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‘It feels fantastic’: Palki Malhotra on how it feels to create Dill Mill Gayye in era of ‘saas-bahu’ dramas
Palki Malhotra is a creative producer, best known for shows like Dill Mill Gayye and Dil Dostii Dance.
Palki Malhotra wears many hats. She is a creative producer, writer, dance director, and producer, who is best known for some of the most popular youth shows on Indian television. Notable shows to her credit include Dill Mill Gayye, Dil Dostii Dance, and MTV Girls On Top. She is currently exploring the OTT space and released the series, Campus Beats very recently.
Palki Malhotra on her OG shows Dill Mill Gayye and Dil Dostii Dance
Dill Mill Gayye, starring Karan Singh Grover, Jennifer Winget, and Karan Wahi, among others, was a very popular television drama that was loved by the youth audience. It successfully ran for 7 seasons which speaks volumes about the popularity of the serial. There was another dance-based drama that created waves among the youth after Dill Mill Gayye and it was Dil Dostii Dance.
Talking about how it feels to be the writer-creator of such a show, Palki Malhotra shared, “I have founded both the shows, DMG and D3 at a point when people were doing saas-bahu shows, so yes I feel overwhelmed when people till date ask me questions about Dill Mill Gayye and Dil Dostii Dance. It feels kuch na kuch correct kiya tha at that point of time in life (I must have done something right when I was starting with these shows) because when I was starting out with these shows, I honestly didn't anticipate we would become this successful. So when Dill Mil Gayye happened and it became successful and when D3 happened and it also became successful, I just thought ki aap joh bhi karo dil se karo aur agar aap full passion aur pura life daal do toh it touches the heart of people. (Whatever you do, do it with your heart and passion).”
Here's a throwback picture from the sets of Dill Mill Gayye:
She further continued, "It's very touching for me that till today after 16 years of Dill Mil Gayye and 10 years of Dil Dostii Dance, people still remember these shows. People still DM me that log doctor bann gaye because they thought there were cool doctors on Dill Mil Gayye. Even with D3,a lot of people have turned dancers after watching the show. To see that vibe, to see that change in the youth back then and today, it just feels fantastic."
Palki Malhotra on exploring the OTT space
The talented creative director-producer ventured into OTT with a show called Love Scandal and Doctors in 2021. However, she didn't feel any difference transitioning from working for television to OTT space. She believes this is primarily because of the show categories she worked on, and she never worked on 'saas bahu' dramas. However, Malhotra added how much she loves working on OTT.
"I love OTT as a medium. I love the fact that we are technically much sound and also there is a less chance of compromise on OTT. I love the fact that we have a destination to a story and that is the most exciting and different thing about OTT and TV. Even if your show does well it releases another season. So I love OTT! Campus Beats is my second show on OTT," said Palki.
Palki Malhotra on her love for creating dance-based shows
The talented producer was a dancer as a kid. However, while growing up, she realized that there was no career in dancing. So, she wanted to change the scenario. Talking about her dance-based shows, Malhotra said, "The primary reason for creating shows like Dil Dosti Dance was that people understand that dance was never a career option because it never brought in money in families. It was never an option because of that, but now the whole idea of bringing up dance was so that people can take it seriously and understand that they can also have a career in dance. With so many reality shows and so many other things that are happening today, it is definitely one of the best career options in today's day and age."
About Campus Beats
Talking about Campus Beats, Palki shared that the youth of today needed a clean youth drama. "It took a decade for me to come back with Campus Beats, and finally I did! I genuinely thought that the youth of today also needs a clean teen drama, which is not very dark, you know which of course has rivalry, there's competition, there's romance, there is heartbreak, there is a lot of grey zones you are in. But it's not; it's not really dark and it's a breezy show," said the creative director and signed off.
The 10-episode web series Campus Beats was released on the OTT platform, Amazon Mini TV. It features Shantanu Maheshwari, Shruti Sinha, Sahaj Singh Chahal, and Tanvi Gadkari, among others.
