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As the hugely popular mega serial, Chitthi came to an end,
some of the remarks made by the viewers of the serial were -
"Chitthi is a victory for the small screen... Even if the power
goes off we go to a friend's place or a neighbour's house to watch
Chitthi, we just can't miss it".
 Be
it Chennai, Tamil Nadu, Dubai, Sri Lanka, London or Singapore,
from a 6-year-old to 60-year-olds, the serial has had a universal
appeal. It grossed a record amount in advertising revenue
and also broke all previous records of TRP ratings. And the
most important thing is that, it has done this consistently over
a period of two years spanning more than 400 episodes. In
the process of doing so, it has also made the 'not so favourable'
9.30 pm - 10 pm slot one of the most coveted slots.
Brought to the small screen by Radaan Pictures, Chitthi,
meaning 'Step Mom', (not to be confused with the Julia
Roberts - Susan Sarandon movie) dealt with the story
of Saradha, a self-confident and poised woman who makes her
own decisions in life and sticks to them come what may. The story
spanning two decades talks about the trials and tribulations faced
by her and how she emerges out of all these with determination and
confidence.
 As
for Radhika, who has established herself in the minds of
television viewers as 'Chitthi', she modestly attributes the success
of the serial to the teamwork by the entire unit.And come to think
of it, but for her, 'Chitthi' probably would not have
made it to the small screen. C J Bhasker, Director
of Chitthi had this to say about the serial, "Around three years
ago, I approached Radhika with this story, which was written originally
for the big screen. She listened to the story and told me
she would get back to me. Two weeks passed by and I was on
tenterhooks. Then she called me and asked me whether I would
do the story as a serial. She encouraged me and we worked
on the script to adapt it to the small screen".
And as to how the now famous 'Chitthi' came to be the title
of the serial, Radhika said, "I suggested the name just like
that during a discussion. One reason was that a film by the
same title, was a turning point in my father's career and the other
reason was that I wanted to try and change the negative connotation
that the word 'Chitti' carries through this story.
 Casting
and Direction were by far two of the most prominent reasons for
the success of Chitthi. Director C J Bhasker derived the maximum
out of each actor and actress in the serial, by developing their
respective character modelled on their own natural characteristics.
'Kaveri' played by Nina is by nature
a talkative person, Saradha the protagonist played by Radhika is
in real life a person who takes bold and calculated decisions; characteristics
which are trade mark of the Saradha in Chitthi. According to Radhika,
C J Bhasker is the, " real hero behind Chitthi".
The serial's highpoint has been the suspense it has been able to
generate and sustain over the past two years. That is what
has kept viewers glued to their television screens so much so that
in many households the remote has been banned from being used between
9.30 and 10 pm. People did not want to switch channels for
fear of missing a piece of the story. In fact, in Singapore,
which is about two and half hours ahead of IST, people stayed up
till midnight to watch 'Chitthi'.
Now on to what some celebrities from the filmworld had to say about
Chitthi.
Bharathiraja, the man who introduced and directed Radhika
in 'Kizhake Pogum Rayil' her first film congratulated
Radaan Pictures and Sun TV for bringing a world-class product into
the homes of millions of Tamilians world wide and in the process
having set a standard to measure the success of TV serials in the
future.
Vairamuthu, noted lyricist who penned the lyrics for the
title song which has become as popular as a film song, echoed similar
feelings when he said, "Chitthi's success is a success which
has amazed Tamil Nadu. It has created a standard such that,
if a serial has to be termed a success it has to be like this..."
Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and noted dialogue writer M
Karunanidhi said it all when he remarked that the success of
'Chitthi' did not come as a surprise to him, because the makers
had named it 'Chitthi'(Sitthi) which also stands for victory.
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1:12:42 AM 
