India's Hot New Streaming Stars

Exclusive shows on streaming platforms are changing the landscape of Indian entertainment.

- Suhani Singh

Quirky, funny and real, the Sarabhais are one of the most loved families on Hindi television. But Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, which ran on Star One from 2004-06, never had a huge fan base. “We had a minuscule audience [on Star One] and no earth-shattering TRPs,” says Aatish Kapadia, co-creator of the sitcom that acquired cult status only via reruns. When asked to revive the show, Kapadia was not troubled that the show’s new avatar would be restricted to the web.

While 180 million households in India have a television set, 432 million people have internet access, according to a December 2016 report of the Internet and Mobile Association of India and market research firm IMRB International. Over 300 million of them are smartphone users, eager to watch content on the go. With comedy a clickbait genre on the internet and the HotStar app boasting over 200 million downloads, Kapadia was confident that digital was the right platform for his show, even if it meant alienating the TV audience. “We always catered to a section of the audience,” says Kapadia. “We knew people would find us.”

Sarabhai vs Sarabhai Take 2 is no different from the original. It is still a weekly show, the Sarabhais still bicker, berate and mock each other, the snooty Maya (Ratna Pathak Shah), now also a grandmother, is still annoyed with her daughter-in-law Monisha (Rupali Ganguly). Her son Rosesh (Rajesh Kumar) is still single, but now there is a ‘singress’ from Jamnagar he fancies. There is just a minute-long ad break during the minimum 22 minute episode.

BEYOND SAAS-BAHUS AND TRPs