Chandrakanta replaces Naagin Season 2 on Colors

The hit show on Colors channel ‘Naagin Season 2’ is coming to a close giving way to another extravaganza – Chandrakanta. The fantasy tale of snakes will return with the third season and till that time the costume drama Chandrakanta will take its place starting June 24 at 8 PM every Saturday and Sunday.

The new show is a tale of love and revenge portrayed against the backdrop of magic and mysticism. Promising to be a visual treat and every fantasy lover’s delight, Chandrakanta will showcase an epic power struggle between two rival Aiyaar kingdoms, Vijaygarh and Suryagarh. Putting the spotlight on the conflicting yet fervid relationship between princess Chandrakanta (Madhurima Tuli) and prince Veer (Vishal Aditya Singh), the show is produced by Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms.

Life OK, a Star India GEC, is also running a show titled ‘Prem Ya Paheli – Chandrakanta’ though it is a different version of the show produced by Triangle Films. Earlier Doordarshan too had a successful show Chandrakanta, which many call as the original version. How will Colors maintain the differentiation in its version as ultimately everything is based on the same novel?

Raj Nayak

Raj Nayak, COO, Viacom18, said, “At Colors, we always plan what we want to do. We don’t see what others are doing. We wanted to do Chandrakanta. For us, to get the slot for the weekend prime time was a catch 22 situation, because our weekend slots were all full. Kapoor has her way of telling a story and the way it is tweaked, it’s different from what you have seen before. We have a very focused upmarket Hindi urban audience and we are sure that this will straddle in this space.”

Replacing Naagin will not be easy for any show and Nayak agrees to it. “Whenever you replace a highly rated show with another show, it is a scary thought. But if you believe in your new product, you go ahead with it.”

Planned to run for 52-week series, Chandrakanta will either run at a stretch or may go into the season format, depending on how the show performs. The show will be available on Colors and Voot. 

Nayak added, “For two back-to-back seasons Naagin has enjoyed the status of being a favourite of the viewers. The recent success of costume dramas and fantasy offerings not only on television but also in films is a testimony that our viewers have evolved, and is willing to explore different narratives. We are thrilled to collaborate with Kapoor’s creative intellect yet again to showcase a unique rendition of a story which, though has been narrated before, leaves a lot of scope for creating a cohesive viewing experience.”

The show will be succeeded by Khatron Ke Khiladi, which will be launched at 9 pm soon. The channel has also planned two more shows for the weekend slots. “We identified a few white spots in our offerings where we realised that viewers are going elsewhere to watch that particular type of content. Hence, these ‘different genre of shows’ will be launched to complete our offering portfolio,” said Nayak.

The channel is going slow on locking advertisers, since the performance of the show will command a better understanding on the rates that the show should be sold at. However, an industry observer informed BestMediaInfo.com that the 10-second slot was being sold at anywhere between Rs 1.5 and 1.8 lakh.

Chandrakanta narrates the tale of Vijaygarh’s lost princess who lost her family and kingdom to a power war waged by Naugarh’s evil Queen Iravati (Urvashi Dholakia). While many believed the family to be wiped out, an infant Chandrakanta was found in a river by a simple and loving aiyaar fishing couple in Suryagarh.

Manisha Sharma

Manisha Sharma, Programming Head, Colors, said, “As a channel, we are committed to bringing viewers a variety of entertainment – be it Naagin, now Chandrakanta or the upcoming Mahakaali that makes for edgy yet pacier storytelling as compared to the daily fiction dramas. The success of Naagin tells us that viewers still have a huge appetite for this genre and with Chandrakanta, we are scaling up every aspect of the show and making it as spectacular and thrilling as ever. True to the ethos of the channel that offers differentiated content, be it weekdays or on the weekend, we hope that this enchanting story will be enjoyed by the audiences as much as Naagin was.”

Spread across a sprawling 32,000 square feet, Chandrakanta’s sets, designed by National Award winning Art Director Chandravadan More, highlight regality and opulence of the magical realms. Three distinct zones, Queen Iravati’s darbar in Vijaygarh, Prince Shivdutt’s darbar in Suryagarh, and Chandrakanta’s foster parents’ fisherman’s shack, have been authentically created to form the perfect setting for Chandrakanta and Veerendra’s love saga. Intricately designed costumes, by Sameera Ahmad, offer a kaleidoscope of vibrant colours which add a dimension to the complexity of the monolithic and prodigious backdrop.

Kapoor from Balaji Telefilms, said, “Chandrakanta is a very special show for us and it has very big shoes to fill. We were filled with excitement over the prospect of creating this show. The plot is gritty, complex, passionate and is laced with top class VFX which will transport the viewers into alternative reality. We hope that Naagin’s ardent viewers and voracious fantasy-fiction aficionados enjoy watching Chandrakanta and support this mammoth venture.”

Chandrakanta has some of the very popular characters, including Queen Ratnaprabha, King Jai Singh, Vishaka, Djinn, Ruchi, Bheema, Champa, Kroor Singh and Shivdutt.

To promote Chandrakanta and bring this folklore directly to audiences, Colors has devised an integrated 360-degree marketing campaign encapsulating different mediums including print, television, radio, OOH, ATL and BTL activations. The channel has also designed an extensive digital campaign including #ChandrakantaKiDuniya – a 360-degree video of Chandrakanta’s magical world, #MyMagicalLoveStory – a viewer engagement initiative asking viewers to share their respective love stories in micro-fiction format, a fan e-book and Facebook canvas, and a mix of 3D GIF images, video bytes and behind-the-scenes sneak peek posts.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com