BENGALURU: The first season of the Kannada version of KBC, Kannadada Kotyadhipati, ends this week on Suvarna channel.

Starting 30 July, the channel has planned three big 30 minute shows ? all fiction with women centric themes to be aired during the 90 minutes that Kannadada Kotyadhipati (KK) was aired.

Out of the three shows, Akashadeepa will be aired at 8 pm. Akashadeepa has been inspired by the currently ongoing Diya aur Bati Hum (DABH) on Star Plus. The serial is directed by Sakkarebailu Srinivas and has Parikshit (of the Kannada serial Guru Raghvendra Swamy fame) playing Akash (aka Suraj of DABH) and Divya (aka Sandhya of DABH).

The second show to be aired at the 8.30 pm slot is Keladi Chennamma ? a historical based on the life of the queen of Keladi who ruled the small Kingdom for 26 years in the 17th century. The magnum opus is directed by veteran Nagabharna, a film director who made his television directorial debut way back in 1982 on Doordarshan and is said to be the first one to start direction for Kannada television. Big money has been spent on just one set alone ? the channel and the director claim a figure of Rs 10 million.

The third serial to be aired at the 9 pm slot ?Bhagyavantharu? has the late Sandalwood superstar Visnuvardhan?s wife Bharati Vishnuvardhan playing the role of a matriarch in a classic joint family based soap and the constant conflict amongst its various members.

Says Suvarna business head Anup Chandrasekharan,?We are catering to the vibrant panorama of taste with a new zeal. These three shows, though different, have strong storylines and are targeted at the woman audiences in the state, but at the same time, all the three shows will appeal to mass audiences and cater to the entire family.?

For Akashadeepa and Keladi Chennamma, the channel has roped in two of Dabur?s brands ? ?Red Paste? and ?Meswak? respectively. About 10 episodes of each soap have been canned so far, reveal sources at Suvarna.

MUMBAI: Kannada GEC Suvarna is launching a comedy show for the first time. ?Tirupathi Tirumala Venkatesha? will air in the weekend slot.

Starting 7 July, the show will air every Saturday and Sunday at 10 pm. It is an episodic fiction comedy and the story revolves around a family which runs a small business of home made products.

Suvarna Channel business head Anup Chandrashekaran said, "This is the first time that Suvarna is offering a comedy show in the weekend band. We at Suvarna are bullish about the comedy genre as it appeals to the entire family & resonates across age groups."

Suvarna Channel head of marketing and strategy Anil Narang added, "This show will further strengthen our weekend offering. We have seen in the past that viewers like light hearted comedy shows which act as a stress buster."

The show is directed by Master Anand who has earlier directed comedy shows like Paduvaralli Padegalu and SSLC Nanmakkalu for Suvarna. He also plays a key role in the show.

MUMBAI: Star India, the leading broadcasting company, is gearing up to launch two new television channels in the next two months, a top executive confirmed.

The two proposed channels include one Hindi action movie channel and one English movie channel in the movie genre.

Star India has already got the license for the Hindi channel and awaiting the license for the English one.

"We will launch the English and Hindi action movie channels sometime in the next two months. Wh have got license for Hindi channel," Star India COO Sanjay Gupta told Indiantelevision.com.

It is pertinent to note that Star India runs a Hindi movie channel - Star Gold and an English Movie channel - Star Movies. Industry observers believe that there might be cannibalisation in the two genres as the movie offerings may not be very different.

However, Gupta said that there is enough scope for both the channels. "Hindi channel will have dubbed content as well," he said.

Currently, only UTV has a dedicated action movie channel UTV Action, which airs action films dubbed in Hindi.

Star India provides 35 channels in seven languages in India. The network?s portfolio includes Star Plus, Life OK, Star Gold, Star Movies Star World, Channel [V] and regional channels such as Star Jalsha and Star Pravah. It also has joint venture channels Asianet, Asianet Plus, Star Vijay, Suvarna, ESPN and Star Sports.