Iss Pyar Ko Kya Naam Doon? Literally!
The intriguing, intense story and dialogues, the beautiful lead pair, the colourful and extravagant sets and costumes, the over the top dramatics, the catchy theme song …these are some of the ingredients of what an Indian Television show is made up of. Every channel airs a few, which captures the audiences imagination and makes them escape the reality of their lives for half an hour every day. However, very rarely, there comes a show that not only does that but ends up becoming an integral part of its fans lives. This was the case with Star Plus’s top rating romantic drama, Iss Pyar Ko Kya Naam Doon? which first aired on June 6 2011 and went off air on Nov 30 2012. But despite this, 8 months after, it still lives in the hearts of fans that haven’t let their love and devotion for the show die out!
Was it the intense onscreen chemistry of Arnav Singh Raizada and Khushi Kumari Gupta, played respectively by Barun Sobti and Sanaya Irani, that stole viewers hearts? Or was it the interesting and exciting storyline? Or maybe the fact that each and every actor played their role par excellence? Whatever the reason may be the fact remains that this show was a class apart. It created history when the channel decided to take it off air when it did, so abruptly, when its male lead, Barun Sobti, decided to quit due to health reasons. Once it became known that the channel had decided to replace him, it is then that the massive global fandom that the show had garnered came to light with fans collectively voicing their displeasure at the decision which eventually led to being a key factor in the channel taking the decision they did! A First for Indian Television!
Fast forward to 8 months later….The love and adulation for the show has only grown. The global fandom which encompasses fans in countries like UK, USA, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, India, Europe, West Indies, Africa and the list goes on, has grown exponentially as proven by a look at the active posts on it.
The show enjoys a very healthy fame on numerous blogs, discussion forums, social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The IPKKNDians (as the fans are lovingly referred to) are spread far and wide across the internet world. Special mention needs to be made for the unparalleled fandom of the show that exists on Twitter. The fans of the show that are on this social network site are referred to as TIFS (Twitter IPKKND Family) and are a definite force to be reckoned with when it comes to showing their love for their beloved show, whether it be in terms of discussing it 24/7, winning numerous polls for it, participating in quizzes and more famously, doing World Wide Trends for it! They are certainly among the minority within the Television Show fandoms in achieving this herculean task and that too so many times!
Add to this, they have managed to convert RJs from various global radio stations into fans of the show with their constant tweets to them regarding any and every aspect of IPKKND. This was very evident when RJs from radio stations such as Raj Baddhan from Sabras Radio UK, Vikash Pattni and Shiksha Arora from East FM Kenya, Shreeja Sharma from Desi 1170Am USA, Altu Phaltu from NY's WLIE 540am and Smriti from 107.8 Power Fm Kolkata, participated on the second anniversary of the show on June 6th of this year by interviewing fans, dedicating the show that day to IPKKND and playing the show’s title tracks and its signature song Teri Meri which has now become synonymous with the lead characters Arnav and Khushi.
This undying, loyal and divinely devotion didn’t go unnoticed by Star Plus. The CEO of Star Network UK/Asia, Mr Rajan Singh, had tried to get DVDs of the show made due to a huge demand for it from fans around the world. However, due to various constraints this didn’t materialise. Despite this set back, he went ahead and arranged for a rerun of the show on Life Ok International both in Hindi (with subtitles) and for the first time for any Indian TV show, dubbed in English! Iss Pyar Ko Kya Naam Doon Reruns started on 8th of this month and according to the Biz Asia data, in its very first week, out rated some of the shows currently being aired on rival channels, including one of Star Plus! One huge disappointment though was that the Indian fans of the show were left out from this pleasure and the rest of the IPKKNDians are currently voicing their support and asking for the reruns to be aired in India too! With the serial being dubbed in English the global fandom it enjoys is growing exponentially and there is no stopping the love that new fans are showing for the romantic saga of Arnav and Khushi! ……And so with the show being back on the screen, the endless stream of collages, video mixes, tweets, Facebook posts and pages, discussions on forums, debates, fan fictions and edits keep on being churned out for a fan base that just can’t get enough of and can’t stop loving the show that has become an integral part of their lives…..one can only ask…. Iss Pyar Ko Kya Naam Doon? (What To Call This Love?)
Written By
Mahezabeen (Special mention to Indy, Anu, Pyaarvnafrat and Kiran for their support and input)
