Star Plus ready for a musical journey with Kullfi Kumarr Bajewala

Star Plus is all set to give voice – and a lot of melody – to small town India’s hopes and aspirations in its new show, ‘Kullfi Kumarr Bajewala’. The show premieres today, March 19, 2018 at 8.30 pm. 

Debutant Aakriti Sharma, essays the role of the protagonist – Kullfi – who hails from a small village Chirouli in Pathankot. Produced by Gul Khan and Nilanjana Purkayasstha (4 Lion Films), the show also stars Mohit Malik, Anjali Anand, Pallavi Rao, Mehul Buch and Shruti Sharma in interesting roles. It also boasts of fresh tracks and soulful numbers, some of which are composed by artist Sargam Jassu. 

‘Kullfi Kumarr Bajewala’ is the story of 7-year old Kullfi, who is a God-gifted singer with the unique ability to create songs out of any situation. 

Talking about the show and concept, Producer Gul Khan said, “Kullfi is a daughter for whom you will leave all your worries behind and get engaged in her journey. Just like her name, our character is extremely sweet and has various layers and flavours. It’s a story of a girl and her journey told with a twist and the surprise being the protagonist’s ability to sing and find music in everything. The genre is something which is never seen before on a fictional show on TV. It’s a heart wrenching story of a small girl’s emotions and sentiments told through music.” 

In an informal chat with Adgully, Nilanjana Purkayasstha of 4 Lion Films, sheds more light on the new show. Excerpts: 

Tell us about the conceptualisation of ‘Kullfi Kumarr Bajewala’?
‘Kullfi Kumarr Bajewala’ is an adaptation from a Bengali show named ‘Potol Kumar Gaanwala’. I had seen it when it was launched and I was very excited to see a show like that. It set me wondering why we couldn’t do something like that in a Hindi GEC. When Star gave us this content, I was super excited. The premise of this story is different – it’s a story of a young girl and it’s also a musical show, and I am very attached to music. Earlier, I did a show for Life OK which was a dance-based show. So, this time I wanted to do something in music. That’s how ‘Kullfi Kumarr Bajewala’ happened. 

How does it feel working with Star?
I was a part of Star; I used to be the Creative Director of Star in 2007. So, Star is home ground for me. And now, it feels great working with Star as a producer. 

How did you go about casting for the show?
I believe that every actor has his or her own destiny and that is how we find them. We did 180 auditions for Kullfi and then Aakriti Sharma came to us as destiny. She was born for this role. I saw her audition for some ad and at that moment I made up my mind that she would be Kullfi. 

How has your experience been working Gul Khan?
Gul and I go back a very long way. When Gul started directing I was in Star, so she has done two shows with me – ‘Koi Hai’ and ‘Sanjeevni’. Then after a long time we again did a show, but it for Imagine. She is my dear friend. So, this is not just a professional relationship. She is the perfect mix of support and space and its really wonderful working with her. 

According to you, how has the content in the Hindi GEC space evolved in the last few years?
There has been a lot more experimentation in Hindi GECs, especially by Star Plus. What we started in 2000 remained kind of trend for a very long time. There has been experimentation in trying to deal with newer characters and new kind of storytelling. For us, as makers and programmers is a quest to understand a new audience. It is a lot of trial and error. It’s also exciting because there is no longer any formula to follow that. So, I think true storytelling is going to have its test right now. 

With broadcasters putting more and more TV content on digital, how does it impact TV producers?
When we produce a show, we are doing it for the mother channel. I think digital is not a part of our brief and also we don’t hold the IP. So, it doesn’t really make too much of a difference between us and the broadcasters at this point of time. Digital is not something that we look at as a factor in the making or selling of a show. Thus, it’s two completely different subsets of viewers. So, it doesn’t change the equation at any level between us and the broadcasters. 

What is the next big challenge for you? Are there any other shows in the pipeline?
I think my next big challenge is the content that I am doing on digital. 

I am currently not working on any show for GECs, but I am doing some stuff in the web space. However, I cannot talk about it right now.