By Hindustan Times
Mumbai, April 13 -- Imagine's new reality show, Desi Girl, takes eight celebrity girls, including Sambhavna Seth and Monica Bedi, to a village in Punjab. The show will require them to shun their glamourous celebrity lives and work towards winning the hearts of the villagers. And in the end, it is the villagers who will decide who their Desi Girl is. Excited? The channel certainly is. Nikhil Madhok, vice president, marketing, says, "The show was always slotted for May. It was never meant to come earlier. It may sound like we held it up because of the IPL (Indian Premiere League), but we launched two dailies, Kashi and Jamunia, just before the IPL started and they're doing fine. The impact of the IPL is about 10 per cent, like season one."
The show seems like a dehati (rural) spin on Bigg Boss, in which the contestants are isolated from their daily life and communication and are made to live in a house together and under the vicinity of cameras 24 X 7. Madhok believes, that turning the concept of marriage into reality shows like Rakhi Ka Swayamvar has worked well for his channel. "Likewise, almost every daily today is set in a village. So, why not set a reality show there? We're shooting in a real village with actual villagers," argues Madhok. The idea of this show seems like a desperate attempt by the channel to make sure that their GRPs don't fall any further from 99 points. Madhok says that his channel hit the highest GRP (Gross Rating Points) at 172, last month. "Of course, every show is meant to pump the TRPs (Television Rating Points) higher."
