Ajit Thakur says it all at Life OK's 2nd anniversary

Mahadev, Savadhan India, Hum Ne Li Hai Shapat...these are shows now synonymous with Life OK, a Star network property. The channel which replaced Star One, was launched on 18th December 2011 and completes two years today. The GEC has always believed and followed a rule to be different from others in the game and provide a variety of concepts.  Along with the aforementioned ones, the channel offers shows like Main Lakshmi Tere Aangan Ki, Dil Se Di Dua... Saubhagyavati Bhava? Savitri, Amrit Manthan, Alaxmi Ka Super Parivaar, Ek Thhi Naayika, Junoonp Aisi Nafrat Toh Kaisa Ishq, Police Dial 100, Ramleela, 2612, 2613, Sach Ka Saamna to Kaisa Yeh Ishq Hai... Ajab Sa Risk Hai, Do Dil... Ek Jaan, Ek Boond Ishq, Gustakh Dil, Tumhari Paakhi, Khauff Begins... Ringa Ringa Roses and The Adventures of Hatim. These have been the varied offerings from the channel till date with an effort to provide entertainment with a difference. Now in their second phase of growth, the channel is undergoing a brand overhaul.

Adgully caught up with Ajit Thakur, GM, Life OK on the occasion of their 2ndanniversary Adgully to talk about the key highlights of these two years, their strategies which have made the channel proud and their plans for the future.

Below are the excerpts from the interaction:-

Adgully (AG):  Since the inception of the channel what according to you have the highlights of this two year journey been?

Ajit Thakur ( AT): I would say  there are 3-4 things to sum up the key highlights.  One was that everybody thought it is just another channel from Star network, but Uday Shankar and Sanjay Gupta were very clear that  it would be a challenger to other GEC's and to Star Plus as well! So, we lived up to that commitment and today 

we are very close to becoming one of the top 3 GECs. I think the network’s commitment to making Life OK remained steady throughout the two years.  Secondly we wanted to create a brand which means more than just an aggregate of shows. With our shows like Mahadev, Saubhhagyavati Bhav and Savdhaan India we have a certain message to share with our viewers. We don't talk much about it but in small pockets we are doing it and audiences are noticing that the stories are real, they are being entertained and also socially connecting with us. Third aspect is that being a GEC our content should cater to the entire family and we have been successful in doing that. It's not like that we never failed inspite of knowing that there was high risk involved in launching certain content. We were able to create a brand where everybody wants to work, right from producers, actors, directors, writers and team. Every week we get calls, asking to work with us. They do not care about numbers, but in their opinion they feel that we as a channel work harder, have a young team and a platform to showcase varieties of shows.

AG: In your view, has the channel  met with the aims and expectations that it initially set out with?

AT:  The brief which I got from Star when I joined it was to create a channel which can be No. 1 and my brief for my team was not to play by the GEC rules. Our shows were made with a conscious effort which meant taking loads of risk, as our failure rates our much higher than the other channels but we kept trying and we kept doing new stuff. From business point of view we have grown from a 10 percent market share and now have 14 percent market share, we are break-even and making money.

AG:  If you have to share the names of the shows which worked well for Life OK, which would they be?

AT:  When we launched in the early days we had two shows Dil Se Dua... Saubhagyavati Bhava? and Main Lakshmi Tere Aangan Ki. Then in the middle phase it was Mahadev which is still making waves; then it was Savdhaan broke through followed by Shapath.  Gustakh Dil, Ek Boond Ishq and Tumhari Paakhi are growing and very different from regular love stories.

AG: Life OK is all set to launch 'Adventure of Hatim' which is said to be packed with adventures and fantasies. What kind of differentiated programming would audiences be offered on the channel?

AT:  We have always believed in providing differentiated content. I am sure that post Hatim, most channels will surely try to follow suit and revive fantasy and adventure shows as we are bringing back this genre after a period of nearly 10 years.

AG:  You have never tried your hand at dance or music reality shows. Is this a conscious move to stand out in the cluttered GEC space?

AT:  I have nothing against singing or dancing shows, but till the time we do not find a different and unique way of doing it we won't do it. If we can do shows like Welcome, Bachelorette, Sach Ka Saamna and other new concepts coming in, why would we go off the beaten path.

AG:  With the constant changing times, we have seen the channel adapt a few international formats too. What were the reasons for these adaptations?

AT: I think we were happy doing Welcome - Baazin Mehmaan Nawaazi Ki (Come Dine with Me) because the concept was very Indian which is 'hosting people at home'. We did Bachelorette India and not Bachelor India because it was about a girl finding love and her right to choose. We are happy and have no regrets with the way we did both the shows.

AG: Please share with us  about the big markets for the channel internationally?

AT:  We have always had a big market in UK, but post Bachelorette India we have become fairly big in UK, US and Canada. We are growing in the Middle East too and Mahadev does well in the Southern countries.

AG: Life OK has managed to carve a niche in spheres of genre, creating varied content, and characters. Do we see this as a deliberate programming strategy with an aim to redefine Indian entertainment television?

AT: Yes  absolutely and moreover people are learning from us. Not many mythological shows existed till we launched Mahadev and now there are couple of them with everybody doing it. When we had Savdhaan India, there was only one crime show running then, but today everybody has gone into crime genre. Our show Shapath is doing 2 plus in the 9 pm slot with 25 percent less budget in comparison to other big budget shows on different channels which get 2.8 ratings. We are the only channel doing different in that slot.

AG: With digital being the order of the day, what  new progress plans are on the anvil on this front at Life OK?

AT:  Where digital is concerned we don't want to build our shows but we want to build our brand. A brand which is serious about social issues, we do marketing activities but always wait to initiate big ideas like Mahadev Rockathon which nobody did, but we did. Now we are planning to build an app for Savdhaan India where you can go anywhere in the country and if you send a message to this app from whichever city you are in, it will share all the information like which streets to avoid,  and all the safety regulations to be followed at night times.

AG: To what would you attribute the success of Life OK ?

AT:  In my opinion I owe the success of Life OK first to Star network, as no network advises to go ahead and create your own competitor, but we did just that! We worked hard, got directors, writers, producers, actors and team which agreed to work with us. We have actors like Mohit Raina who is committed to us since the past 2 years and still works for 14 hours during his shoot for Mahadev.

AG:  Share with us the key learnings from the last two years at the channel. How do you plan to improve upon the flawed moves and implement new actions for the betterment of the channel?

AT: During the course of these two years, we learned that being different is not good enough. We still have to have good stories and create good characters. Sometimes we also realized that we have gone into something which was too early for our audience to accept. So, every show is a learning process for us. I think one should enjoy failures and also take risks.

AG: What changes do you plan to bring in the near future at Life OK? What is your vision for the channel five years down the line?

AT:  Life OK that believes in credibility rather than popularity on completion of two years will bring loads of entertainment including big concept and impact shows for our loyal viewers which they have never witnessed before on Life OK. It will start off in January with a big event that nobody has expected us to do and every month after that we will do something big in fiction.