This might prick the fans of Megastar. But according to sources, the TRPs of Megastar’s MEK show are plunging to new lows every day despite a gargantuan effort by the newly-revamped MAA to breathe some fire and life into the episodes. Quite a shocker that the TRPs have so far touched a low of 3 – 4 which is nowhere close to what even Nagarjuna managed to bolster up. Going by the rate at which the Megastar is paid per episode (around Rs.75 lakhs per episode), this season is widely expected to be a washout for the Megastar. And no stellar display of star-trekkers week after week are helping the cause of the Megastar’s plummeting show. Considering the pump-priming that Star Network is resorting to, this is going to end up both as a white elephant show with a zero-carbon white-wash! This, in spite of a convivial megastar who is bending over back and forth to ace up his charishma and make the participants feel comfortable. What can turn this around quickly is what everyone is putting their heads together at the network.Despite a valiant effort by Chiranjeevi to give booster doses, there are some plausible reasons:
1. The questions are mostly filmy making this one of the dumbest game shows ever – of which many questions are inanely revolving around the Megastar’s family. How can you have a question where Chiranjeevi is one of the choices? ( It happened in one of the episodes).
2. The degree of difficulty has fallen making the game appear a breeze where the Master and his Masterji are quite pliant in helping the pupil crack the test with low-hanging fruits.
3. Almost every week, two out of four episodes are ransacked by starlets or dancing stars which makes the game show seem less premium – you want to quickly get to the Wednesday and fast-forward the motions. If you use stars in two out of four episodes instead of on rare occasions like festivals or national celebration days, it only makes the economics of the whole show unviable. For every hour of program, the shooting time gets trebled which increases the overall costing per episode. Make them count when it is a great combo like Suhasini and Radhika but if you bring on the nephews and nieces at the drop of a hat, the fizz is lost.
4. Because of the urgency to encash the star episodes, the breaks are getting excruciatingly long on Wednesdays/Thursdays making the programme burdensome to watch.
5. A bit of surprise element is missing because the questions are either too bland and simple at the outset, and then start flummoxing the participants after the first two hurdles. The pattern of usage of lifelines has been highly subjective and inconsistent so far – making the “connecting elements” go amiss. Since it is a game show and not really a quiz program, the emphasis must be on emotions
Notwithstanding all the above, the show is engaging for someone used to watching the Megastar – he is grooming well by the hour but somehow the TV masses are hooked on to something else when he is on air. Unless things improve dramatically from here, this series of MEK will be a washout despite the costly extravaganza pumping it up.
