MUMBAI: So far Bollywood stars have shown themselves on TV as part of reality shows or as judges or special guests for competition-based shows. But now Anil Kapoor and gang are rewriting the rules with the new TV series ’24’, an Indian version of the famous series, worldwide.

At the launch for the show ’24’, Anil Kapoor brought along with him several other Bollywood stars in Tisca Chopra, Anupam Kher, Shabana Azmi and Mandira Bedi.

The primary star cast came dressed according to their characters in the show, especially Anil Kapoor and Mandira Bedi, who impressed everyone with their energy and charisma.

That’s not all! It is being written by Rensil D’silva (‘Rang De Basanti’) and Bhavani Iyer (‘Lootera’), with dialogues by Milap Zaveri (‘Grand Masti’) and directed by Abhinay Deo (‘Delhi Belly’). The buzz is that Rensil D’silva has directed a few episodes. He has directed ‘Kurbaan’ and ‘Ungli’ before.

The entire cast and crew came on stage at the launch of the show. Perhaps a larger ensemble has not been seen on the entire stage at an event for a TV show before. They sure are treating it like a movie.

’24’ will premiere on 4 October, 2013 and will run for a 12-week period on Friday and Saturday nights. Let’s hope this ushers a reinvention for TV content.