Zee lines up 'Kumkum Bhagya' in 9 PM slot

Ekta Kapoor's new show is replacing her own 'Pavitra Rishta' at 9 PM, which now moves to the 6.30 PM slot on the channel. The new show is based loosely on Jane Austen's 'Sense and Sensibility'

Sohini Sen | Mumbai | March 31, 2014

Zee TV is back with Ekta Kapoor's newest offering. Starting April 15, 2014, the channel will be showing 'Kumkum Bhagya' at 9 PM Monday to Friday. The time band was earlier slotted for Kapoor's 'Pavitra Rishta'.

Based loosely on Jane Austen's 'Sense and Sensibility', 'Kumkum Bhagya' will follow the journey of two sisters – Pragya and Bulbul – and their mother Sarla as they go through life and love. Sarla, played by Supriya Shukla, runs a marriage hall called Kumkum Bhagya. Her daughter Pragya (played by Sriti Jha) is a hardworking, practical woman who teaches at a local college to help her mother. The younger daughter, Bulbul (played by Mrunal Thakur) is the bubbly, vivacious dreamer in the story. The story also features Shabir Ahluwalia as rockstar Abhi and Faisal Rashid as college professor Suresh.

Namit Sharma, Programming Head, Zee TV, said, “It takes an epic show to replace another, so you can imagine the faith we have in 'Kumkum Bhagya' as a property. As for 'Pavitra Rishta', it has been immensely successful for Zee. We will be shifting it to the 6.30 PM slot and we hope our primetime base will start from there itself. We needed a strong property for our evening slots, and nothing fit the bill as well as 'Pavitra Rishta'. Having said that, 'Kumkum Bhagya' is another extremely engrossing story from a Punjabi mohalla (neighborhood) in Mumbai. It talks of a matriarch and her quest to find ideal grooms for her daughters who are as different as chalk and cheese.”

“You may say the story is inspired from 'Sense and Sensibility', but I feel we have left that story far behind. We pick up from where Austen leaves us and take it forward. As always, the female characters will be contemporary and strong and will be worth a watch. It may be the same romantic story, but how we have told it is going to be very, very different,” commented Ekta Kapoor, whose shows 'Pavitra Rishta' and 'Jodha Akbar' are running successfully on Zee while 'Hum Paanch' and 'Kasamh Se' have been popular in their day.

Sohini.Sen@BestMediaInfo.com

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