MUMBAI: In December 2011, when Star India launched its second Hindi GEC christened Life OK, the network made a promise to its viewers that through the channel they will see not only different but also out-of-the-box content.
And keeping to it, the channel is launching a new show wherein the wife is the "other" woman. Gustakh dil portrays the life of a simpleton (Laajo) from a village whose husband (Nikhil) continues to be madly in love with his childhood sweetheart (Ishana).
Commenting on how the show stands apart from the rest Life OK general manager Ajit Thakur asserts, "Disruption has always been a key thrust for us at Life OK and with Gustakh Dil we are aiming to bring out the other side of a love triangle. We are confident that people will accept this unique storyline and will appreciate our modest attempt at providing quality entertainment."
This is not for the first time that the channel has tried to do something different. In the past too, the channel has tried to grab eyeballs through it shows. It recently launched a reality crime-based show Police Dial 100 where the channel took a completely different track. Here, the team from Endemol follows policemen in Delhi, as they attempt to solve crimes and face different situations.
"Police Dial 100 is Life OK's effort to delve deeper into the functioning of law enforcing agencies and capturing on camera the highly stressful lives of our police forces lead", Thakur had expressed earlier during the show's launch in Delhi.
Apart from it, another major property by the channel has been Savdhan India. However, one cannot deny that the crime based shows have done well for the genre.
On the other hand, unlike the other channels which have failed to garner ratings and viewership through mythology, the channel struck gold with its mythological show - Mahadev - which is the most popular show on the channel.
HavasMedia, MD, Mohit Joshi emphasis on it and adds, "Mahadev has set the grounding for the channel. And with good production quality and new shows every now & then, the channel has been able to grow significantly as well as make a mark for itself in the market. What even sets it apart from sister-concern Star Plus is the fact that it's more contemporary."
What is interesting is that the channel not only brings out innovative shows but also has interesting FPCs. On 23 June, the channel showed non-stop 12 hours of fresh content comprising of crime, terror, mythology programming and Bollywood movies. Life OK plans to make it a regular initiative at least once a month as it feels that such kind of experimentation will make it a game changer. Before baara-se-baara, it had experimented with 6 a.m. - 6 p.m. and that too had worked well with the channel.
Moreover, Life OK has acquired the format of the popular US reality dating game show The Bachelor and has commissioned the Zodiak owned SOL Productions to produce the Indian version - The Bachelorette India - Mere Khayalon ki Mallika which is expected to be on-air in September.
"The series will strengthen Life OK's programming and set another benchmark in quality entertainment", states Thakur optimistically.
However, Helios Media MD Divya Radhakrishnan resounds, "Though Life OK has been taking a lot of initiatives to make a name for itself among the leading Hindi GECs, it still has to do a lot more. Today the Hindi GEC cluster is leaving no stone unturned to come up with new shows, but are not moving any boulders. It's just like any other GEC."
