MUMBAI: Regional channel Asianet sent shockwaves across Malayalee households when its prestigious talk show Nammal Thammil aired on 13 June exposed lesbian and gay live-in relationships in Kerala. The 10-year old weekly show anchored by Asianet vice president (programmes) Sreekantan Nair will focus on the state's expanding kidney racket in its next episode on 20 June.

Talking to indiantelevision.com, Nair said the show would come up with bolder themes in the coming weeks. The 13 June's show had a lesbian and gay couple participating in the debate. Talking about the upcoming kidney racket show, he said a lady who is a victim of the kidney racket would be presented in the show.

Quoting TAM figures, Nair said the show had become one of the top-rated talk shows down South.

"The show's TRP has gone as high as 13 in total markets, which is remarkable for any talk show," said Nair.

Nammal Thammil, which had a successful 400 episode-long run covering various subjects, was discontinued last year. According to Nair, the show was taken off because it was getting monotonous and friends advised him to take a break. He said, he didn't want to kill the show by introducing another anchor as his name had become a part of the show's identity.

Then Nair anchored another show titled Janakeeya Kodati which conducted mock trials of political leaders and prominent personalties who were in news. Now Janakeeya Kodati is being discontinued and Nair has returned with Nammal Thammil. The show was re-launched on 14 April.

"We discontinued Janakeeya Kodati because we were finding it very difficult to get important personalities for the show and also the female audiences were not liking its political treatment. And there was pressure from the viewers to re-launch Nammal Thammil," said Nair.