I believe in taking risks: Anil Kapoor on his TV debut

Mumbai: Bollywood actor-producer Anil Kapoor, who is making his debut on the small screen with a fictional show, says he believes in taking risks. The 53-year-old actor will be seen in his television production `24`, a suspense drama show based on the American series of the same name. "I have tried to do out of the box things which are risky, which have a possibility of failing miserably. But I enjoy it when people make fun of me... As it helps me work even harder," Kapoor said in an interview here. "TV has got the biggest reach. I don`t know how many years it is going to last. Now even internet is catching up. We have to pull up our socks as everything is going to be watched on internet," he said. Even megastar Amitabh Bachchan is coming on TV with a fiction show and Kapoor is quite happy about it. "His coming on a show makes my stand of being in this show (`24`) even stronger," Kapoor said. It was the format of the show that drew Kapoor to make it in India. "When I was in US doing `24` over there, I had made up my mind to bring this iconic show to India. I felt this show is relevant in our country today. We wrote an email and negotiated with the concerned officials. I am glad it happened," Kapoor said. The actor is thankful to the channel for partnering with him in taking this programme to the masses. For the Indian version of the show, Anil said that the challenge was to get the same kind of aesthetics, scale and performance. "Those shows are made at a cost of four to six billion dollar per episode. We are not going to spend that much amount of money. But we had to raise the bar and make the show as effective as the original with lesser time and money. The entire team has put in a lot of passion and hard work. We have put our best foot forward which we hope will be loved by the people," he said. Anil features as ATU chief Jai Singh Rathod in the series. The show is backed by a stellar cast comprising Mandira Bedi, Neil Bhoopalam, Tisca Chopra, Anita Raaj, Ajinkya Deo to name a few and Anupam Kher, Shabana Azmi and Rahul Khanna in cameo appearances. "It was difficult to get each and everybody for the show, I had to convince everybody. They (Anupam Kher, Shabana Azmi) did not ask about the details, they just accepted it and did it for me and the love for the iconic show `24`," Kapoor said. "My input is that I got the show here in India. My involvement was to get the right people for the show. I wanted good and hardworking people - be it director, writer or the other cast," he said. Kapoor credited the three ladies in his house, wife Sunita and daughters Sonam and Rhea - for his fitness. PTI