Nikul Desai on the need to marry TV screen with the mobile screen

“I can proudly say that I am the only director and producer who has done the maximum number of daily non-fiction shows in India,” claims non-fiction show director Nikul Desai, who completed 22 years in the media industry this March. Starting his career with Optimystix Entertainment, he is known for shows such as ‘Comedy Circus’, which ran for nine years with 18 seasons, introducing comedians such as Kapil Sharma, Bharti Singh, Krushna Abhishek, Suresh Lehri to the world, besides being known for shows such as ‘Comedy Nights Bachao’ and ‘Rising Star’. Desai is currently directing the show, ‘Good Night India’, which is aired on SAB TV and is the only family show to be aired at night in India. He believes in the ideology that good, effective storytelling can solve the problem of short attention span of Indians, who are glued to their mobile screens nowadays for consuming content.

Excerpts from the interview:

You have completed 22 years in the media industry. How has your journey been so far?

I think the journey has been really fabulous. When you say 22 years, it’s not a small span of time. I have been one of the blessed ones to see the whole transition. I have been a part of the evolution in television. At every learning curve, I think I have been very lucky and blessed. I have seen everything – from high-end big tapes to smaller tapes to hard disks to small memory cards recorded in these 22 years.

How did your journey begin? How did you decide on being a director?

When I started my journey, I did not know that I wanted to be a director or creative producer. I gave my SSC exams. Usually what happens when you belong to a Gujarati family is that they generally don’t let their kids roam around during their vacation time; they say go do something, work somewhere, get some experience. That’s how I started coming to Optimystix after my SSC exams. I completed by Board exams, I think, on March 14, 2001 and started working from March 18. Thus, I started my internship when I was just 14-15 years old, which let me just see how the world is. Then I started working with Optimystix, and eventually, different shows and situations provided me with opportunities. Those shows on which I had worked started doing well – be it ‘Comedy Circus’, ‘Rising Star’, or award functions. I’d never started out thinking I would be a director. I just wanted to be in this field, because it was very attractive from the outside when you saw it. But when I started the journey, it was more of a learning experience. And then with time, things started to fall in place, and eventually, I got this chance to direct multiple shows and those shows did really well in the market.

Do you think more non-fiction shows should be made? Is the audience willing to watch them more than fiction shows?

I think right now, from a television point of view, TV is very fiction-skewed. Because there are fiction shows on many networks from Monday to Friday or Monday to Saturday. We as a nation are very inclined towards Bollywood music, whether it is singing shows or dance-based shows. If you see right now on TV, there are largely only singing shows and dances-based shows. There was an era of game shows, which has vanished completely. There is only ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’, which comes in and goes out. But once there was a huge era of game shows like ‘Khul Ja Sim Sim’, where people used to win a lot of prizes, beside other shows such as ‘Neelam Ghar’, ‘Family Fortunes’, etc. I think if we give the viewers a nice platter of non-fiction shows, they will definitely consume them.

The shows that you have been a part of have created milestones. What do you think has helped you in the process?

It’s a team effort, I always believe that no show can be successful without the people involved. And I have been really blessed and lucky to have a team which has been really supportive and innovative. So, be it ‘Comedy Circus’ or Kapil Sharma or Bharti, I give credit more to the writers than the comedians. If I were to talk about shows like ‘Rising Star’, which was India’s first live singing reality show, where the show was not pre-recorded like other shows but telecast live, I would give credit to the music team, the contestants, my support direction team, and the production team.

What are the current challenges in the Indian television industry?

One challenge right now in the television industry is the audience’s attention span. If any show doesn’t appeal to a viewer for more than 30 seconds, they don’t have the patience to continue watching the show. The earlier audience used to still watch it. Viewers now run away. And this could be solved with great storytelling, because I feel whether it is fiction or non-fiction, if you have great storytelling, great characters, and great emotions attached to it, that will solve the problem eventually. But the problem here is that everybody is running behind just big faces and celebrities. You should also focus simultaneously on storytelling and emotions and characters, and not just film tie-ups and big celebrities to get your ratings. If you have good characters, you don’t need big celebrities as pull factor for the show.

What are the trends that you observe when it comes to the reception of non-fiction shows in India?

I think people are moving towards mobile screen watching. OTT platforms give you all the TV shows free of cost. People are moving towards watching television shows on their mobile screens as well in their own time. So, I think if we bring shows which we have done in the past and which have shown us good success, shows which marry mobile and the TV screens together, it will work. For example, you can watch shows on TV, but there could also be some form of gamification on your phone and you could win something – thus, there is some gratification. That is something which will get more people to watch TV and keep them busy with their mobile phones and eventually give them gratification in some form or the other to kind of watch more TV.

Those days are gone when people would pick up the phone and give a call to vote in a show. Now, the mobile screen is as good as your TV. So, we’ve got to learn and change our television programme-making abilities in a way where we can marry the main screen with the small screen.

What is the concept behind your new show – ‘Good Night India’?

‘Good Night India’ is aired on SAB TV, Monday to Saturday, 10:30 pm to 11 pm. It’s a show where we tell people that you can watch good content and get a good night’s sleep. Because, according to the latest research, quality sleep is a big problem. The whole idea here is that you watch happy stand-up comedy, light-hearted stand-up comedy where there is no elimination, drama, or back stories. It is about pure talent which comes on the show that you watch with your family. It’s ‘India ka akela raat wala family show’ – watch it with your family and have a nice good night’s sleep. That’s the concept of the show.

The show is hosted by Amit Tandon, who is one of the pioneers of stand-up comedy and is one of the first Indian Hindi comedians to do Netflix specials, three or four years back. He brings in three new talents – YouTube talents, digital talents, and aspiring talents. They present their stand-up comedy every episode. It is doing well for a daily non-fiction show.

Generally, there is no pattern of daily non-fiction shows in our country. But I can proudly say that I am the only director-producer who has done the maximum number of daily non-fiction shows. I think if we give innovative, good, happy material to people on a daily basis, they will definitely continue watching non-fiction shows.