Lights, Action, Camera

For Saurabh Tewari, the owner of Nautanki Films, Bollywood has been an inseparable part of his life, right since his childhood. So when he planned to launch his production house, it was obvious that he wanted to do something related to Bollywood. "I wanted to make a show that was a saga and not a soap. I wanted it to be something that would have a canvas of a 70mm while retaining the essence of the small screen," says Tewari. It was then that he along with his team of writers, decided to put together Madhubala- Ek Ishq, Ek Junoon. "With the Indian film industry celebrating its 100 years, it was also the perfect time to pay a tribute," he adds.

The show, which went on air from May 28, is as filmy as it can get. The title of the show is a give away, named after Madhubala, one of the most enigmatic actors also remembered as the most beautiful woman of Hindi cinema. It captures the attractions, quirks, ugly side and ways of the film industry through the story of a young actress, played by Drashti Dhami. Often called "dreamland", every year Bollywood sees lakhs of aspirants flocking to it with the hope of getting a break in films. Some make it, others don't. Some are forced into it, others chance upon it, while few others are born into it. It is this essence of Bollywood, the magic of the arclights and the medium of cinema that has been captured on this show. "At Colors, we are always looking for shows which are out of the box. This time, we were looking for something, which was never shown on Indian television before," says Prashant Bhatt, fiction head, Colors.

The show is probably also one of the biggest TV shows in terms of execution. "The scale of the show is even bigger than certain films," says Bhatt. While they have shot the initial portions of the show at Ramoji Studios in Hyderabad, the shooting of other portions will continue at Film City in Mumbai. "Film City is the best place. It has all under one roof. And for a show like this we need huge sets which are easily available there."

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