TV leaps- Age old trick

We all know about generation leaps on television. It is a great opportunity to introduce new glamourous characters, a twist in the plot or to generally shake the monotony of the daily soap rut. Well, telly land is poised for another season of generation leaps. Soaps like Kashi and Jhansi Ki Rani will be skipping a few years. CS goes behind the scenes:

Two sides
Today, the shelf-life of serials has reduced and generation leaps are introduced very early in the shows and at times as a last resort. Take for instance Aapki Antara; the show started in June 2009 and six months later the show had to take a generation leap to battle with the TRPs. However, this last resort failed and the show ended on February 18, 2010.

But the spokespersons of these channels have another story to tell. "Aapki Antara served its purpose of telling a story of an autistic girl. The leap was introduced to reinvent the circumstances and the dilemmas of her character as a grown up girl, but the story couldn't move ahead so it had to close. Even the audiences don't want the story to be stretched unnecessarily and so we are now catering to their demands," explains Sukesh Motwani, the fiction head of Zee TV.

Some success stories
Not every generation leap is a survival plan. Sahara One's Woh Rehne Waali Mehlon Ki has managed to complete 1000 episodes and is still on with two leaps having already been introduced. Another success story is Uttaran. The Ichcha-Tapasya saga is still going strong. "The leap in the show was the logical step forward for the storyline. The time leap allowed us to focus on other aspects and let us highlight the class difference between the characters and how it affected their lives," says Ashvini Yardi, head programming, Colors.

Older version
Imagine's show Kashi too is soon to see a leap where the story jumps ten years ahead. "The story is not about Kashi's childhood, it's about her journey in life and so the story must progress. It's a logical progression and not a forced one," says Nikhil Madhok, VP marketing and communication, Imagine.

Generation leaps affect the viewers and in turn can make or break the show. "If the story line is not strong enough, no formula can change the fortune of a show ufffd be it the generation leap or a change in the show time. The funda of generation leap works differently from show to show ufffd if it clicks, it clicks!" stresses Motwani.