Akshay joins the small screen bandwagon

“For this show, we have adapted the Fear Factor Extreme format,” says Ashvini Yardi, programming head, Colors. Though the show has several formats, Colors has chosen the “most dangerous” one. “There will be two stunts in each episode. There would be an action and a reaction round. In each episode, one contestant would be eliminated,” she informs, claiming that viewers of Indian television haven’t seen such things before.

“From locales in Johannesburg to the actions—everything is on a grand scale. Whether the actions are unfolding in a lake or in the sky, the props that have been used are simply big,” Yardi says.

Added to this is the charm of the 13 celebrity contestants—Yaana Gupta, Aditi Govitrikar, Pooja Bedi, Sonali Kulkarni, Anita Hasnandani, Meghna Naidu, Nethra Raghuraman, Anjana Sukhani, Dipannita Sharma, Vidya Malvade, Urvashi Sharma and Tapur and Tupur Chatterjee. However, those who think these participants would add only to the show’s glam quotient would be in for a surprise. “Many of the girls have broken Fear Factor world records,” Yardi says. Naidu corroborates: “We didn’t know our potential before taking part in it. All of us were scared to do the stunts but no one said no to them.”

Despite the presence of these brave-heart beauties, the Khiladi remains in focus. Amar Shetty, action director of Om Shanti Om and the forthcoming soap, Kahaani Hamaaray Mahaabhaarat Ki, expects daredevil stunts from the actor. “Kumar really would do justice to the stunts and this show would be a trendsetter,” he believes. Mukul Dev, the host of Fear Factor India that was aired on Sony in 2006, says, “I think Akshay Kumar and Jackie Chan are the only two actors in the world who can rightly host this show.” Dev adds that when he hosted it, anchors weren’t allowed to do stunts.

Expectations from Kumar are already very high. TV professional Srikant Malladi admits to waiting for the show as Kumar is hosting it. “With his action-star image, he would bring a degree of credibility to the show.” Agrees Ranjeet Thakur, creative director (non-fiction), of Zee TV. But he feels that the show should refrain from trying anything gross. “Fear Factor has rounds where contestants eat insects which I doubt whether would go down well with Indian audience. If they include other entertaining content, it would draw more eyeballs.”