Exclusive: Pradeep Machiraju, show creators open up on aha’s Sarkaar 2

Telugu OTT platform aha has always been a pioneer in terms of coming up with pathbreaking non-fiction content in the digital space over the last couple of years. One of its major success stories in that territory was Sarkaar, a reality show, themed around bidding, hosted by Pradeep Machiraju. The theme of the show wherein the celebrity guest guesses each question posed by the host and bids accordingly was novel and yet accessible for the average viewer and it’s not surprising that aha had renewed it quite quickly for a second season. A press meet commemorating the launch of the second season of Sarkaar was held recently where the host and show creators spoke at length about it.

Talking about Sarkaar, Pradeep Machiraju said, “It was the first-ever occasion that an OTT platform was to stream a game show and we were all conscious about how it would perform. The audience response to Sarkaar left us overwhelmed. Nitin and Bharath on behalf of Agastya Arts gave us a very good concept and we received great support from aha’s team. Films and web shows may be common on a streaming platform and I am thrilled to say that the first season received over four million views. That 60% of the audience, who’ve watched the first episode, returned to the app to watch the entire season is a big success for us.”

“The biggest belief we had in Sarkaar was that audience would play with us, guess the answers as the episode was streaming. The show revolves around topics that are familiar to everyone, right from a third grader to an adult. The biggest challenge here is to answer the question within 60 seconds. The show is a starting point for a new trend. Sarkaar has proved that reality shows could as well work on an OTT platform too,” he further added.

Expressing happiness about the second season of Sarkaar, Pradeep also mentioned, “Sarkaar is the first-ever show on aha that’s being renewed for a second season so quickly. We are more than excited to start the second season on short notice. With the energy that audiences gave us for the first season, we hope to be more creative and entertaining with Sarkaar 2. It’s been two weeks since we launched the second season.”

Show creator Nitin of the Nitin-Bharath duo behind Agastya Arts too shared his excitement about Sarkaar 2. “I remember being part of the bidding process for the laddu during Ganesh Chaturthi in my area and was fascinated by the excitement that generated out of raising the stakes every few minutes. Another aspect that excited me about the show was the aspect of guessing the question and the answer. We, at Agastya Arts, are extremely close to Pradeep and we’ve done several shows in the past. He is very much like a family to us and we are completely in sync with one another’s thoughts. He was our only choice for Sarkaar,” he said.

The event also had a mock game where Pradeep played a round of Sarkaar with a few journalists, giving them a taste of what they could expect from the show.