Zee TV brings back 'India's Best Cinestars Ki Khoj' after a decade

The talent-hunt show will go on air from July 5 every Saturday and Sunday at 9 pm.

After almost a decade, Zee TV is getting back a show that gave recognition to actors like Ankita Lokhande (she plays Archana Deshmukh on Zee TV's Pavitra Rishta), Naman Shaw (last seen in Colors' Kairee - Rishta Khatta Meetha as Anuj), Yuvika Chaudhari (featured in Om Shanti Om as the fake Shanti Priya), Aditi Sharma (featured in Shraddha Arya (playing Pakhi in Life OK's Tumhari Pakhi) and Abhishek Avasthi (also famous for dating Rakhi Sawant).

India's Best Cinestars Ki Khoj is a talent hunt that brings the "most versatile and talented cinestars" who have it in them to light up the silver screen with their acting prowess and charisma.

Launching on July 5, the show will air every Saturday and Sunday at 9 pm. This time it's judged by director Vijay Krishna Acharya (aka Victor) and Sonali Bendre. The channel and production houses Essel Vision and TrompeL'oiel Media are considering other A-league actors and renowned directors for the third position on the judges' panel.

The show will present the participants with an opportunity to have an interface with some of Bollywood's most renowned film makers, actors, choreographers and be groomed by them. In the first few episodes, Parineeti-Ayushmann will be seen guiding and inspiring the contestants.

'India's Best Cinestars Ki Khoj' as a concept will put its participants through a slew of challenging rounds designed to test their creativity and ability to enact 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.

The seasons will go on for 13 weeks with three weeks of auditions. The channel is conducting an audition across 18 cities in India. Eventually, there will be 16 contestants competing closely to win. The show will announce a female and male winner in the end. Like before, there are plans to launch a movie with the winners within a year of the show ending.

Commenting on the idea of bringing back the show, Zee TV programming head Namit Sharma says, "We have had a very long run of Dance India Dance. We wanted to come up with another reality show and we believed that we had waited long enough with Cine Stars Ki Khoj so was the right time to do something other than music and dance. It's a very different content with a lot of variety." The channel has roped in Glam Up as the 'Powered By' sponsor of the show.

The promos of the show are already on air on Zee Network. It will be supported by a 360-degree marketing plan. The thought behind the campaign is 'Har ummeed bhare sapne ko bas sach hone ka intezaar hai' (every hopeful dream is just waiting turn into reality), which resonates with Zee TV's tagline of 'Umeed se Saje Zindagi'.