Deal ya No Deal!

Comedy in the beginning, drama in the middle, and a thrilling climax to round things off. Sounds like a masala potboiler from Bollywood? Well, that according to host R. Madhavan, sums up the new reality game show from Sony — Deal Ya No Deal.

Adapted from the hit international format Deal Or No Deal, the new show premieres on November 23 (two days after the start of the second season of Indian Idol) and will be on air three times every week, Wednesday to Friday, at 8.30 pm.

With a jackpot of Rs 1 crore up for grabs every episode, Deal Ya No Deal is all about making the right choices at the right time. After participants are picked from different parts of the country to play the game, 22 will kick-start the first episode of the show.

All 22 will be given a cash box, each containing a cheque worth anything between Re 1 and Rs 1 crore. Then, one participant, selected on the basis of general knowledge questions, gets to play for the jackpot in the launch episode.

This player has his own cash box, the contents of which are unknown. Now, as he goes through cash boxes of the other 21 players one by one, he gets to know their contents and, by the process of elimination, guesses what's in his own cash box.

At strategic moments in the game, a Banker offers a deal to the player, asking him to surrender his box in lieu of some cash. The amount keeps changing on the basis of the boxes eliminated.

"The 22 players will gradually become characters, as all of them get to play the game in some subsequent week," reveals Anupama Mandloi, creative director for Sony. "Then we will show back stories of these people, as to why they need the money, what amount is ideal to achieve their dreams and what amount they are chasing."

While talks were on with other stars like Saif Ali Khan, Madhavan was picked as the host for the 52-episode contract after he truly "connected" with everyone as the celebrity judge on Fame Gurukul.

"I have never stuck to a formula or adhered to a taboo," Madhavan told Metro during the Calcutta launch on Monday. "At a time when everyone said that TV actors never make it to films, I did 1,800 episodes of TV and still made it in filmdom. Here, I loved the format of the show and the best thing about it was that it wasn't scripted."

The real challenge for Maddy — as he is called by his fans — is to fend off comparisons with Amitabh Bachchan, host of the mother of all money-spinning game shows on Indian TV, Kaun Banega Crorepati.

"The idea is not to compete with Amitji but to make Deal Ya No Deal the most watched show on Sony," said Madhavan, well aware of the fate of the Govinda-hosted Jeeto Chhappad Phad Ke on the same channel. "Our show and KBC are of different genres and come on different days of the week. I am a big fan of Amitji and it was an honour to have him appear in my film Ramji Londonwale."

On the film front, Madhavan is set to start another venture with Sanjay Dayma, director of Ramji Londonwaley (where Maddy plays a cook). He will also be seen in two Tamil films, Thambi and Aryan. Closer home, the Jamshedpur boy is in talks with Rituparno Ghosh. "But that's not for a Bengali film," Madhavan smiles. "He wants to cast me in a Hindi film."