I don't think you have a time now when Balaji shows ran for 7 years! Ashvini Yardi

Colors has come up with a new Saturday band of shows that covers genres the channel hasn't attempted before in the last two years. Ashvini Yardi, the programming head of the channel talks to TellyChakkar about why she felt the need to introduce these genres and also about her future plans for the channel. Tell us something about the Saturday Band… It’s called Shaandar Shanivaar where we have added a variety of shows from 8 pm to 12 pm. The slot will start with the 8 o'clock maha special episode we have every Saturday with Chak Dhoom Dhoom at 9 pm followed by Wanted High Alert and then Andhera, a horror fiction. So it's vertical branding we have done and given it a ‘day’ branding. So that's how Shaandar Shanivaar is starting on the 26th. Most of the horror shows we have had on Indian television haven’t really worked well. You think this one will pick up? Colors is not even three-years-old. The first year was a big year for us and last year we spent stabilizing the whole thing. This year we are adding on genres that are not really known to the channel eg horror, comedy. So we are exploring these genres on weekends so that we can expand our programming band. It's not like the soaps or the big shows like Fear Factor or Bigg Boss. We want to show that we can give viewers a variety with smaller shows too. Since, we are not doing bi-weekly shows we decided to give it a day branding, call it Shaandar Shanivaar following which we will come up with Super Sunday a little later in the year. You were talking about comedy and if we look at the current scenario we haven't seen quality comedy shows for a long time now. Actually, the problem with comedy is the writing. There are very few comedy writers who would rather write daily soaps. The good comedy writers are doing films so it's not really easy to find them and it's difficult to cater to the variety we have in our country. What some find funny, others may not find it. That is why you remember very few shows like a Dekh Bhai Dekh or a Khichdi. I think it is very difficult that is why I haven't attempted. What is Colors doing to give quality programming to Indian television? We need to innovate all the time and every channel has to do that but the best part is now we have so many channels and every channel is coming up with best shows. As it puts double pressure on the programming teams to kind of innovate constantly. I do not think you have a time now like then when a Balaji show would go on for seven years I don't think any soap will last that long. I think two to three years is the period you can give maximum to a daily soap. Only because everyone is giving it their best and it's tough competition, it’s time to innovate all the time. We came up with a lot of innovation; which is why it worked. I feel it would be the time now we look at the whole thing and change again. What was the idea behind getting Wanted High Alert? People do think that Colors does something that is socially relevant and this fits in that genre. As it's not crime entertainment, we are doing crime reality. Where a viewer is an active participant not just viewing like other shows. He has to pick up the phone and call. And we haven't kept any prize or anything because it would dilute the entire thing. These are genuine cases and we are getting people to call in. Mukti Bandhan and Phulwa were just launched. How has the response been? Both the shows have got fabulous response. Phulwa has made it to the top 10 but Mukti Bandhan has still not made it there. It is a very different show and Phulwa is still a Colors show as it has very rural base with a young kid as a protagonist. Mukti Bandhan is totally different and it's multi tracking which has also not been seen on Indian television. You have one protagonist story all the time but here you have multi-tracks.