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No Fear No Favour

Is Logical TV Series Dying A Slow Death?

What was poised as to change the way the Indian TeleVision produce and consume content, Nikhil Advani’s POW- Bandhhi Yudh Ke was released with a view to send massive shockwaves as how Indians consume contents. What mounted like a feature film, was an official remake of the Israeli TV drama Hatufim a.k.a Prisoners of War is one of the most expensive tv serial produced in India of an approximate budget of 35 crores.

POW was shot in 90 locations with a crew of about 150 members. But as two months have passed, the ratings of the show, which started on 7 November 2016, aren’t exactly encouraging.

According to the Broadcast Audience Research Council’s (BARC) latest figures, the ratings of POW started low and haven’t picked up in three weeks.

POW-Kargil

November 7-12 (2016) |Week 1: 0.33 (average)
November 12-19 (2016) |Week 2: 0.27 (average)
November 19-25 (2016) | Week 3: 0.25 (average)
November 25-31 (2016) | Week 4: 0.27 (average)
November 31- December 6 (2016) | Week 5: 0.23 (average)
December 6-11 (2016) |Week 6: 0.24 (average)
December 11-17 (2016) | Week 7: 0.22 (average)
December 17-23 (2016) | Week 8: 0.25 (average)
December 23-29 (2016) | week 9: 0.27 (average)
December 29 (2016) – January 4 (2017) | Week 10: 0.27 (average)

In the week from November 12-19, the series ranked low on Star Plus’ list of shows too.


Ratings of Hindi Shows on Star Plus

Saath Nibhana Saathiya 3.2
Yeh Hai Mohabbatein 3.1
Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai 2.2
Pradesh Mein Hai Mera Dil 2.0
Chandra Nandini 1.9
Naamkarann 1.5 Ishqbaaaz 1.4
Suhani Si Ek Ladki 1.3
Mere Angne Mein 1.2
Jana Na Dil Se Door 0.8
Master Chef India 0.9
POW 0.6

Though the TV series is commissioned to a finite number of episodes, 126 to be precise, the ratings merely have an impact on the show or will make any major impact on the telecast of the show.

Talking to The Huffington Post before POW debuted on the small screen, series director Nikhil Advani compared the show to regular Indian shows and said, “”Pain, suffering, sacrifice — these are emotions being depicted here as well as in the regular Indian TV shows, the ones we don’t watch because we think we’re too good for them. The only difference is that we’ve tried to present it with more subtlety and nuance.”

In August this year, another high-profile TV series – season 2 of Anil Kapoor’s 24 opened to low ratings. Perhaps the audience which could have been the target group of shows like 24 and POW are now finding bigger and better shows on video streaming platforms. And the audience left watching Indian TV isn’t charmed with subtlety and nuance – which explains why the bizarre supernatural show Naagin 2 still rules the TRP charts. Have POW and 24 fallen between the gap?

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