Small Screen,Big Deal

This year could prove to be a game-changer for fiction on Indian television. With the Indian adaptation of 24 to go on air on Colors this weekend,the audience is hoping it will eventually rid them of terrible screenplays executed with mediocre production quality. Adding to that is the Anurag Kashyap-directed fiction show for Sony that will have Amitabh Bachchan leading the cast.

The show,which is currently in production,is to go on air towards the end of this year. The channel,the makers as well as the cast — apparently several theatre actors have been signed for it — has remained tight-lipped about the plot. However,word is that the show is the adaptation of the American tele-series Boss. The story of the original follows the Mayor of Chicago who is suffering from dementia,a fact he hides from everyone except his doctor in order to stay in power.

In the Indian remake — true to Kashyap’s style of storytelling — Bachchan’s character is one of a politician with grey shades,a tad reminiscent of his character in Ram Gopal Varma’s Sarkar. The finite series will explore the character’s relationship with his confidantes and close aides as well as his family even as his health gradually worsens. Although the American tele-series has had two seasons,whether or not the Indian adaptation,being produced by Endemol,will have a second season is uncertain,as of now.