I'm bringing up an old article to point--

Indiantelevision.com Team

(11 July 2007 8:37 pm)

MUMBAI: Balaji Telefilms' first Bhojpuri production Gabbar Singh directed by Mahesh Pandey will release in August, producer and creative director Ekta Kapoor announced today.

Kapoor was speaking at the launch of Balaji's new television soap Khwaish.

Khwaish incidentally is Balaji Telefilm's first serial directed for Pakistani audiences, where it is currently on air on ARY Digital in 9:30pm slot. "After the popularity of our existing shows like Kasautii Zindagi Kay, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki, we felt a growing demand for programming for their audiences. Khwaish has been on-air for about two weeks and its been doing really well," she said.

Creative director Nivedita Basu also present on the occasion said, "We've shot the serial entirely in Dubai, with about 40 per cent being shot outdoors. Its about a Pakistani girl Afreen from a traditional family who goes to Dubai and the twists and turns that come into her life after she falls in love."

Priya Ashok Bhatija who'd earlier made an appearance in Balaji's flagship soap Kyunki..., will essay the lead role and she'll be supported by Sumeet Sachdev, Anju Mahendru and Pakistani actor Yasir Shah.

"After every two weeks, there will be high points in the story. An Indian connection will be established later into the storyline couple at a later stage," she said.

The show will go on air on Sony from 16 July on weekdays between Monday and Thursday at 7:30pm. Compared to the traditional prime time Balaji show time-slots, when asked about the choice of the existing time slot, Sony senior VP marketing Aseem Kapoor said, "Young audiences and housewives from the small towns also comprise a large part of our audience. For them 7:30pm is evening time, when they're settled and tuned in to the television sets."

About Balaji's future plans, Kapoor said, "We are expanding the reach of our shows into the Sri Lankan market. Our existing shows were dubbed in Tamil and the broadcasters had to pay a huge fee for that. So now we are using local actors and shooting in Tamil, which will help us reach a larger audience base. Also we're producing original soaps on southern TV channels," she said.

Sony has reportedly roped in Balaji to produce three shows in the coming weeks, of which Khwaish is one. About forthcoming shows on the channel, Kapoor said that one serial would be of supernatural genre and another show format would be a new format that Balaji has not tried before.

When asked whether it be another woman centric show, she replied, "I can't reveal details about the show yet, but I want to break the mould of female-oriented shows. We're just waiting for the market to change. Women comprise the majority of our audiences while men are more hooked to formats like reality TV."

About her reality TV plans, sources say that she has joined hands with Sanjay Gupta's White Feather Films to produce a big-budget reality format show. When queried, Kapoor said "It is too early to comment on it, yet."