Sony banks on Bachchan for fiction series

MUMBAI: First, Bollywood?s badshahs broke into television, hosting non-fiction shows. Amongst the first to do so was Amitabh Bachchan with KBC in 2000. Shah Rukh Khan. Salman Khan, Akshay Kumar, Abhishekh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Juhi Chawla, Priety Zinta followed.

Now Bollywood?s biggest are gearing up to break the fiction bastion. Earlier this year, Colors revealed that Anil Kapoor would be starring in the fictionalised series 24 which would be helmed by Abhinay Deo. Now Sony has announced that the Big B is also taking a leap into the fiction genre and will be acting in a limited episode series to be directed by Bollywood?s lovable enfant terrible cult director Anurag Kashyap. Endemol and the Bachchan owned Saraswati Creation are coming together to co-produce the show.

With a bound script in place, filming is slated to start within a week. Bachchan says "the fiction series would be an altogether new experience for the Indian audiences. It will serve as a sumptuous Indian thali having a flavour of everything including humour, satire, emotion and drama while keeping the underlying social aspect of the country in mind."

Endemol MD & CEO Deepak Dhar says that industry and viewers should "expect anything less than a larger than life production values with the series being shot like a film with both outdoor locations and lavish sets."

One wonders how Star and Zee will go one up on Sony and Colors? Can we expect an announcement on their star line up for another fiction show?