I am putting everything at stake for 24: Anil Kapoor

Anil Kapoor, who has been a part of the fiction show 24 abroad, is now Indianising the same format under his production house. As a matter of fact, Kapoor is not just producing this show but is also acting in it as the Indian Jack Bauer. Furthermore, 24 is currently considered to be a hybrid genre in the TV industry (as addressed by Colors CEO Raj Nayak) as it is a reality-fiction show. We at Tellychakkar.com spoke to the actor on this Indian version of 24 and his debut on TV. Excerpts. How did you manage to put your hand on the rights of 24? As you know that I was a part of the 24 series abroad and when I started reading the script of it, I just could not put it down. That’s when I thought of getting it to India and in regards to the same, I met, Howard Gordon (writer- producer of 24). I told him that I wanted the rights of the show to produce it in India. In his reply, he simply asked me to shoot and get back to him later. Then, on the last day of my shoot, I got back to him again. I reminded him that he had assured me about the rights of 24. He looked at me and dialed a number and spoke to someone at the 20th Century Fox. Though things started rolling from that point of time, it took a year for me to get the rights in India. When I finally got the franchise, I started talking to various channels when I also met Mr. Raj Nayak. We finalised the deal in 15 minutes. Six-seven months from there, I signed the deal. We first broke the news to media it was 24th November, 2011. How did you manage to get Abhinay Deo on board? I had seen his movie Delhi Belly and I felt that he is one director who is no less than any international director. Today, he is the biggest name in the ad industry. So, I felt if someone can do 24, it has to be Abhinay. And luckily for me, when I met him, I realised that he too was a big fan of this show’s international version. That’s how he came on board. How will you adapt this show to the sensibilities of Indian audience? It’s not like this show is only successful in the US; it has been successful in so many other countries as well. So, there is no point about the audiences not adapting to it. Plus, as an actor who has been in the industry for this long, I too have my sensibilities. And I felt that the script of the show matched with the Indian taste. With this show, all of us are putting our careers on stake. And it’s not like we are doing this because we are running out of offers. Abhinay is a young director and I am sure everybody wants to sign him. We are sure that the team will do its work and the show will do well. We will try and connect this to people in small cities too. Do you think it is the right time to make a debut on TV? Since sometime, I am being offered shows as a judge and an anchor on TV, but I refused all of them. In fact, after the success of Slumdog Millionaire, I was also offered international reality shows, but I did not take them. This went on till 24 was offered to me and I agreed to do it as my managers were of the opinion that it would be the right career move. I think this is the right time for me to be on Indian TV. That is why I am putting everything on stake for it. What do you have to say about the current scenario of TV? I am focused on 24 right now. But, am sure that TV is doing well and that is why the shows are doing well. We have some very good talent in the TV industry. Do you know that Imtiaz Ali, Anurag Basu and Anurag Kashap started their careers with TV. Do you like any TV show? I haven’t followed much currently, but I loved Buniyaad.