Producers & cast of Star Jalsha’s ‘Love Biye Aajkal’ speak about bold new concept

Bangla GEC Star Jalsha is known to come up with shows that are engaging, interesting, and out-of-the-box. Time and again, it has come up with captivating shows spanning family drama, comedy, romance, women empowerment, and reality shows. The channel is known to portray love from different angles, and consequently, love takes a new form in its upcoming show, ‘Love Biye Aajkal’, produced by Jisshu Ujjal Sengupta Productions and starring Moumita Sarker and Om Prakash Sahani in lead roles. The show has gone on air from August 28, 2023, and will be aired Monday to Sunday at 8.30 pm.

‘Love Biye Aajkal’ will explore whether love can also arise in the dynamics of modern-era relationships. The show features with strong protagonists and an unconventional story line around contract marriage, which is a new concept shown on Bangla television. Moumita Sarker plays the role of a singer in a bar called Scandal Lounge and Bar, which is owned by Om Prakash Sahani. The two enter into a contract marriage. The reasons why they to enter into a contract marriage, the bigger stories lying behind the lives of the protagonists, and whether love blossoms between them or not will interest the viewers as the story unfolds.

Elaborating on the concept of ‘Love Biye Aajkal’, Nilanjana Sengupta, producer of the show, told Adgully, “One year back, we returned to television production with ‘Hori Gouri Pice Hotel’, which was loved by everyone. ‘Love Biye Aajkal’ is a different show. It is about a contract marriage. It is true that in many love marriages, there is no love. In many arranged marriages, there is no love, but in a contract marriage, where the condition is you cannot fall in love, have the protagonists fallen in love there? That is our main story. And the question is also even if they fell in love, it was under what circumstances? It is also a story to explore what compels Shraban Roychowdhury to sign the contract, and what compelled Omkar Ghosh to sign the contract, which is the basic premise of the show. People have to watch the show to know what drives these two characters to sign the contract.”

Actor Jisshu Sengupta, who is also a co-producer of the show, added here, “It always feels good to work under your wife! In television, we see various kinds of stories – we see love, fights, grief, and several other emotions. But the basic premise of this story, which is contract marriage, is a first in Bangla television. For agreeing to feature this kind of a bold story, we are grateful to Star Jalsha and the entire team. We hope that this show will break certain barriers that television has.”

Expressing his optimism about the show’s success, Jisshu Sengupta said, “According to me, if one works with dedication, they become successful in one way or the other. I believe that this show will go places and I also believe that the audiences will connect with these two characters. This show can create something which might help people.”

Actor OmPrakash Sahani, who is making a comeback on television with this show, shared, “This way is not new for me, my start has been with television in the first place. I feel very blessed that God has made me return to television again. This is a kind of schooling for me. This kind of urban subject will attract the attention of not only the urban audiences, but also those residing in the interiors. When the suspense surrounding the show is revealed, by then they will be fully involved and engaged with the show.”

He further added, “I never thought that a story like this will be shown on Bangla television. I love acting and will do it as long as I can. And I want my co-actress Moumita to know that there is support available always, it’s like a family.”

On being asked about how much he resonates with the character of Omkar Ghosh, Sahani said, “To be honest, I cannot resonate much with the character of Omkar Ghosh as he is very snobbish, self-dependent, independent-minded, self-made man, who is the owner of the Scandal Lounge & Bar and is going to open more branches of the same. He is a practical man with a high level of thinking, for whom emotions don’t count much. However, in my life, emotions play a big role, everything else is secondary. Rest, as the story unfolds, people will know whether love will come in the life of Omkar Ghosh or not.”

Meanwhile, model-turned-actress, Moumita Sarker, who is making her debut on television with this show, said, “I’m thankful to all the members of Jisshu Ujjwal Production. The reason is that the kind of support I’m getting from every member, I will be forever grateful for that. Coming to my character, Shraban Roychowdhury, in her life, music plays a very important role. She does not know anything beyond music. While going forward with singing, she starts singing at the Scandal Lounge & Bar of Omkar Ghosh, every day. There is an important reason behind it. To know about the reason, people will have to keep an eye on Star Jalsha at 8.30 pm from August 28 onwards. My experience so far is that I’m a little nervous as it is my first show, but the kind of support that I’m getting is really incredible.”

On her experience with the show, Sarkar said, “I’m feeling really happy that I got the opportunity to act in a channel like Star Jalsha. All my thanks go to Nilanjana Ma’am and Jisshu Da, for such an incredible role of Shraban.”

On being asked about their expectations from the show, the producers said, “Our only expectation is that as a team, we should be able to tell a good story. If the story is good and the content holds, people will like it.”

Adgully also spoke with actor Rahul Mazumdar, who had played the role of Shankar Ghosh in ‘Horo Gouri Pice Hotel’. When asked about the content consumption and creation scenario currently in West Bengal, Mazumdar said, “Content is changing every day, we are making good content right now. In our show, we are giving out messages frequently on the current scenario, for instance, showing something such as the OTP scam, which each and everyone is facing these days, where you are asked to share your OTP, and the moment you share it, money gets deducted from your account. Other than that the whole scenario, which includes the Bengali concept, the OTT concept, and the TV concept is changing. We are making more content-driven movies, shows, and series. The commercial aspect is getting bigger, previously only the commercial movies were doing good, but nowadays movies with good content are doing well.”