MUMBAI: As the fifth season of Colors? big-ticket reality show Bigg Boss is coming to an end on 8 January, the channel has unveiled a new fiction property for the weekday 10.30 pm band.

Colors will launch Na Bole Tum Na Maine Kuch Kaha as its primetime property starting from 9 January. Meanwhile, the 11 pm slot will be taken over by the repeat telecast of Na Aana Is Des Laado.

Na Bole Tum? is being produced by Sunshine Productions.

Colors fiction head Prashaant Bhatt said, "After the success of Balika Vadhu, Uttaran, Sasural Simar Ka, Parichay and Veer Shivaji, we are kick-starting the New Year with a slice of the life, light hearted show. As strained marital relationships and frequent heartbreaks become the norm in this age of ?fast forward love?, Na Bole Tum Na Maine Kuch Kaha focuses on an unusual story of two unlikely people in unlikely circumstances. Life is what happens when you are busy planning other things. Sometimes the best communication between two people is silence."

The show stars Kunal Karan kapoor and Aakanksha Singh in the lead. It is the story of the emergence of a complicated relationship between a single mother who has no intention of being a bride again and a self centered bachelor who runs miles away from marriage or commitment.

MUMBAI: In a move that is bound to add muscle to its movie library, Star India has entered into a movie syndication deal with rival Viacom18.

As per the deal, Viacom18, which runs Hindi general entertainment channel Colors, has offloaded 500 of its Hindi movie titles to Star India for an estimated Rs 4.5 billion.

Viacom18 was aggressively building up its movie library as it was planning to launch its own Hindi movie channel. However, with competition, rising acquisition costs and a mounting internal debt, the company decided to defer the launch plans.

Star India is already a major player in the Hindi film space with over 700 titles in its library. Moreover, the company has started to premiere big-ticket movies on Star Gold, the movie channel. It has also taken some bold steps like reducing the ad breaks and airing 6 movies daily, which has forced other players to change their business models.

Talking about the deal, Star Gold general manager Hemal Zaveri said, ?This is the first of its kind deal that we have entered into.?

Colors spokesperson said, ?As part of our overall strategic plans, we have off loaded part of our film library. We still have a large library and have also kept enough runs to take care of our main channel needs.?

The most pressing need for the group companies, TV18 and Network18, is to reduce their debt load. ?For Viacom18, the deal makes sense as its launch plan has deferred and it allows the company to monetise a part of the library. Also, the amount directly reaches to the bottomline,? a media observer said.

To a query on Viacom 18?s strategy for acquiring films for Colors in future, the spokesperson said that they would look at acquiring new movies on syndication if and when the need arises. However, the company is still holding on to the plan of launching the movie channel. ?The movie channel is an integral part of Colors? growth
strategy and we will revisit our plans at an appropriate time,? the spokesperson said.

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Although Colors has assured the self-regulatory industry body Broadcasting Contents Complaints Council (BCCC) that the contract of Indo-Canadian porn star Sunny Leone will be terminated if she does not stop promotion of the channel or Bigg Boss 5 on her website, the matter is far from over.

A BCCC source told indiantelevision.com that the reply of the channel would be placed before the chairperson of BCCC, Justice KL Shah, and other members to take a final view. The source did admit, however, that there was no vulgarity in the daily reality show which is to be wind up in about two weeks.

Earlier, a Colors spokesperson clarified the position following the self-regulatory body asking the channel to take Leone out of the series, which she had entered on 21 November.

The channel said that Sunny Leone had been asked in the past to not use Colors or Bigg Boss Season 5 in any form.And now we have decided to write letter to her informing that in case reference to Bigg Boss Season 5 are not removed from her website, we shall immediately terminate her contract and evict her from Bigg Boss House," it said.

The spokesperson said the channel had clarified its position to the BCCC, which "agreed with our position that content on the show is in compliance with self-regulatory guidelines."

"BCCC also appreciated that there is no evidence to suggest that there is any link between Colors and cross promotion of Bigg Boss Season 5 on Sunny Leone?s sites," Colors said.

However, the spokesperson added that "BCCC requested us to use our commercial endeavours to persuade Sunny Leone to not use Bigg Boss Season 5 or Colors on her websites, and we assured BCCC of our efforts on the same".

The BCCC set up by the Indian Broadcasters Foundation (IBF) had reacted after considering 19 complaints, asking Colors TV to stop by December 26 all cross promotion of Leone?s pornographic sites and videos - something she is reported to have done since she appeared on the show.

hile anyone was free to appear on any show, the regulator said no one could promote their business through it, particularly when it is illegal under Indian law.

National Commission for Minorities Chairman Wajahat Habibullah who represented the body on the BCCC said, "We all agreed that Sunny Leone has been using Bigg Boss on Colors to promote pornography which is classified as criminal activity in India. Therefore, she can not be allowed to use our television to promote her business. Colors has agreed to comply and report back on steps taken."

The petition on which the Council gave its ruling detailed how Leone?s adult website stated that she is on Bigg Boss and lures people to "see why the world is obsessed with her?"

Leone?s pornographic product is linked to twitter where an entire team of dummy tweeters (on her behalf) create consistent engagement and product sales of her videos even while she is on Bigg Boss. She authors a daily blog where video postings, procured from Bigg Boss 5 producers are being openly cross promoted. She has posted on her Twitter ID - which has 86,000 followers - that mobile applications of her hard porn products are available via email and has given an address.

MUMBAI: Colors, the Hindi general entertainment channel from the Viacom18 stable, has got the telecast rights of Screen Awards.

The 18th Edition of the Screen Awards, a property of The Express Group, will be aired on Colors in January 2012. One of the highest rated awards property, Screen Awards has been associated with Star Plus for the past 11 years.

Initiated in the year 1994, the Screen Awards were instilled to recognise upcoming talent and professional excellence in Indian Cinema.

Colors CEO Raj Nayak said, "The Screen Awards is one of the most popular and recognized award functions in the Indian film industry?s calendar and we are extremely proud to be associated with it."

The Screen Awards celebrate achievement and excellence in over 30 categories that cover the entire sweep of film-making in Hindi and Marathi.

"The Screen awards set the bar for excellence in Indian cinema because it embodies the fundamental principles of the Express Group: credibility and independence," said The Express Group Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta. "Cinema is bristling with talent; these awards applaud and celebrate this creative upsurge."

The awards follow a two-step screening process that includes a Screen Selection Academy. Its members send their recommendations to a select Screen Jury which is not bound by these.

Previous jury chairpersons include Ramesh Sippy, Amol Palekar, Jeetendra, Asha Parekh, Shatrughan Sinha, Waheeda Rehman among others.