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?

BENGALURU: It?s raining crorepatis down south, courtesy the Star Network and the international game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Earlier this month, Hussain Basha, from the remote village in Koppal district of Karnataka, pocketed Rs 10 million in an episode of ?Kannada Kotyadipathi? season 2 which is to be telecast on 29 April at 8.30 pm on Suvarna TV (part of the Star Network).

Then today, Sanuja, a last grade assistant in Collectorate from Thiruvananthapuram answered all 15 questions correctly to win the coveted Rs. 10 million prize money on Asianet?s Ningalukkumaakam Kodeeswaran (NAK), the Malayalam version of game show.

The Hindi version of the international game show is known as Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) hosted by the legendary actor Amitabh Bachchan airs on Sony Entertainment Television (SET).
 
Sanuja, a 37 year old mother of two and wife of a casual labourer, plans to use the moolah to build her own house, educating her sons and save the remaining money to meet challenges in life. Her historic victory will be aired by the channel on 30 April.
The title sponsor for NAK is the Confident group with Joyalukkas, Federal Bank, Josco, Hairomax, Francis Alukkas, Sunfeast, Malabar Gold, and Mathrubhumi as co-sponsors.

Mumbai: ETV Marathi has roped in Sachin Khedekar to host the Marathi version of ?Kaun Banega Crorepati?, ?Kon Hoeel Marathi Crorepati?.

Standing for the power of knowledge, the show will give every Marathi speaking person a chance to redefine his destiny with the prize of Rs 10 million.global knowledge"."

Produced by Big Synergy, ?Kon Hoeel Marathi Crorepati? is slated to go on air in May.

ETV Marathi non-fiction programming head Amit Phalke said, "KBC as a format is very strong; it has the right mix of emotions, knowledge and entertainment, but I believe what makes the show successful is when you find the right host. We at ETV Marathi believe that Sachin Khedekar is the perfect choice for the show. He is a great actor, his personality is both intense and versatile and he has the right balance of being a star but still being approachable by the common man. He connects with both the masses and the classes and he has every quality we were looking for in the host."

Khedekar said, "As a host of the show, I will try to encourage people to stay close to their roots and culture irrespective of where they live and work. With this show, I want to offer my fellow maharashtrians a chance to win 10 million on the strength of their local and global knowledge".

MUMBAI: After airing on Hindi general entertainment channels (GECs), big-ticket non fiction shows are travelling to regional-language channels. The latest to make this journey successfully is Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), the Hindi version of the popular game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

Already exploited by Star India for its South Indian regional channels, KBC will now move to ETV Marathi.

The Marathi version of the show is titled Kon Hoeel Marathi Crorepati. ETV Marathi has secured the production and broadcast rights from format owner Sony Pictures Television and has partnered with Big Synergy to produce it on a "never-before-seen scale of participation and grandeur for Marathi viewers".

Kon Hoeel Marathi Crorepati will go on air in summer 2013. The show draws inspiration from KBC and stands for power of knowledge and education. It will offer the opportunity for every Marathi-speaking person to exercise their vast knowledge and possibly change their destiny through their participation in what has been called the most successful game show ever.

Says ETV Marathi Non Fiction head Amit Phalke, ?I am delighted to announce Kon Hoeel Marathi Crorepati, the world?s most popular format show, especially for Marathi Manoos. The show is a game changer, as it goes beyond the realm of entertainment and enters into a space that changes people?s destiny. We invite all Marathi viewers to the biggest and the most powerful game show so that they can put their knowledge to the test and have a fair chance to win the grand prize of rupees one crore?.

Big Synergy founder Siddhartha Basu avers, ?We are very optimistic and excited about our foray into Maharashtra with Kon Hoeel Marathi Crorepati. This is a culturally rich region, with its own history and highly developed literature, and people thirsting to prove themselves - which makes it a fertile ground for this life-changing knowledge game. Having broken ground in the southern and eastern regional markets of India with multilingual productions of Kaun Banega Crorepati, we are now looking forward to creating the same magic on ETV Marathi?.

Kaun Banega Crorepati has been made in Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Bangla and Bhojpuri. Besides being highly popular on Sony Entertainment Television as a Hindi show, KBC?s Kannada and Malayalam versions on Suvarna and Asianet channels have got high ratings.

Bigg Boss is another big-ticket show which ETV will be airing on its Kannada channel. Bigg Boss Kannada will show on ETV Kannada in March.