Exclusive | Fanaah will break the monotony in the genre: MTV's Chatterjjee

A brand known for experimenting with new thoughts and concepts so as to cater the Youth of today in the best possible way, is now all set to give another treat to all the viewers. MTV announced the launch of a brand new show which will focus on ‘love in a supernatural setting’ titled as MTV Fanaah – An Impossible Love Story. The show is slated to go on-air from 21st July 2014, from Monday to Friday at 6 PM.

Fanaah has its foundation lay on vampires, werewolves and witches experiencing realistic feelings of love. The fiction series will see popular television artists such as Karan Kundra, Ritvick Dhanjani, Ratan Rajput, Anita Hassanandani and Chetna Pande delivering power-packed performances through the series.

Adgully caught up with Sumeli Chatterje, Head Marketing, Media & Insights, MTV India & MTV Indies to know about the show. Speaking about the show and its concept she said, “We love to break the monotony of the genres. Routine is boring. And MTV is guided by a mission to ‘Kill boring to be the biggest, boldest, youth entertainment brand on the planet’. MTV is known to create shows that bend the genre rules. The show is going to be a breakaway from a run-of-the-mill fiction in the youth genre.”

Chatterje states that the thought of Fanaah came in during the time when MTV concluded the 11000 youth research across 40 cities earlier this year, whose findings were presented at the MTV Youth Marketing Forum held earlier this year. The research suggested that the youth are captivated by fantasy love tales and the supernatural. Elaborating whether the Indian Youth is ready for something of this sort, she said, “Well, the research insights say it all. While the study suggests that in their real life, commitment is rare and, that most of them are casually dating, experimenting, or are single-and-ready-to-mingle. But, the youth are in love with the idea of eternal romance, hence based upon all these insights MTV decided to give something that can connect well with their real life nuances.”

Produced by BBC Entertainment, Fanaah is a story of multiple protagonists with entwined storylines hence the star cast is also a big mix. “They all have a very strong connect with the youth in India – like Karan Kundra and Ritvick Dhanjani essaying lead roles in the show. It’s a story about young people in love albeit in an extraordinary circumstances. Fantasy is the most successful as well as the most underrated genre and I’m sure the viewers will connect with our characters and enjoy the show immensely. With the storyline the narration is also very interesting so as it connects well with the TG”, she said. Chatterje believes that life is not exactly black and white, so, why should the characters be depicted that way in the series. “Routine serials would portray characters as heroes or/and villains but the viewers will get to see very interesting difference in MTV Fanaah as all characters are grey. They are not exactly good or bad, they are both good and bad. This would make it an interesting viewing and easier to relate to for the viewers”, she added.

If one may recollect, a similar concept has been tried and tested on one of the channels on Indian television, but could not connect well with the audiences. But contrary to this, the team at MTV seems quite positive about the concept. “Well, this is the first time that we at MTV are doing something with this genre and the way we are portraying the concept is very different. So keeping our hopes high, we are all set to take the show live later this month”, she said.

In terms of marketing and promotions, leaving no stone unturned the channel plans to go all out. The show will be supported by a 360 degree marketing plan, which also packs in a lot of intrigue. On the digital front, the show teasers were launched earlier last month through a unique leak video featuring the lead actor Karan Kundra biting a girl at a bar which went viral and generated a lot of curiosity thus making this one of the most eagerly awaited shows on MTV. With a huge buzz on digital the channel is also making extensive use of the other mediums to dig deep in the hearts and minds of their TG. [By Aanchal Kohli | Twitter: @aanchalkohli]

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