Youth shows need to be more edgy: Sudhir Sharma, producer - The Buddy Project

Producer Sudhir Sharma (Sunshine Productions) is very happy that his Channel V show The Buddy Project recently bagged the Best Youth Show award at this year’s Telly Awards. “The Indian Telly Awards is a very prestigious award function that the whole country watches,” he informs. Talking about his school-based story, Sudhir avers, “I really feel that this show is indeed the best youth show around, not only because of its high viewership, but also because it goes beyond teenage romance. None of the other youth shows on air talk about how students get affected by teachers and relationships. In The Buddy Project, we have successfully struck a balance between entertainment and some meaningful lessons. We, bagging this prestigious award shows that the industry and common people are appreciating our efforts of making a serial that has good content. This, in turn, encourages us to work even harder.” At this point, Sudhir gets candid and observes, “When you don’t get an award, you think it is no big deal, but when you get one, you think about creative satisfaction and recognition and believe me, the same process bestows on you too. When I get any award, I always feel like a first standard kid getting appreciated and the happiness and joy is similar to that.” Comparing youth and GEC content, Sudhir quips, “Although the basic drawing board is the same, the latter is more challenging for you don’t have set formulas to fall back on. Unlike GECs (General Entertainments Channel), we have to go totally on our and channel’s vision to chart our future course.” According to Sudhir, who also made Miley Jab Hum Tum (Star One), the youth will watch anything which is good and relatable across genres, be it a thriller or something inspiring like The Buddy Project.