Soap queen switches to Sony

Reality shows now get a new twist. And when television tycoon Ekta Kapoor bets her money on it, you can look forward to something innovative. She is planning to make an acting-based reality show for Sony TV on the lines of Zee's Cinestar Ki Khoj. Ekta has conveniently opted to return to Sony after her protg turned arch rival Sandeep Sickand quit the channel.

The reality show in co-production Suniel Shetty's Popkorn Entertainment will be based on a talent hunt for actors. The show will be aired on Sony Television in December. The winner will get a prominent role in Ekta's next film starring Sanjay Dutt in June 2008 and perhaps a chance to do a Hollywood film too. However, statistics show that only reality shows based on song and dance have got high TRPs. The second innings of Cinestars... failed to live up to the hype generated by the earlier version. That's why Sony and Star stayed away from reality shows based on acting.

But with Ekta at the helm, Sony is confident of achieving the desired TRPs. When the soap queen makes a plan, there is solid conviction behind it. The buzz is that the sudden shift of focus towards Sony is because Ekta's top actors like Prachi Desai, Ronit Roy and Jai Bhanushali are participating in Jhalak, in which papa Jeetendra is also a judge.

It is also believed that Ekta is gravitating towards Sony because her serials on Star Plus and Zee are not doing too well these days. However, a creative person associated with Balaji Telefilms says, "Ekta's shows enjoy a very high viewership. It is just that she is spreading her wings and not limiting herself to a few channels." But the TRPs prove otherwise. Even a mythological-historical show like Prithviraj Chauhan is enjoying higher TRPs than Balaji's prime-time soaps. Had that not been the truth, why would Ekta sack six of her creative directors all at one go? Her rift with her subordinates could be because of her bossy attitude. At the same time, Ekta also has loyal supporters amongst her actors. Says Jai Bhanushali, "Ekta never stops us from doing anything. She told us that if we can manage it, we could go ahead and work with other channels." But then, would any actor working for Ekta dare talk against her? Whatever the reason for her shift in loyalties, everyone's waiting to see how her new endeavours will turn out.

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