Hrithik to make small-screen debut

Hrithik Roshan is ready to make his small screen debut with a dance-based reality show. It’s rumoured that the show will be produced by...

A decade after his big Bollywood debut in Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai (2000), directed by his father Rakesh Roshan, Hrithik Roshan is ready to make his small screen debut with a dance-based reality show. It’s rumoured that the show will be produced by Fazila Allana and Kamna Menzes of SOL Productions and is likely to come on air towards the mid or last quarter of 2011. The show in question, it’s learnt, is called Dance Olympics and is a homegrown format.

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The dance oriented show, it will feature artistes from various countries. They will represent their respective countries of origin, and the production company and Star Plus, the channel expected to air the show, will audition thousands of artistes across 20 to 30 countries. The finalists, our industry sources say, will compete against each other, much like it is at the Olympics, where representative players perform for their country’s pride.

Highest paid?

The first round of auditions will be conducted outside India. It’s heard that the channel and the production house approached Roshan Jr in the last quarter of the year, just ahead of his year-end release Guzaarish. The actor, acknowledged in the movies for his dancing skills, has apparently been offered a fee of Rs 2 crore per episode, according to sources.

If the industry speculation is anything to go by, then the show which is expected to run into 56 episodes, will fetch Roshan anything between Rs 90 and 112 crore, turning him into one of the highest paid Bollywood imports on TV. Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar, who were paid approximately Rs 1.5 crore for their shows, would then rank second. Roshan’s manager Afsar, without commenting on the industry speculation, adds, “Hrithik has been in talks with a production house for a dance reality show. He has committed time for TV next year. Once we have all the details, we can talk about it at length.”

No details, please!
But Roshan admits that he will be debuting on television show next year: “It’s early to comment on the details. But it’s true that I will be doing a dance reality show on TV.”We emailed Star Plus officials, but there was no reply from their end at the time of going to press.Fazilla Allana of SOL Productions says, “It’s too early to talk. Wait for the channel to make an official announcement.”