Indian audience is extreme in its tastes: JD Majethia

"Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai", one of Indian television's most loved shows, is back with its highly- anticipated second season and producer JD Majethia says it was only possible because fans never let it disappear from the public memory.
Majethia says he feels lucky that the series enjoyed a cult following, especially with the young audience getting hooked on to digital platforms like YouTube, after the show went off air in 2006.
"Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai: Take 2" started airing on Hotstar from May 16.
"Indian audience is extreme in its tastes. If they dislike something, they will not take any time in bashing it and the show will be stale news in no time.

"But if they love something, like in happened in case of 'Sarabhai...', they will never let it go. It's their love that has brought us this far," Majethia told PTI in an interview.
The TV series, which boasts of acting powerhouses like Ratna Pathak Shah, Satish Shah, Sumeet Raghavan, Rupali Ganguly and Rajesh Kumar, stayed alive in the public conscience in the form of funny memes and collection of Rosesh's insipid yet catchy poems.

"Rosesh's poetry is perhaps more famous than the works of many illustrious poets in our country," Majethia says.
The producer, who is more recognisable as Himanshu in another hit family comedy "Khichdi", says being a finite series worked in the show's favour.

"In long-running daily soaps, we do not have time to work on the script or performances as much as one would like to. Any good quality work in a creative field requires a lot of time. One has to give time to create iconic shows."
Majethia says non-layered characters are offered to the masses in soaps, which the people tend to accept overtime as they love the characters. But that is not the case with comedy shows like "Sarabhai...".
"The kind of response, love and respect this show has garnered, the second spell deserved to be made with all the more care and attention."

Majethia says it is difficult to please today's audience as they are more aware, thanks to the internet.
"The viewers have seen a lot - they have world-class content a click away. They didn't have that much exposure 10 years ago. So, it has got tougher now."
The producer-actor says digital platform was the best option for "Sarabhai..." return, which has been co-directed by Deven Bhojani and Aatish Kapadia.
"Lately, a shift has happened. People have switched to digital for comedy - 80 million, no less."
Majethia says the fan-favourite sitcom was created in such a way that it was "ahead of its time".

"We made it like that. You have to take couple of steps forward if you want to do something new. It's a daunting, inspiring task but it takes TV in a new direction. Forget others, you yourself want to rise upto another level."
The producer, who has his roots in theatre, says they always strive to do something new.
"There's no fun in doing something that has already been done. After 'Khichdi', we wanted to break the image that every Gujarati family is like Hansa and Praful's. That's how the sophisticated, upmarket Sarabhais came to be.