Amitabh Bachchan to be the face of Life OK

So far Big B and Madhuri Dixit have never really crossed paths. Years ago they were supposed to be paired together in J .P Dutta’s film that was shelved. Later filmmaker Somnath Sen almost brought the ‘forbidden’ pair together. And failed.

Now we hear the Big B and Dixit are coming together in an unexpected way. He is all set to take over as the resident sutradhaar of the newly-incepted channel Life OK. Madhuri, as we all know, has played a big hand in making this morality-based channel a success within a year. She sums up the shows, throws open discussions on dowry, widow remarriage, and other social issues and gets viewers interested in issues beyond entertainment.

Madhuri’s one-year tenure as Life OK’s resident sutradhaar is about to end. We hear the channel, through its General Manager Ajit Thakur who shares a very close rapport with Big B, has roped in the star to take over as the channel’s resident sutradhaar.

Interestingly, Big B was the first choice for the first sutradhaar’s role when the channel was launched.

Says a source very close to the channel, "We were very keen to have Big B on board as the sutradhaar when we launched our channel. We felt he was the only show personality who had the gravitas to pull off discussions on weighty social issues. But at that time he was busy with Kaun Banega Crorepati. Hence he couldn’t come on board."

Madhuri was the channel’s second choice. "We took a gamble on her. Madhuri had been roped in for Sony Entertainment’s dance show Jhalak Dikhla Jaa through the good offices of Ajit Thakur who was then with Sony. It was Ajit who negotiated with Madhuri to play the sutradhaar for Life Ok when Mr. Bachchan couldn’t come on board. We felt Madhuri had a certain moral correctness about her. She had it all. But she gave it up for marriage and children and left the country. She displayed an exemplary sense of responsibility. So we took a bet on her and it paid off."

But now Madhuri returns to Jhalak Dikhla Jaa on Sony and Life Ok has gone back to its original choice of Sutradhaar.

We hear Big B has shown a keen interest in assuming this new role. The details are now being worked out.