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Ekta Kapoor - failures notwithstanding, she's ready with nine more shows |
The Ekta Kapoor propelled production house has dished out three shows in 2004 -Kesar on Star Plus and, Kkehna Hai Kuch Mujhko and King Aasman Ka Raja on Sony Entertainment Television India (SET). The last two have been withdrawn and the first has been nothing to rave about, but Balaji is gung ho about the eight shows commissioned and ready to go on air in the next few months.
Kapoor spoke at length exclusively to indiantelevision.com about some of the new shows, four of which are slotted for three still to launch channels and four on Star Plus (two), SET and MTV.
As regards in-the-pipeline channels: Two shows have been commissioned for Times Group's soon to launch non-fiction entertainment channel Zoom, one for P2 (or maybe Star One, the name of Star's metro-based Hindi entertainment channel is still to be decided) and one on UTV's kids channel Hungama,
For Zoom:
As for the proposed talk shows which Kapoor had spoken to indiantelevision.com in March 2004, the first one - Kosmic Chat is scheduled to go on air almost as soon as the channel launches.
Stylish and confident - Simone Singh will anchor Balaji's Kosmic Chat on Zoom |
Says Kapoor, "Simone Singh (last seen as Henna in Sony's Henna) will share the platform with Sunita Menon (a tarot card reader), the former will ask the questions and the latter will provide the answers."
However, another show for which Kapoor had Sushmita Sen in mind, has been put on the backburner. "I decided not to do it for some time at least, when Sen refused the offer. It was an Oprah Winfrey kind of talk show. When I get a celebrity of that stature, I will definitely go ahead with it."
Explaining why she chose Singh over other actors, Kapoor says, "The channel wanted her. And I think Singh speaks very clearly. I quite like her style. She makes her presence felt on screen. I wanted someone confident and stylish at the same time," adding, "I like Gurdeep Kohli a lot. I want to work with her. In fact, I recently offered her Kasautii Zindagii Kay for the role of a new character who will soon make her appearance but due to her Sanjivani- A Medical Boon commitments, she could not accommodate it."
Four episodes of Kosmic Chat are ready.
Kapoor has substituted the proposed Sushmita Sen show with a reality based show titled Kya Kahen which will also see the light of day around the same time as Kosmic Chat.
Irrfan Khan (who started as a TV actor with Zee's Banegi Apni Baat but has now shifted focus to films) will host the show, based on real life incidents plagued by supernatural
Irrfan Khan will move back to the small screen to host Kya Kahen for Zoom |
elements. It would be something like Missing on SET two years ago, hosted by film star Jackie Shroff. "You will see true life stories which have been dug out by my research team. They won't be fictional stories that we transfer on to the tube. We have even gone and met the people concerned but of course, we cannot tell you their real identities and whereabouts."
Three episodes of Kya Kahen are ready.
Both the shows for Zoom will be half-hour weeklies |
For Sony:
There has been a lot of talk doing the rounds that friction has developed between Sony and Balaji.
Kkehna Hai Kucch Mujhko - failed effort |
Kkoi Dil Mein Hai, though still on air, has proved to be a damp squib, and Kapoor blames the channel's constant shuffling with the day and time for its poor performance. Kkehna Hai Kucch Mujhko which marked Pallavi Joshi's return to television proved to be a cold turkey and was withdrawn. King Aasman Ka Raja had neither a media launch nor any promotional push and understandably sank without a trace. To this, Kapoor had remarked earlier, that she had made only about 12 episodes of this show on a trial and error basis.
In an interview in March 2004, Kapoor had categorically told us that she had no plans for Sony this year. But now, the production house is making a show (untitled as yet) for Sony which would go on air mostly by the end of this month or early next month. "It is a story of three sisters having different ambitions in life. It will be a peppy, colourful, youth-centric, up-market show. I would describe it as Kahiin To Hoga meets Sound of Music. However, there is still a lot of work to be put in for this one, including figuring out whether the elder or the younger sister would be the chief protagonist. "The entire screenplay takes a new look if you change the protagonist," she explains.
For Star Plus:
As reported by indiantelevision.com early this month, K Nights will replace Kaahin Kissii Roz (KKR) at the 11.30 pm slot from 7 September, marking the end of the long-winding social thriller which morphed into a supernatural drama somewhere along the way.
Six days of shooting has been completed so far.
Kaahin Kissi Roz- end finally in sight |
KKR is heading towards a sensible end. It had gone completely haywire ever since Kapoor and Star Plus decided to reincarnate Shaina and Kunal (played by Yash Tonk) and allow Ramola Sikand (played by Sudha Chandran) to go over the top with her devious ways. But Kapoor defends, "The TRPs were pretty good if you consider the fact that after Kahiin To Hoga started, it was pushed to the 11:30 pm slot which is quite late."
K Nights will be a social suspense thriller (similar to KKR) starring newcomer Jasmeet Kaur. The other members of the cast are Alok and two twins Ajay and Vijay Balhara, Iravati Harshe, Aly Khan, Rituu Raaj (Sanjay Doshi of Kahaani Ghar Ghat Kii), Ashwini (C.I.D), Vikram Kapadia (Banegi Apni Baat) and Vaishnavi (Chotti Maa), among others.
Another one from the leading production house for the leading entertainment channel is Karma- Koi Aa Raha Hai Waqt Badalne (which underwent a change in name, time and again) which was scheduled for a November 2002 launch to begin with. Recently, it was all set to be aired from early August but for some reason has again been pushed back and is now expected by the end of this month. Targeted at the 5-17 age bracket and based on a superhuman, somewhat on the lines of Batman or Superman, Karma stars Sudha Chandran in a pivotal role as a Feng Shui expert, and has been mostly shot outdoors.
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