Actor-producer Shah Rukh Khan’s TV production unit, Red Chillies Idiot Box, is rejoicing these days. Two of its most recent shows, Live My Life and Up, Close And Personal With PZ, produced for the newly launched Bollywood channel UTV Stars, are poised for a comeback this year.
Preity Zinta’s chat show, which featured 10 of her favourite male colleagues, including Shah Rukh, Farhan Akhtar, Hrithik Roshan, Saif Ali Khan, Bobby Deol and Anil Kapoor, wrapped up after completing 11 episodes in a span of three months, starting towards the end of August last year. Live My Life, which allows a fan to follow their favourite star’s life for a day, was not only one of the first big shows on the channel, but also one of the longest running series.
The reality show flagged off with Imran Khan, followed by the likes of Abhishek Bachchan, Shah Rukh and Sonakshi Sinha, and was expected to last only 12-15 episodes, airing once a week. But it ended with an episode featuring Kangana Ranaut after completing more than 25 episodes in a span of six months. According to Nikhil Gandhi, business head of UTV Stars, the channel received good feedback, especially from the youth.
“They really want Live My Life to come back because it gave them a chance to get really close to their favourite hero or heroine. Besides, even the actors have reacted well to it, otherwise we couldn’t have extended it the way we did,” Gandhi says, adding, “Talks with all parties involved have already been initiated and we should soon be back with another season.”
When prodded about Preity’s chat show, he says that the channel is considering it at the moment: “She has her film assignments. She’s busy, but she really enjoyed the show. So, we’ll make every effort to bring it back.”