Dreaming of a Quality Television programming seems like a joke these days. While every TV show on Indian Idiot Box seems like a torture, and an avid TV viewer finds it hard to make his ends meet. There have been some brave TV Channels who began their programming with bravura. It's another thing that later they succumbed to the world of ratings and in order to escape their channel being totally shut down. Such a Channel was Star One. Star One for most of the people would be mostly known for shows like Miley Jab Hum Tum, Geet Hui Sabse Parayi, Dil Mill Gaye, Rang Badalti Odhni and a few more known soaps that mapped it into the popular zone. But here we are 'NOT' talking about those shows. We are talking about the amazing beginning programming of Star One that revolutionized the content on Indian Television in 2004-2005. True, the programming wasn't much successful on the ratings front but what It managed to do is to make those viewers smile who were looking for great content. The specialization of the programming of Star One was extensively targeted towards the 'men' following rather than women or families. Hence it offered a great variety of shows that set its league apart. Let's go down the lane 10 years back remember the channel and give out 5 reasons Why Star One has been the best in all these years while providing the content it offered.
Amazing Comedy Features : Who can forget Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai - The most successful show of Star One at that time. The show offered a great comedy in a natural flavour. Featuring an ensemble cast of talented actors like Ratna Pathak, Satish Shah, Rupali Ganguly. The show was an Instant hit amongst the masses. Ten years after its exit, It's still as popular, Heck the popularity can only be assumed that it was released straight on DVD wow ! It's a shame that despite it's success, the makers never thought of bringing it back. While Sarabhai entertained, Instant Khichdi tickled our bones featuring the same cast from the original Khichdi. Although, this series wasn't as successful as the original but was appreciated nevertheless. If that's not enough we had the Laughter Challenge that set new standards of stand up comedy, Now every show based on laughter seems like a joke itself. The Great Indian Comedy Show too deserves a round of applause for spoofing bollywood, cricketers, politicians heck ! We miss it so much don't we !
Taut Thrillers : If Comedy was the strongest asset of Star One then, the thrillers launched by the channel weren't any less either. The show launched a variety of thrillers that were simply the best on Indian Television. Let's Start with the most popular Special Squad. The show was about ACP Aryan (Bhanu Uday)who loses his family during a case, the guilt takes him over and he wants to root every crime that he comes along. Joining his forces were Shaina (Kuljeet Randhawa) A Single mother who is leading a tough life inside and out as a cop, Boxer (Iqbal Azad) Ajay Desai (Pankit) and other honest cops. The show dealt with different kinds of crimes with each episode portraying a new story alongside the personal stories of Squad Characters. We give this a thumbs up ! A brilliant crime series that makes a difference. Star One definitely came out as a winner with this one.
Next was Siddhanth - A corrupt lawyer who takes up cases to satisfy his personal greed but along the way he finds his way to salvation and his heart seeks a change. Another fantastic show that made its way was Family Business. It was about a show based on criminal families and the politics regarding it. Also there was Guns and Roses, Another exceptional thriller that featured real life couple then - Amit Sadh and Neeru Bajwa. The story was about a woman seeking revenge from the evil doers responsible for her husband's death. Later she falls in love with a stranger and in the end, she finds out that the stranger was unknowingly involved in the murder of her husband. All these shows deserves to come out on DVD.
Light Hearted Shows - If the thrillers were a little heavy to handle for some, there were also some light hearted shows that set the momentum strong. The first one that comes to mind is Hotel Kingston. An Amazing show regarding a hotel and its facilities, the characters were real and packed a punch. Also a love story runs along side by side with the characters of Actors Amit and Sonal. Another show was 'Yehi to Hai Woh' starring Gaurav Channa which was about two identical figures and how they face day to day situations was the premise of the story.
Youth Programming : The channel also carried a spunk - Who can forget 'Remix' a remake of the popular Argentine soap Rebelde Way, It was an Instant hit among the Youth. The Characters Tia, Aashi, Yuvi, Ranveer became a rage, the show also involved a lot of music that gave it another reason to shine. The show literary gave a name to actor Karan Wahi. Another show that followed it was 'Dil Kya Chahta hai' a story of four male friends and their lives. It was mostly on the lines of Dil Chahta Hai film.
Lifestyle : The Channel also featured a lot of shows based on lifestyle, travel, food all that made it a really classy channel unlike most of the Dump we see nowadays. It's difficult to remember them all However the ones that comes instantly on our minds are - Cook Na Kaho and Men Maange More. Like we said earlier, the show targetted more towards the 'men' following and since Men are only attracted to mostly cricket or movies on TV, this programming although superfine in quality couldn't survive for long.
In this age of boring and dump TV shows, we need a revolution, we need to broaden ourselves. We need to welcome new concepts only then we can expect good shows on Television, But since the good ones do not stand for long, how can we possibly expect another Star One. As they say, it's hope that keeps you alive.
Amazing Comedy Features : Who can forget Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai - The most successful show of Star One at that time. The show offered a great comedy in a natural flavour. Featuring an ensemble cast of talented actors like Ratna Pathak, Satish Shah, Rupali Ganguly. The show was an Instant hit amongst the masses. Ten years after its exit, It's still as popular, Heck the popularity can only be assumed that it was released straight on DVD wow ! It's a shame that despite it's success, the makers never thought of bringing it back. While Sarabhai entertained, Instant Khichdi tickled our bones featuring the same cast from the original Khichdi. Although, this series wasn't as successful as the original but was appreciated nevertheless. If that's not enough we had the Laughter Challenge that set new standards of stand up comedy, Now every show based on laughter seems like a joke itself. The Great Indian Comedy Show too deserves a round of applause for spoofing bollywood, cricketers, politicians heck ! We miss it so much don't we !
Taut Thrillers : If Comedy was the strongest asset of Star One then, the thrillers launched by the channel weren't any less either. The show launched a variety of thrillers that were simply the best on Indian Television. Let's Start with the most popular Special Squad. The show was about ACP Aryan (Bhanu Uday)who loses his family during a case, the guilt takes him over and he wants to root every crime that he comes along. Joining his forces were Shaina (Kuljeet Randhawa) A Single mother who is leading a tough life inside and out as a cop, Boxer (Iqbal Azad) Ajay Desai (Pankit) and other honest cops. The show dealt with different kinds of crimes with each episode portraying a new story alongside the personal stories of Squad Characters. We give this a thumbs up ! A brilliant crime series that makes a difference. Star One definitely came out as a winner with this one.
Next was Siddhanth - A corrupt lawyer who takes up cases to satisfy his personal greed but along the way he finds his way to salvation and his heart seeks a change. Another fantastic show that made its way was Family Business. It was about a show based on criminal families and the politics regarding it. Also there was Guns and Roses, Another exceptional thriller that featured real life couple then - Amit Sadh and Neeru Bajwa. The story was about a woman seeking revenge from the evil doers responsible for her husband's death. Later she falls in love with a stranger and in the end, she finds out that the stranger was unknowingly involved in the murder of her husband. All these shows deserves to come out on DVD.
Light Hearted Shows - If the thrillers were a little heavy to handle for some, there were also some light hearted shows that set the momentum strong. The first one that comes to mind is Hotel Kingston. An Amazing show regarding a hotel and its facilities, the characters were real and packed a punch. Also a love story runs along side by side with the characters of Actors Amit and Sonal. Another show was 'Yehi to Hai Woh' starring Gaurav Channa which was about two identical figures and how they face day to day situations was the premise of the story.
Youth Programming : The channel also carried a spunk - Who can forget 'Remix' a remake of the popular Argentine soap Rebelde Way, It was an Instant hit among the Youth. The Characters Tia, Aashi, Yuvi, Ranveer became a rage, the show also involved a lot of music that gave it another reason to shine. The show literary gave a name to actor Karan Wahi. Another show that followed it was 'Dil Kya Chahta hai' a story of four male friends and their lives. It was mostly on the lines of Dil Chahta Hai film.
Lifestyle : The Channel also featured a lot of shows based on lifestyle, travel, food all that made it a really classy channel unlike most of the Dump we see nowadays. It's difficult to remember them all However the ones that comes instantly on our minds are - Cook Na Kaho and Men Maange More. Like we said earlier, the show targetted more towards the 'men' following and since Men are only attracted to mostly cricket or movies on TV, this programming although superfine in quality couldn't survive for long.
In this age of boring and dump TV shows, we need a revolution, we need to broaden ourselves. We need to welcome new concepts only then we can expect good shows on Television, But since the good ones do not stand for long, how can we possibly expect another Star One. As they say, it's hope that keeps you alive.
