Actor Anil Kapoor wants to launch 30 fresh faces and has already started conducting auditions. He is keen to bridge the gap between TV and films in the country by adapting the award-winning American TV series 24 to the Indian small screen. The show will be directed by Abhinay Deo.

Sources said that Anil, who has also played a cameo in the last season of the American show as Omar Hassan, president of the fictional Islamic Republic of Kamistan, will be playing the desi Jack Bauer. The special counter terrorist agent is played by Kiefer Sutherland in the original. “I had the privilege of observing the original team at work for eight months in Los Angeles.

So I know what level of professionalism I need to maintain,” says Anil, who is keen to bring international standards of production to the Indian Television industry. “Now, I want to replicate whatever I saw them trying to achieve. The television industry in our country is still in its infancy. In the US, there are top actors who do television. Look at Keifer or Ashton Kutcher,” he adds.

The show will go on floors by early February, as soon as the cast and locations are finalised. The show is presented in the semblance of real time, with each of the 24 episodes of a season covering 24 hours in the life of Bauer. “I know I am playing the protagonist. The rest of the cast, I’ve no idea about and we have just started auditions to shortlist them. And please, there is no role for my daughter Sonam in 24,” Anil adds.