While a host of web series spanning across diverse genres is flooding the digital space, there is no dearth in demand for the good old TV shows. Digital medium has opened up new possibilities for return of our favourite TV shows. If not getting the requisite TRPs, TV shows instead of getting completely shut down are increasingly getting digital rebirth.
Most recently Nia Sharma and Achint Kaur’s Jamai Raja has got a new lease of life as the show is now returning as web series on Zee 5. Fans who were demanding the comeback of the show have every reason to celebrate. Besides, digital also enjoys certain liberties that TV shows don’t and hence we won’t be surprised to see more and more 90s shows making a comeback in digital avatar.
Here are a few daily soaps that got a fresh lease of life thanks to digital platforms:
1. Jamai Raja: Zee TV’s popular show Jamai Raja is back in an all-new avatar. Apart from the lead actress Nia Sharma, Achint Kaur too will be joining the new season and the two will once again be portraying mother-daughter on screen. Only this time, they will be seen in modern avatars and the storyline ould be drastically different from that it was before.
2. Dil Hi To Hai: It was probably the first TV show that simultaneously aired as web series on Alt Balaji too. The show developed a loyal audience, but it did not get the ratings it epected. It continued on Alt Balaji even after shutting down on Sony TV. The show depicted love story of a business tycoon Ritvik Noon (Karan Kundra) and a middle-class girl Palak Sharma (Yogita Bihani).
3. Silsila Badalte Rishton Ka: The Colors show that got into troubled waters due to the bold portayal of extra-marital relationship (between Kunal (Shakti Arora) and Nandini (Drashti Dhami) eventually became extremely popular on digital medium. The show continued on Voot, while it shut shop on Colors TV. In fact, its second season exclusively aired on Voot that starred Tejaswi Prakash, Aneri Vajani, and Kunal Jaisingh.
4. Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon: The Barun Sobti and Sanaya Irani-starrer became quite a rage among the youth of the time (2011). It shocaed the tory of Arnav Singh Raizada, a wealthy business tycoon in Delhi and Khushi Kumari Gupta, a middle-class girl from Lucknow. Even after the sho ended, keeping in mind its popularity, the makers launched a finite series titled Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon – Ek Jashn web series, of eight extended episodes.
5. Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai: All digital experiments don’t succeed. And Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai was one of them. While the original show that revolved around the adventures of an upper-class Gujarati family clicked thanks to good writing and memorable characters, its digital reincarnation in 2017 proved to be a dud. The show starred Satish Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah, Sumeet Raghavan, Rupali Ganguly and Rajesh Kumar and was created by Jamnadas Majethia and Aatish Kapadia, directed by Deven Bhojani.
6. Kaisi Yeh Yaariaan: The youth-based show starring Parth Samthaan and Niti Taylor in the lead first aired on MTV for a year and a half from July 2014 to December 2015. Fans were in awe of the chemistry between the lead characters Manik and Nandini and no wonder continued to demand a new season even three years of its closure. Their wish was fulfilled after the show got a new lease of life in 2018 on digital platform Voot.
