Last Sunday Katrina Kaif made her presence felt in Star Plus’ Baa Bahoo Aur Baby. She was there to promote her film Singh is King. In fact, the serial has seen an array of stars from Fardeen Khan, Zayed Khan, Juhi Chawla, Sharman Joshi and Esha Deol in the soap as part of a tie-up with films.
What is it about Baa... that appeals to stars? Says Sharman Joshi, “Baa makes for great viewing and I was in it for the promotion of Shaadi No.1. I had a great time.” According to JD Majethia, the producer of the show, Baa... is the top-rated show on weekends except when celebrities appear on the game shows Paanchvi Pass... and 10 Ka Dum. “Though stars like to be on these reality shows as they don’t have to do anything but be themselves, it is equally true that they love to come onto our show because we weave them nicely into our story,” says Majethia. On their part, the producers too want to integrate their stars into the serial because of its high visibility. Baa Bahoo... has a stronghold in Gujarat and all over Maharashtra and reaches one million plus viewers, which forms a huge territory for a film. The serial averages at a 3.4 TVR which is high for a weekend soap. Also, according to Aatish Kapadia, the writer, “The soap appeals to the cinema-going upper middle class viewer which works for the star and the film.”

So, even as Bachna Ae Haseeno stars Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone and Bipasha Basu will be busy making the rounds of various reality shows, the Singh is King producer Vipul Shah chose Baa.. for its promotion. The highlight of the Katrina episode was a garba on the Singh is Kinng title-track.
However, unlike abroad where superstars Brad Pitt, Bruce Willis, Alec Baldwin and Julia Roberts make special appearances as characters in soaps, here actors prefer to be themselves. There was one serial Chhoona Hai Aasmaan in which Minissha Lamba had appeared as a character as part of a tie-up with her film Shaurya. She played a journalist in the film and in the serial her track was introduced as a scribe unearthing a murder trail. The character fitted perfectly into the serial’s story at that point. “We felt it was a novel way of promoting the film which is why we went ahead,” smiles Minnisha. But Majethia points out that it is impossible to rope in stars even for one episode because the “budgets will go haywire.”
Meanwhile, the present arrangement is a win-win situation for both. The serial gets a spike and the stars get a huge platform to publicise their films.