STAR Plus replaces ‘Milee’ with ‘Viraasat’

STAR Plus is gearing up for the launch of its new blockbuster offering – ‘Viraasat’.

Keeping in line with the attempt to provide new story lines on television in India, ‘Viraasat’ will be a classical tale of good versus evil and as channel officials put it, it would be a “multi-starrer on television”.

With the launch of ‘Viraasat’, the channel will axe drama ‘Miilee’, which launched last year to much fanfare and good ratings initially but took a ratings slump in subsequent weeks.

Speaking on ‘Miilee’, Shailja Kejriwal, Senior Creative Director, STAR India, said, “Miilee was always planned as a finite show. We want to consciously be able to give our audience a variety in their TV diet. With the Balaji shows, there is staple diet from the channel in any case, but in every other block we have to give them different kinds of properties.”

Kejriwal is clear that the new breed of shows that will come from the channel wouldn’t be longer than a year or year and a half. On what the expectations from ‘Viraasat’ are, citing that the show really has no precedents, Kejriwal refused to divulge any comments. Replying to whether we can expect the show to touch the double digit mark in TRPs, she candidly stated, “While I would really hope and strive for that, I do believe that television is moving to a phase were there the 12s and 13s aren’t really a reality anymore.”

“When we launch a new show, we typically look at fresh faces. At some level, it gives the audience a feel of seeing some one real – someone who is one of them. However, that is not where we are headed now at all. ‘Viraasat’ casts some of the most popular faces on television – it would be seen as a pure entertainer,” added Kejriwal.

In regards to what the strengths of the new show are, she said, “It’s a classic tale between good and evil. The story is about how love survives despite all odds. Our base line ‘Naftrat ke khel mein, Do dilon ki chahat’ pretty much captures the fact that it is an extremely different kind of a show.”

‘Viraasat’ launches in India on Monday 12th June replacing ‘Miilee’. The show doesn’t start in the UK until July. Next month, STAR Plus UK will be premiering new drama ‘Prithviraj Chauhan’.

Details of June’s highlights will be unveiled on Biz Asia later this week.