X chromosome to rule TGILC2

The Great Indian Laughter Challenge will come back in a new avatar early next year and this time Perizaad (or whoever hosts the show next) will not be the only glam quotient of the show. The makers are trying to woo female stand up commediennes! "It's a challenge to get women contestants! Women are stuck in a world of dignity, they can't disgrace themselves by stooping so low so as to make faces or gestures to make others laugh!" laughs TGILC director Pankaj Saraswat. TGILC2 is all set to make a lot of innovations to make the show more appealing. "We are looking to broaden our horizons. We are looking at Pakistan,Bangladesh, Singapore and Dubai to rope in contestants and the process will start from January. Although the judges are going to be the same, we might go in for celeb judges too. Navjot Sidhu and Shekhar Suman are an integral part of the show and I can't do without them," says Pankaj. We ask him if it was difficult to do something so different -- "Well, people were apprehensive and very frankly, so was I. But Star One was launched as a niche channel. TGILC had mass content, but it was presented very stylishly and it worked!" says Pankaj who has made a comeback of sorts to television after doing shows like Flashback on Channel [V] and Babbar Sher on Radio City quite some time back. It took Pankaj and his team 11 months to finalise on TGILC and with a second season coming up, and a film still taking shape, Pankaj is one busy man!