We are trying to analyze as to what went wrong with Tota Weds Maina: Producer Naren Kumar

SAB TV’s Tota Weds Maina, that was the debut venture of Miloni Pictures, was, in fact, the brainchild of Naren Kumar, who heads the outfit with his good friends and partner Susheel Pandey. An ecotourism professional, Naren came down to Mumbai in 2003 to mark his presence in the glamour world as an executive producer in 2005. Five years down the line, he realized his dream when he founded his production outfit in 2010. We got in touch with the energetic Naren to know more about his journey in the industry and also about his first TV venture for our ‘Behind the Lens’ segment. Excerpts: Tell us about your journey in the industry? Hmm, I was a managing director in an ecotourism company in Delhi, but, I always had a dream to get into the film industry. But, I never knew how to commence. So, one fine day after I had a talk with actor friend Yusuf Hussain, I planned to shift to Mumbai to make a name for myself in the entertainment industry. When and how did you bag your first project? Well, after being associated with Ahista Ahista in 2005 as an executive producer, I did a couple of films including Phas Gaye Re Obama and Fast Forward. I also had a brief association with television for which I did a tele-film titled Padma with Kavita Kaushik and Amit Sadh for Star Plus. Tell us about Miloni Pictures? I started Miloni Pictures in 2010 with my friend Susheel and Tota Weds Maina on SAB TV, was our first production. Currently, we are working on a couple of scripts at the moment. Your debut venture did not last too long… We had the best casting that included actors like Kavita Kaushik and Gaurav Gera. In fact, we were also having a great time on the sets, but then the TRPs did not shoot up. We are trying to analyze as to what went wrong. SAB TV has a policy by which they do not wait for the ratings to get better for a very long time. Since we had launched the show in winter and had maximum viewers in the North, the falling viewership due to the climatic conditions (people there go early to sleep in winters) went against us. So our show in the 10:30 pm slot did not really work well. However, it taught us a good lesson. Here, let me thank channel head Anooj Kapoor who showed faith in us and gave us a chance to make another project for the channel. Do you now believe in TRPs? Yes, TRPs help a channel know if they are doing good or not. At the same time, one needs to know what he is catering to the audience and whether the time slot fits the show. It’s more like films, where a filmmaker must know whether he is making a film for the single screen or multiplex audience. And if it’s multiplex, is he making it for mass multiplex or niche multiplex.