In an exclusive interview, Dome of Entertainment producers Mohomed Morani, Mazhar Nadiadwala and Anil Jha talks to Sumita Chakraborty about their TV show Tere Bina Jeeya Jaye Na and more.

…When three dynamic personalities of the Indian entertainment world – Mohomed Morani, Mazhar Nadiadwala and Anil Jha joined hands; the result but of course, had to be sheer magic.

The extremely charming Mohomed Morani needs no introduction… A well-known name in the entertainment industry, he has graced the cover of DWP Insider for being in the coveted DWP Power list – and is a Global Entrepreneur in the Business of Media and Entertainment. The amazingly articulate Mazhar Nadiadwala is the owner of the prestigious Dome Entertainment Group of companies and the Managing Director of the Dome, the largest experiential indoor venue where some of the best entertainment shows are held.  And, of course, who doesn’t know the master show-runner Anil Jha who has had a long and distinguished record in the entertainment business? He’s considered to be the genius of the entertainment world and has spearheaded many premium channels and shows.

…And so when these three enterprising gentlemen carry forward their rich legacy to launch Dome of Entertainment, touted to be India’s premium entertainment company, there was undoubtedly a lot of excitement in the entertainment world. And they didn’t disappoint… Their first project Tere Bina Jeeya Jaaye Naa on Zee TV with a fabulous multi-starrer cast that included Avinash Rekhi and Anjali Tatrari in the lead, Rakshanda Khan, Romil Chaudhary, Sundip Ved, Utkarsha Naik and others, looked amazingly fresh, glossy and unique with fabulously designed sets, super stylish ensembles and an exciting storyline about royals.  In fact, from the time, this super slick show was launched; viewers have been glued to their TV sets watching this riveting show unfold the fascinating lives of a royal family with all its intrigues, mysteries and secrets.  

As of now, Tere Bina Jeeya Jaye Naa celebrates 150 episodes and though the engagement rate of Tere Bina Jeeya Jaya Na has been tremendous, like most TV shows across all channels, TRPs have been a tad erratic.

Stardust caught up with these three awesome men – Mohomed Morani, Mazhar Nadiadwala and Anil Jha to find out more about the show, the race of TRPs and more…

What made you three decide to launch Dome of Entertainment?

Mazhar Nadiadwala: We have all been in the field of entertainment for many years.  We had already done a lot of nonfiction work so we launched Dome of Entertainment and ventured into the fiction world with our first project Tere Bina Jeeya Jaye Na. The unique concept was Anil Jha’s and we loved it.

Mohomed Morani:   This show is a dream. Like Mazhar has said, we’ve been in nonfiction for the longest time,  so for the first time, we ventured into fiction with Tere Bina Jeeya Jaye Na and indeed the show is looking very good. We started this dream with an outdoor, the royal outdoor in Udaipur –  (Maharaj Kumar Sahib Lakshyaraj Singhji Mewar  has given the mahurat clap for the show) and then we commenced the shoot in Mumbai and people are loving it.

With the OTT ruling these days, do you think TV has got a bit of a hit and viewers are watching less TV?

Anil Jha: TV is evergreen and people will watch TV always. We don’t think TV has got a hit – in fact, there will always be an audience for TV.

TBJJN was doing extremely well, I think the very dramatic episode of Raghav burying Krisha underneath the ground in the car and Devraj finding her was a huge success and garnered 1.3 trp… but things slid a bit downhill after that, why?

Anil Jha: Every show goes through ‘ups and downs’ as the story tends to move up and down. Yes, there was a track in between that wasn’t popular with the viewers but now our show is back on track and we are happy with the way things are going.

Mazhar Nadiadwala: In fact, I have heard from viewers from all over – even from Turkey and Russia that they love our show and that is what we want.

I am told the engagement level of TBJJN is very good (45) but the TRPs are a problem, as producers, do sliding TRPs matter? What do you do to tackle it?

Anil Jha: Of course, TRPs matter. As producers, we try to cater to our viewers and give them something unique… sometimes, the story goes through various twists and turns and that’s why TRPs are affected. But we try and balance it out by creating interesting content.   

Your lead actors Avinash Rekhi and Anjali  Tatrari are extremely talented and popular but the focus seems to be too much on them rather than the story. Even Bollywood has rethought things after the pandemic and have now started focussing on the story rather than the actors, shouldn’t TV do the same?

Mohomed Morani: The story revolves around the lead actors. It is about Krisha and Devraj’s love story and everybody else comes into the story after that so obviously the focus is on them.

Mazhar Nadiadwala: The other characters like Jaya Ma, Vamika, Romil as Raghav and others are also equally important in the story… and they come forward as the story demands.

Anil Jha: The story develops through Krisha and Devraj and that’s why our focus is on them.

You have popular Bigg Boss finalist Romil Chaudhary acting as Raghav, who seems to be a hot favourite on social media too. I believe that his war with Krisha garnered the highest TRP 1.3.  Your current track with Vamika has garnered a TRP of 0.4, shouldn’t you be using more of Raghav in the serial as he is so popular?

Anil Jha: We do not focus on any one actor, our focus is the storyand how it unfolds…

Mazhar Nadiadwala: Like we said before, our focus is on the story as and when Romil’s dramatic track starts, he too will be in focus.

Do you think the low TRPs of the show are because of the timing change?

Anil Jha: Yes, the timing changes have affected us. But we are steady now and have not dipped lower. In fact, this past week, we are happy to say that our TRPs have increased.  

Mazhar Nadiadwala: If you look across the board at every channel, TRP’s have dipped. Anupama, the highest TRP grosser, used to have a TRP of 4 and now it’s 2.5. Considering the dip throughout, we are holding our own and we are sure things will improve.

 I am told that there may be a time leap in the serial is this true?  

Mazhar Nadiadwala: We are just seven months old, why should we go for a time leap. That’s all rubbish. We are happy with the way the story is commencing.

Another rather off putting rumour… is the serial going off air?

Mazhar Nadiadwala: Not at all! People who are jealous of us are spreading this.

Anil Jha: We have a good engagement rate and we are working hard. In fact, we have come up with many ideas of more drama in the story so you can definitely expect a lot more.

What’s next for Dome Entertainment? 

Mohomed Morani: We would like to venture into the OTT world and also do some more TV shows. Our goal is to do good entertaining shows that viewers will love.

Mazhar Nadiadwala: Mohomed bhai has said it. We have a lot of plans and we will execute it. As of now, we are happy with Tere Bina Jeeya Jaye Na – This is like a family for us. We would like to thank Zee for giving us this opportunity.

Anil Jha: With Tere Bina Jeey Jaye Na, we’ve brought out a vision with this scale and magnitude. A lot of hard-work has gone into it, and we are happy people are liking it. As for what’s next… we will announce as things materialise.