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TV serial titles hum popular Bollywood songs

Of late, it has become a trend to have TV serials named on popular film songs. What is driving this trend and is it here to stay?

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TV serial titles hum popular Bollywood songs

TV serial titles hum popular Bollywood songs

Of late, it has become a trend to have TV serials named on popular film songs. What is driving this trend and is it here to stay?

Surbhi Chawla | Delhi | January 30, 2012

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Balaji's new soap opera 'Kya Hua Tera Vaada' makes its debut on national television today, Sony. But what is interesting to note is the recent trend of naming serials after popular Bollywood songs.  The serial's name is based on the popular song by Mohammad Rafi and Sushma Shreshta from the movie 'Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin'.

Sony Entertainment Channel itself has serials like 'Bade Acche Lagte Hai' (which was a song in the movie 'Balika Badhu'), 'Kuch Toh Log Kahenge' (which was a song in the movie 'Amar Prem') and for that matter even 'Dekha Ek Khawab' (which was a song in the film 'Silsila').

While one of Rafi's popular songs has been used for a serial by Sony, Star Plus has picked up Kishore Kumar's evergreen song 'Ruk Jaana Nahin' (from the movie 'Imtihan') and 'Ek Hazaaron Mein Meri Behna Hai' (from the movie 'Hare Rama Hare Krishna').

Colors too had recently launched a fiction show by the name 'Na Bole Tum Na Maine Kuchh Kaha' (which was a song in 'Baton Baton Mein'). Even Life OK, which is a new channel, has a serial by the name 'Tum Dena Saath Mera', which was a very popular song in the movie 'Jurm'.

Talking about this trend, Prashaant Bhatt, Head – Fiction, Colors, says, “The title says a lot about the show and is apt with the storyline. It's an added advantage to use a popular film song as the serial title has high recall. Also, especially in the case of 'Na Bole Tum Na Maine Kuch Kaha', the crux of the show is such that even if there didn't exist a song like that we would have still titled it that way.”

Though this seems like a new trend, Star Plus had 'Sasural Genda Phool' (which was a song in the movie 'Delhi 6') on air since March 1, 2010. However, at that time it was only one serial with a title named on a film song. Today, almost every second new serial seems to be adopting this strategy. The reason seems to be that it becomes easier for audiences to relate with the serial since they are already familiar with the name of the serial and largely with the title track as well.

Virendra Shahaney, Head of Fiction Programming, Sony Entertainment Television, explains, “It is not a conscious effort to name a serial after a popular movie song but there is one definitive advantage with such titles and that is that audiences catch on to them quickly. They connect with the viewers very well because of the familiarity with the song. However, successful titles are those that are apt for the story and not just for the sake of it.”

However, Deeya Singh, Co-founder of DJ's, a creative unit which had launched popular serials like 'Banegi Apni Baat' and 'Jassi Jaisi Koi Nahin' and currently has serials like 'Choti Bahu', 'Parvarrish - Kuchh Khattee Kuchh Meethi' and 'Maryada Lekin Kab Tak' to name a few, does not connect with this trend. She says, “We have always had conceptually strong shows and always tried to be as original as possible. All our shows are very different and very strong, Like 'Parvarrish', it is a conceptually heavy serial. Songs as titles perhaps work better with love stories.”

So, is this a trend that will continue to get popular with more and more serials being named after new and old popular film songs? Replies Shahaney of Sony, “I don't think one will really look at following a particular trend; it will completely depend on the kind of story line.”

Surbhi@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

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