MUMBAI: Storyteller and writer Nilanjana Purkayasstha express happiness given the kind of reaction Dhadkan Zindaggi Kii (DZK) is getting from the viewers. The medical drama is being produced by Nilanjana and Herumb Khot under their banner Invictus T Mediaworks, in collaboration with StudioNEXT

“Someone said on Twitter that the show makes them think. There is something in every episode that makes them sit up and take notice. That is the biggest compliment we could have asked for,” she says.

It's rare to have one-hour-long episodes for a daily soap. So was it a risk while doing it for DZK. “The show required longer episodes to be able to do justice to the multiple tracks. The risk was taken by the channel. We just could not write it in half an hour. As makers, we feel it paid off because the narrative is engaging, fresh, and we could explain things well because we have 60 minutes,” she adds.

DZK airs on TV as well as streams on OTT at the same time. On whether there is a possibility that because of OTT, the show is reaching a wider audience, Nilanjana explains, “OTT definitely gives us access to a different set of audience altogether. Globally, ratings are not being measured only for first-airing, measurement is now based on time-shifted viewing. Especially for drama content, since people record on DVR (Digital Video Recorder) and in some cases also watch the same content on OTT. Before OTT, TV content was a perishable commodity, but now TV content is available for a much longer time. This also gives TV content the advantage of the long-tail effect… audiences will continue to discover and watch this content long after the first airing. As makers, this is an excellent opportunity for our content to reach a much wider audience than was not possible before DVR and OTT.”