Zee sets the platform for fresh talent with India's Best Cinestar Ki Khoj

One of the popular properties of Zee TV, India’s Best Cinestar Ki Khoj is all set to hit your television screens as the journey of India’s aspiring cine stars unfolds beginning Saturday, 5th July 2014.

Having concluded a nationwide series of auditions across 18 cities in an attempt to smoke out the most promising acting talent from every nook and corner of the country, Zee TV has signed on Vijay Krishna Acharya aka Victor, the director of Dhoom 3, the highest grossing Bollywood film worldwide and gorgeous actress Sonali Bendre to judge the show. The channel and production houses Essel Vision Pvt Ltd and Trompe L’oeil Media Pvt Ltd. are considering other A-league actors and renowned directors for the third position on the judges’ panel. Parineeti Chopra and Ayushmann Khurana, who embody the picture of India’s emerging youth and all its aspirations, have been called upon to guide and inspire the contestants with their own examples in the audition phase.  

Victor is the man behind one of the biggest Bollywood hits of all times – Dhoom 3.  Accredited with the story, screenplay and dialogue of the entire Dhoom franchise he has also worked on films like Guru. He’s a multi-faceted personality and has worked closely with some of the finest actors of the country. His knack for identifying, grooming and honing acting talent makes him a perfect fit for the show. Sonali is an attractive, glamorous actress with an impressive body of work to her credit. She has been a part of blockbusters such as Sarfarosh, Hum Saath Saath Hain among others, and has also been associated with critically acclaimed films like Zakhm. She has been a much loved judge on the successful children’s acting hunt show ‘India’s Best Dramebaaz’.

Vijay Krishna Acharya aka Victor one of the judges for India’s Best Cinestar Ki Khoj shared his views on the upcoming show. He said, “India has talent and today there is a platform to promote your talent. India’s Best Cinestar Ki Khoj on Zee believes in nurturing the right talent and will enable talented contestants to get recognition and make their name in the industry.”

Speaking about the conceptualization of the show Namit Sharma, Programming Head, ZEE TV said, “This year’s India’s Best Cinestar Ki Khoj is almost a new show as we have altered the format. Lot of varieties have been added to the show right from the flavours of comedy, action, drama, dance and so on which is normally seen in films. It’s a show driven by different ideas.  We have selected 200 contestants from the entries we received and out of them top 16 will compete against each other.”

The show will put its participants through a slew of challenging rounds designed to test their creativity and ability of enacting a variety of different roles. Spanning varied genres such as romance, comedy, drama, dance and action, the contestants will be called upon to prove their versatility, presence of mind, spontaneity and sheer mettle across a number of different acting styles.

“Zee TV has always stood for celebrating the talent of India’s common man. In 1995, the channel created the mecca of singing talent in the country with Sa Re Ga Ma Pa and introduced the entertainment fraternity to some of its leading singers such as Shreya Ghoshal, Shekhar and Kunal Ganjawala. Dance India Dance, similarly gave hope to a million dance enthusiasts across the country, making stars out of Salman, Shakti Mohan, Dharmesh, Raghav and Prince. After revolutionizing the worlds of singing and dancing, Zee TV is all set to make a similar impact in the world of acting with our exciting reality series India’s Best Cinestars Ki Khoj. We have a knack of identifying the right talent and we look forward to an interesting season of this show! The sheer range of performances spanning diverse styles of acting that the audiences will see in the course of the season will make the show a one-stop shop for entertainment,” added Sharma.

The show presents the talented youth of the country with a golden opportunity to have an interface with some of Bollywood’s most renowned film makers, actors, choreographers and be groomed by them.

On asking Sharma about the role of Parineeti Chopra and Ayushmann Khurana in the show, he said, “We’ve roped in a number of achievers from the film fraternity, who’ve made a distinct mark for themselves, to be a part of the selection and grooming process of our contestants. We’re happy to have Parineeti & Ayushmann join us on India’s Best Cinestars Ki Khoj in the audition phase. Parineeti & Ayushmann are first amongst a slew of film achievers to guide and inspire the contestants on the show. They will be known as Bollywood buddies and will help the contestants by training and mentoring them and the judges in their selection for the first two weeks. After every two weeks we will have new buddies from Bollywood. We will be announcing a third judge soon.”

Parineeti shared her experience being on the show, as she said,” I think talent will get recognized through this platform and I am happy to be a part of it. Being part of the audition process I’ve seen people from different sectors coming and participating in Zee’s India’s Best Cinestar Ki Khoj and they certainly have talent in them. India has talent which will be discovered through this show.”

“Almost a decade back, I experienced this platform when I gave my audition for Zee India’s Best Cinestar Ki Khoj but unfortunately got rejected. I am proud to be back on this platform as a mentor/buddy. Today it’s the golden era and there are a lot of opportunities ahead for talented contestants. In this show I’ll share my personal experiences with the contestants and will try to boost positivity and confidence in them,” shared Ayushmann.

The show will be promoted across media with 360 degree marketing plan. The TVCs have already rolled out on television, social and digital platforms. The channel plans for more such activities as the show progresses. 

Starting 5th July every Saturday-Sunday at 9 pm, stay tuned to the  new 13 week reality series - ‘India’s Best Cinestars ki Khoj, powered by Glam up’, and the  hunt for the most versatile, talented cine stars who have it in them to light up the silver screen with their acting prowess and charisma, only on Zee TV.