Director Sanjeev K. Kumar’s recipe for success worked with Jabardasth , a comedy show that sits merrily on the TRP ladder. Six up and coming comedians perform fun acts while Roja and Nagababu don the judges’ cap here. Interestingly, the ace director is also doing another reality show with Suma titled Cash where the set looks like it has been created on the 20th floor. “The audience has taken a liking to reality shows. The programmes are thrilling and have lots of fun,” says Sanjeev.

It has been a return of the native for small screen’s favourite annayya Ohmkkar. He returned to television with his new game show 100 % Luck . “The show is a test of your luck,” smiles Ohmkkar. For someone who made it big with television, his entry into films as a director didn’t yield success. “Television is my home/life. I will never leave it,” he asserts.

This year has been special for small screen star Suma. Besides launching her own production house along with her husband Rajeev Kanakala, her new celebrity show Kevvu Keka promises unlimited fun. Her other shows Star Mahila (completed 2000 episodes) Cash and Bhale Chancule continue their run. Her Swarnabhishekham also made a mark this year.

Super Jodi and Bol Baby Bol , a musical game show for children, caught the attention of viewers with dance, music and masti. Two stars who returned to television — Sai Kumar with WOW Season 2 and Lakshmi Manchu with her racy Doosukeltha — hope to score again. Ali’s magic continues on Ali 369 , a game show with three different groups.

The only sore point on television is its celebrity participants. In an attempt to get star value, shows sometimes have the same television actors/actresses as participants, who play games on different reality shows and cook their favourite dish on a cookery show. In the end, the novelty factor goes missing.

 

 

Sanjeev K Kumar

SANJEEV K KUMAR IS AN INDIAN TELEVISION PRODUCER AND DIRECTOR. HE IS BEST KNOWN FOR CONCEPTUALIZING  AND DIRECTING SOUTH INDIAN TELEVISION SHOWS LIKE JABARDASTH ,EXTRA JABARDASTH ,  CASH , DANCING STAR AND DHEE THE ULTIMATE DANCE SHOWS, ETC. In like manner , 

HE FOUND A PLACE IN THE INDIAN BOOK OF RECORDS FOR DIRECTING MULTILINGUAL SHOWS AT THE SAME TIME.

 

Sanjeev K Kumar, director of shows like Jabardasth, Cash and Dhee. He tells Hyderabad Times about the popularity of his reality shows and what makes them tick.

If you are plugged on to Telugu TV shows, chances are that you have either heard or in all probability, are one amongst the millions of people who can't get enough of the comedy show, Jabardasth. After all, it's been ruling the roost for nearly 90 weeks and its nearest competitor still has miles to go before challenging its dominance. Ever wondered what makes the show tick? Or for that matter,what's the secret behind the success of other shows like Cash and Dhee Juniors, produced by Mallemala Entertainments, which are also consistently ranked among the top five reality shows on TV today?
Meet Sanjeev K Kumar, the director of all these shows, who seems to have got the Midas touch. A graduate from Film Institute, Pune, where he studied sound editing, Sanjeev's foray into TV began with a reality show Tol Mol Ke Bol and since then, he has grown from strength to strength. "I have been in this field for almost 12 years now and have directed multiple shows in eight languages including Telugu, Kannada and Tamil. Jabardasth, which is aired on ETV, is my biggest hit so far and I am often told that Dhee has set a benchmark for dance shows in Telugu.We are currently in the seventh season and the show is still going strong," Sanjeev says.


Ask him the secret behind the success of the three shows, he says, "Pre-production is the key to the success of any show.We spend a lot of time brainstorming about the concept, casting and judges and how it's going to be designed. It involves a lot of calculated risk and guess work."

Most of the reality shows in Telugu are either inspired from their counterparts in Hindi or English; however, Sanjeev says that not every format will work in Telugu. "I don't replicate everything, although I would admit that a lot of Telugu shows are inspired from the original version. For example, Jabardasth was modeled on the lines of Comedy Circus, but the skits that you see in the Hindi version will not work in Telugu. So, everything has to be recreated from scratch. We have a good tradition of comedy, but satire isn't taken in the right spirit here," Sanjeev reveals.


He adds, "Thankfully, we have two wonderful judges — Nagababu and Roja, who can take a satire aimed at them and that was one of the factors which worked in our favour. I am often told that some of the jokes in the show are vulgar,but it has also found patronage among the family audience. We walk on a very thin line there. The show is like the song Kolaveri Di. You feel good about it, but no one knows why it works."

"One of the important factors for the success of any reality show," he says, "is the drama. Earlier, people thought that everything is scripted and they slowly grew averse to it since the emotion didn't feel real.However,we have tried to keep it as real as possible and there's no unnecessary drama. Nothing is scripted on my shows, although we just elevate the drama through music and slow-motion shots."

Story-telling is at the heart of any concept and it's no different in case of reality shows. "I believe in the 'kick' factor. I try my best to never allow the audience to get bored and you can't give them an excuse to slip away and switch channels. I treat everything like a good story and it all boils down to how well you can tell your story with all the drama and emotion," he confesses.

Despite the humungous popularity of reality shows, there's still one big area of concern and Sanjeev avers that reality shows are on the brink of becoming quite monotonous. "Although people are exposed to quite a lot of content on foreign TV channels, they still want to see only celebrities, especially when it comes to game shows in Telugu. We tried breaking that mould with a show, Luck Unte Lakshmi,where we invited common people to take part in the show; however, it didn't work. I want to break that mould," he signs off.

This is the first #interview with sanjeev k kumar garu .the #famous south Indian #television program #director.thanks to my #pinaakini #team Santosh Kumar artist, Vijay Svk ,bhanuprakash,Kiran Kumar ,Raju pendyal,srinivas saahi