Mumbai, May 23 -- It's not even been a month since the first season of Guinness World Record - Ab India Todega (GWR) wrapped up and buzz is that actor-debutant host Preity Zinta will be back on its next season too.
The game show allowed Indian participants to challenge, create new and break existing Guinness world records. It opened with 3.3 Television Rating Points and averaged at 2.6 in the first week, even in the middle of the World Cup. The ratings beat Shah Rukh Khan's opening for Zor Ka Jhatka - Total Wipeout that opened with 2.6 points and averaged at 2.8 points in the first week.
It also did better than Akshay Kumar's MasterChef India that got a 2.6 rating in the opening week. Mallika Sherawat's TV debut, dance reality-show Chak Dhoom Dhoom 2, too, opened with a much lower rating at 2.2 points. However, Amitabh Bachchan's position remained unaffected. He continues to occupy the No 1 slot with opening ratings of 6.2 points and opening week average of 5.6 points for Kaun Banega Crorepati 4, the highest ratings for a reality show anchored by a Bollywood celebrity.
Colors and Miditech, 'desi' GWR's broadcaster and production house respectively, apparently were already keen to have at least two seasons of the show with Preity as the host. They wanted to accommodate all the record challengers and makers they'd come across during their pre-production and research processes.
Ashvini Yardi, head of programming, Colors, admits the channel plans to bring the show back, but it will have to wait in the wings for a bit. "Our reality-show calendar is pretty much set for the next six months. We have Khatron Ke Khiladi 4, followed by India's Got Talent 3 and Bigg Boss 5 in queue already. So, we will have to wait for at least six months to a year to bring the show back," she says. Considering that the show is still being talked about, wouldn't it be wise to bring it back sooner?
"The show performed excellently even on the day when India was playing the final World Cup match," Ashvini argues. "It was consistently rating well. The research and pre-production will also take some time. And a considerable gap between two seasons is always welcome."
