MUMBAI: She’s known more for her skill at keeping viewers glued to the TV set through a twist in the tale in the plethora of serials produced by her production house. But now viewers are getting to know Ekta Kapoor in a new avatar. As a front lady for a show Balaji is producing for MTV India.

For the past week, the channel has been airing promos in which Kapoor has been talking to camera – a la Lee Iacocca – urging youngsters to participate in her company’s first major attempt at churning out a show aside from a sitcom, thriller or soap.

The yet to be titled show in question is Balaji Telefilms’ youth based Hindi fiction serial that will air on MTV India sometime in August. The promo featuring Kapoor is meant to call for a nationwide hunt to uncover some new faces to star in the series. The promo was shot under the supervision of an MTV in-house director.

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MTV, along with Balaji, will run auditions across five cities namely Mumbai, Delhi, Lucknow, Pune and Chandigarh. The process of auditioning and selections will feature on MTV. The six people who will be selected at the end of the auditions will go through a rigorous training process which would involve acting, dancing, action, voice projection and camera moves.

In fact, this is probably the first time in the history of Indian television that the creative head of a production house or a producer of the show has been directly involved in promoting a campaign.

“We have shortlisted three-four names for the show, but a final decision in this regard will be taken in the next three days,” said Kapoor.

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Speaking at length about the shoot and why she choose to take up the position in front of the camera, Kapoor said, “This programme is going to be extremely innovative. We can’t give away the details, it is still two months away. Keeping the innovative content in mind, we did the promo somewhat differently. Instead of going to the usual studios, we shot the entire promo in a plush flat at the Hiranandani complex in Mumbai.”

Kapoor said that acting was a very difficult profession, at least for her. “It took me one full day to do the whole thing. I guess I am a very bad actress. Being behind the camera and in front of it are two different ball games altogether, which can be genuinely felt only after first-hand experience,” she laughed.

Kapoor tried to be modest by evading the question as to why she did the promo, unlike in other star-hunts where actors are employed for the same. Another innovative method? Kapoor reluctantly said, “We thought that perhaps my direct call would invite a larger number of entries. Let’s hope it turns out that way.”

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