TIL Desk Bollywood/ Actor Anil Kapoor is ecstatic over the “tremendous” response to the second season of his television show 24 and said that he and his team never treated the show as a small screen entertainer but as a feature movie. “It’s amazing how much enthusiasm Season 2 of 24 has generated. We wanted to do the second season only when all of us were sure we had the time and energy to do it uninterrupted. Even before season 2 had begun airing, we had already completed shooting 18 episodes, with six more to go,” said Anil Kapoor.
He was determined to go the right way about 24, an Indian adaptation of the popular international show. “We did everything in style. We ‘Indianised’ the original a bit. But only enough so that fans of the original do not feel betrayed. Luckily, the feedback is tremendous. The thing is we never treated 24 like a television serial,” Mr Kapoor added. “We shot it like a feature film and even held a premiere show of the first episode where I invited all my colleagues from the film industry,” said Mr Kapoor.
The kissing scene between Anil Kapoor and Surveen was much reported, though Mr Kapoor can’t see what the fuss is about. “I’ve kissed in my films when there has been a need to. In 24, a liplock was needed. So we went ahead and did it. About time we stopped making a fuss about these things. The content in 24 is not juvenile,” said Mr Kapoor.
“We are looking at a series which has certain international standards to uphold,” he said. The premiere episode of 24 had to go through the full censor process. “Since we were screening it like a feature film, we had to get it censored. This is the first time that a television product is being treated like a feature film,” he added.