“Sakshi Tanwar already did what Rupali Ganguly aka Anupama is doing today,” says Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii and Imlie director

Rupali Ganguly returned to TV screens with a bang as her show Anupama topped the TRP charts within the first few weeks of its premiere. The show gained immense popularity for its women-centric storyline focusing on a housewife, who breaks all the barriers to create an identity of herself. However, Imlie director Ashish Srivastav believes that Sakshi Tanwar already did what Rupali aka Anupama is doing in her serial Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii.

Ashish discussed how the content has changed drastically these days, but it is primarily because of the audience only. He asserted, “There’s a difference in content today, but it is because of the audience. Sometimes, makers try to bring a new or different show but when the audience does not respond well, the channel or producers have to switch back to what works.

When asked to shed some light on the difference in how actors used to work at the time of Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii in comparison to today’s generation of actors, the director said, “Initially, when we started Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii, the actors were good but they became much bigger than the show. With time, they realised that whatever they were, it was because of the show only. In the current scenario, even though actors are highly paid, they value shows. It was less during 2010 to 2015.”

He further explained, “Actors today are devoted to working because they know that whatever they are, are because of the shows. They understand this. It is good for the production house and for shows too.”

While stressing the fact that actors these days are more ‘grounded’, Srivastav said, “Earlier shows used to run for 10-12 years. Therefore, with time, they used to become bigger than the shows. Now, shows run for hardly 4 or 6 months and so, everyone is grounded at work. Back then, they used to be like, ‘I will not say this’, ‘I will not stand like this’. It was a lot earlier but now it is not the case.”

o elaborate on his take on the matter, he gave the example of Anupama and said, “Even in Anupamaa, they (makers) initially presented a story of a mother and that’s how they connected with the audience. If you see the larger picture, you have already watched all of this in Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii. Sakshi Tanwar had already done everything that Anupama is doing today. After a point, all shows have similar plots. How long can you run such shows? Therefore after one or two years, even writers have less to tell. These are also the same writers who have written earlier shows too. Therefore, they keep re-writing a similar track.”

Adding more to the conversation, Srivastav asserted, “I am not saying Anupamaa and Kahaani are similar, their story tracks are similar. Sakshi Tanwar and Anupamaa (Rupali Ganguly) are two ladies who are always standing up for their families. The characterisation is more or less the same.” In conclusion, he said, “If there will be no competition, we will never try to do good or better than the other shows. It is good to have healthy competition. It keeps you motivated.