Factual
History TV18 preps to unveil eight new shows
MUMBAI: With the festival season underway in India, it’s raining new programming on television across genres. To capture audience interest during this time, History TV18 has lined up as many as eight new shows over the coming weeks.
After the launch of Houdini, a biopic of America’s first innate talent and world-renowned superstar, Harry Houdini aka Ehrich Weiss on 1 October, 2015, History TV18 will launch another show called Bonnie & Clyde, based on the most infamous crime sprees in history. While this show will hit airwaves on 22 October, 2015, the launch dates of the other new shows will be unveiled soon.
“We are going to have eight new shows premiering this festive season. The concept of Bonnie & Clyde is very interesting. The personalities of the two leads in the new show will remind the audience about the movie characters from the Hindi movie Bunty Aur Babli,” TV18 A+E Networks vice president and marketing head Sangeetha Aiyer tells Indiantelevision.com.
The second show is called Genuis, which tells the story of the heroes, legendary icons and luminaries who changed the world through monumental innovations.
The channel will also be launching a show for explorers titled Metropolis, which showcases destination cities such as New York, Paris, London and tells jaw-dropping stories of how each city came to be and why.
“Metropolis is a brilliant show, which will put light on the history of innumerable cities back in America,” informed Aiyer.
The fourth will be game show called Pawnography, which will be a spin off of Pawn Stars where the aces of pawn face off against contestants in a series of trivia rounds about specific items featured in Pawn Stars.
The next in line will be a show titled Four Rooms, which is for people who believe that they have valuable artefact. The show gives them a chance to sell these artefacts to one of the four world’s leading dealers. However, once they turn down an offer, there’s no going back.
The sixth is a reality television series about two home-grown geniuses – master mechanic and auto-garage shop owner Steve “Pitbull” Trimboli and Bangladeshi car designer Nizamuddin “Leepu” Awlia. The show titled Leepu & Pitbull will showcase these two hailing fromdifferent worlds working together to turn scrap into gold and realising the ultimate American muscle car dream.
The channel is also planning to launch a show called How 2 Win, which will give viewers the most ingenious and surprising insights and real tools that will help them win every day, such as tips from Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac and survival skills from our ancient human ancestors.
The last of the new shows, which will be launched during this festive season is titled Human Calculator, which will showcase a mastermind and genius in his own right.
MUMBAI: India’s most famous hot seat is about to welcome an unlikely first-timer. For the first time on Hindi general entertainment television, industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla will appear on Kaun Banega Crorepati, the iconic quiz show hosted by Amitabh Bachchan.
The special episode marks a rare meeting point of boardroom heft and prime-time television, bringing one of India’s most influential business leaders face to face with the country’s most enduring screen legend. It is a crossover that blends intellect, leadership and popular culture, all under KBC’s familiar spotlight.
Birla’s appearance dovetails neatly with the show’s current theme, Jahaan Akal Hai, Wahan Akad Hai, which celebrates the confidence that comes from clarity of thought and knowledge. His presence lends weight to the idea that sharp thinking and conviction are as vital in life as they are in the quiz chair.
In a thoughtful conversation with Bachchan, Birla shared an upbeat view of India’s economic journey, pointing to the nation’s rapid growth and the scale of opportunity opening up across industries and communities. He spoke of momentum, ambition and a future shaped by enterprise and ideas.
The episode is not all serious talk. In lighter moments, Birla confessed his long-standing admiration for Bachchan, calling him his favourite actor and admitting to a touch of nervousness at answering questions in front of the Shahenshah himself. The candour adds a human touch to a man more often seen in headlines than on television sets.
The special episode airs on Monday, 29 December at 9.00 pm on Sony Entertainment Television and Sony LIV.
