January 26, 2006 - Mumbai Mirror

There has been a national flurry caused by Amitabh Bachchan's inability to shoot further episodes of Star's star show, Kaun Banega Crorepati.

On Wednesday, Star officials held flash meetings to devise an emergency plan of action to counter the KBC crisis. “We've come up with a feasible plan of action,” says Deepak Segal, executive vice-president  of content, Star. “Our immediate plan is it to air a new game show called Jodi Kamaal Ki. It will be hosted by Rakshanda Khan. It's a game show featuring celebrity couples – husband-wife, siblings, etc. The idea is to get them to reveal how much they know of each other.”

Jodi Kamaal Ki, produced by Creative Eye, will  be telecast every Saturday and Sunday.

“On Fridays, in place of KBC, we're planning to air our dailies, Miillee and Kkavyanjali,” reveals  Segal. “Thus these dailies will be aired five days a week, instead of four. These dailies will see us through, until  our two new big  weekend soaps, the Sagars' Prithiviraj Chauhan and Tigmanshu Dhulia's  working-class satire (yet untitled, but modelled on Saeed Miza-Kundan Shah's Nukkad) are ready. These two serials were supposed to replace KBC anyway, after this season.”

Meanwhile, audiences may be somewhat relieved to know that the channel's plans for KBC's next season remain unchanged.

“KBC is one of our USPs and we have no intention of  doing away with it,” says Segal. “As soon as Mr Bachchan is back to work , we'll start planning the next season's shoot.”