Stars of Luteri Dulhan Mrunal Jain and Krishna Gokani in Patna for their show’s promotion on Friday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Patna, April 15: The state capital is emerging as a promotion destination for television artistes who are using the opportunity to connect with the people here knowing fully well that a big percentage of their viewers are based in towns and cities of the state.

The fans don’t mind them too. They are overjoyed with the prospect of coming face-to-face with their onscreen favourites.

Several artistes, who come down to Bihar to promote their television shows, feel promotions only in cities like Mumbai, Delhi and Calcutta is not enough — they need to expand their reach.

Keeping with the trend, stars of another NDTV Imagine serial Luteri Dulhan, Krishna Gokani and Mrunal Jain, came to town today to promote their serial.

The duo said as Bihar is in the Hindi belt, stars receive tremendous response here from the residents, who are bigger fans of soap operas, compared to cities like Calcutta, Hyderabad and Chennai.

Krishna, the female lead, explained their reasons to come to Patna for the promotion of Luteri Dulhan.

She said: “This is my first visit to Bihar. We, television artistes, believe that the people here love to watch television serials. Sometimes, they even forget our real names as they start to believe our characters. I am sure very few people know the real name of the child Anandi in Balika Vadhu. I think every artiste loves to come here, as Patna has become a hot destination. So why should we fall behind?”

Are you trying to remember Anandi’s real name? Does Avika Gor ring a bell?

Coming back to today, Krishna and Mrunal chose to promote their serial on a rickshaw near R-Block roundabout.

While Mrunal sat in the rickshaw, Krishna pedalled it, making passers-by stop in disbelief and look at them.

Abhishek Tripathi, a resident of Boring Road, recognised the duo but Krishna drew his attention. Abhishek said: “Wow, she is here. I have seen her in many television shows. She is gorgeous.”

Abhishek had a wish. “Do you think she will give me an autograph?” he asked. Soon, he clicked Krishna’s picture on his mobile phone.

Mrunal, who was born in Ahmedabad and brought up in Mumbai, said: “Visiting Bihar for the first time has been a nice experience. When our producers asked us to visit Bihar, I thought what kind of response would we get here. But now, I have realised that the people here are big followers of television stars. I also noticed that the housewives love to watch the serials. They don’t want to miss their favourite serials even if they have some important work.”

Meenakshi Sharma, a homemaker and resident of Buddha Colony, said: “It feels good to see our favourite stars in person. I want to know if they are like the characters they portray on screen. Earlier, television stars never used to come to Bihar. But in the past few months, several artistes are coming to Patna to promote their serials. When Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi was launched I was desperate to meet Smriti Irani in person. But I never got a chance to meet her as she never came to Patna at the time she played Tulsi in the serial.”

Much to the excitement of the state viewers, Patna now is a favourite destination of the TV stars.

February saw Juhi Aslam, the lead actor of NDTV Imagine show Baba Aiso Varr Dhoondo, come to Patna to promote her serial along with Vikrant Massey, her co-star who plays the role of Murli.

The same month, former Miss India and Bollywood actress Sayali Bhagat came visited the capital to promote her film Impatient Vivek.

Bhojpuri icons Ravi Kissen and Manoj Tiwari and Bollywood stars Vivek Oberoi, Ram Gopal Verma, Emraan Hashmi, Mahesh Bhatt are regular visitors to the state for their films’ promotion.