Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 13, 2016)

Twelve years after the curtains came down on the hit TV show, Shaka Laka Boom Boom, its protagonist, Sanju, played by a then 12-year-old Kinshuk Vaidya, is making a comeback to "the only career he knows".

Kinshuk, whose Sanju owned a magical pencil that would bring everything it drew to life in the Vijay Krishna Acharya-directed show, recalls how being a child actor gave him the opportunity to work with stalwarts like BR Chopra and Ravi Chopra and also act alongside Ajay Devgn, Kajol and Rishi Kapoor in the 2000-drama, Raju Chacha. "The best thing about being a child actor was the exposure I got, something even people struggling in the industry for 30 years don't get. I was sure even back then that I wanted to become an actor. I had lots of offers for more roles back then, but I was entering the 10th grade and chose to complete my education," he recalls.

Cut to 2016 and the 25-year-old comes armed with a degree in advertising and a Kavita Barjatya project aka Rajshri production in his kitty. "But I am not playing Prem, I am Aryan," he quips. Kinshuk had auditioned with Kavita Barjatya in February and received a call later, saying she would like to re-launch him with a modern-day love story unfolding in a family drama on television. An enthused Kinshuk green-lit the project titled Ek Rishta Saajhedari Ka, which will also feature Miss Shimla 2013, Shivya Pathania and air in July.

Kinshuk points out that he is no longer the chubby kid from a decade ago and is gearing up for films too. "I keep hearing 'Oh you're that boy', 'My God, you've grown from cute to sexy.' I've been sweating it out for long and fitness has become an important part of my life. I hope to balance my film and TV career simultaneously," he asserts.

Garima Sharma (MUMBAI MIRROR; April 14, 2014)

In a time of promotional blitzkriegs, the makers of Samrat & Co wanted to ensure a fresh strategy for their detective thriller, something they felt justified the genre of the film.

Consequently, they have conceptualised several creative products, including a few animation films which highlight the adventures of Samrat and his company.

In each film, Samrat will solve a case and the film’s cast, featuring Rajeev Khandelwal, Madalsa Sharma and Gopal Datt, have dubbed for their animated avatars. These animated films will also be part of the franchise.

The makers have made a conscious decision to visit only those television shows for promotion that complement the detective genre of their film. Says producer Kavita Barjatya, “We had to do something different as there are a lot of products in the market.” Adds director Kaushik Ghatak, “This is not just a film for me. It’s the world of Samrat, where he undertakes many adventures. Eventually, we will come up with comic books and video games too.”

Samrat & Co, produced by Rajshri Productions, releases April 25.

Roshmilla Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 24, 2014)

She’s a Barjatya yet her first production is not a sappy family drama but a thriller, Samrat & Co., revolving around 20 characters. Each has a dark secret. Even the sleuth, played by Rajeev Khandelwal, according to Kavita Barjatya is not the stereotypical “doodh mein dhula hero”.

Kavita, the third generation of the filmy family, forayed into showbiz with TV soaps and after eight years of good bahus, bad vamps and no shades in between, was ready for a palate cleansing thriller.

Surprisingly, her father, Kamal Kumar Barjatya, who is the head of the family and the business too, showed an interest in murder mysteries during a period of convalescence two years ago and immediately said yes when she narrated this story writer-director Kaushik Ghatak had been working on for four years. "The rest of the family too has been extremely supportive,” says the debutant film producer.

The breakaway from the Rajshri tradition does not end there. Kavita has used technicians who’ve never worked with the home banner before, including a host of composers who came up with a party song, Tequila Vequila, which is unlike anything we’ve heard in a Rajshri film'.

“My favourite film was my grandfather Tarachand Barjatya’s Dulhan Wohi Jo Piya Man Bhaye, but the idea here is to reel in the youth since they are the main theatre going audience,” she says, explaining the need to go for digital movement posters and a YouTube campaign made up of animation videos based on Ghatak’s short stories.

Explaining why she chose to go with Rajeev Khandelwal, she reasons that A-listers are very busy and she didn’t want to wait for their dates for two years: “Besides, as soon as we gave Rajeev the script, he memorised all the lines. That’s the kind of involvement we were looking at.”

So can we expect to see an Indian version of the BBC TV show Sherlock, given that Samrat seems to have a lot in common with the British sleuth played by Benedict Cumberbatch? “Sherlock Holmes is a benchmark for every detective. But I’ve read Edgar Allen Poe and Agatha Christie and dada has grown up on Bengali literature. Samrat is very Indian. Yes, he uses a magnifying glass and wears a long coat but so did Karamchand,” she argues.

Does she plan to return to TV’s kitchen politics again with her partner-in-crime Ghatak? “No, as far as TV goes, creative stagnation has set in. Besides, it’s an exhausting grind and right now all I can think of is going off on a 10-day break with no Internet or phone connection,” she laughs, adding when she returns Ghatak will be waiting with a traditional love story and a quirky one. "And Samrat 2. We made this film with the idea of a franchise.”