaal Joshi Ki Joint FamilyNow, if the headline of this article left you befuddled, try saying these in a single breath – Jasuben Jayantilaal Joshi Ki Joint Family, Aek Chabhi Hai Padoss Mein, or even Meri Awaaz Ko Mil Gayi Roshni. Left you gasping for breath, didn’t they?
For the uninitiated, these happen to be the titles of some of the popular soaps currently on air, or some that recently concluded.However many discussions there may have been on long, unwieldy and sometimes confusing soap titles, the tele-serial directors just don’t seem to give up. But looks like they don’t have much choice either, what with almost all channels airing a succession of soaps, leaving the makers hunting for suitable titles that stand out in the crowd.
Vivek Jain, supervising producer of tele serial Bidaai–Sapna Babul Ka, shares his logic: “Earlier, there was just Doordarshan, and even the serials were few. But today, we have numerous entertainment channels and, a battalion of tele-serials. A large number of production houses have got an equally huge number of tele-serials registered after some tweaking of names here or there, irrespective of whether their serial comes on air or not. That’s why we didn’t confine our serial’s name to just Bidayi, because other production houses could have got the same name registered.”
He goes on to say, “This was also the reason why we kept the name of our other show Betiyaan-Ghar Ki Lakshmi, since some other channel had kept the name Betiyaan-Paraya Dhan.”
At times, long-winding titles help the channel play safe, as suggests Jamnadas Majethia aka JD, producer of Jasuben Jayantilaal Joshi Ki Joint Family. “Today, much time, energy and money is spent in pondering over the right kind of title for tele-serials. For the title is not just a part of the serial, it is a brand name with a proper jingle and a tag-line, so that people can relate to it. We could have kept the name as Alvida, but that would have made it sound like a serious show, which would have attracted fewer audiences,” he informs.
But what happens if a serial with a descriptive title changes tack midway, we wonder? To this JD answers, “Indian audience is very flexible in that sense. If you change Mihir six times it will accept him no matter what. For, at the end of the day they want entertainment.” The actors working in such tele serials, on the other hand, accept they have no choice in this regard.
Mouni Roy, popularly known as ‘Krishna Tulsi’ of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, which introduced the concept of long names around seven years back, shrugs, “It is totally the choice of the production house. They will keep whatever name they find appropriate. We don’t have much say in it.”
But few like Ritu Choudhary of an exceptionally long titled Meri Awaaz Ko Mil Gayi Roshni, guffaws, “Alam to ye hai ki naam lete lete channel change ho jata hoga (by the time one finishes taking the serial’s name, the channel will be changed).” Know what we mean?