Indian Idol 2 is not the only ace up Sony's sleeve and Jassi may not remain its only

Shakti Anand: obsessive lover!

mascot for long! Come November, the channel will launch a love story based on a Venezuelan production, Juana la Virgen (2002). The show will be produced by Shrey Guleri's Prime Channel, we have it on authority.

Juana...is the story of a young girl whose life is turned upside down, when medical advances in artificial insemination combine with human error, to create a new life within her. Juana is left to accept that she will be a mother without having yet been a woman, and finds herself linked to a man with whom she has nothing in common.

The show will star Kanchi Kaul as the traumatised Juana and Shakti Anand as Mauricio, a magazine publisher whose obsession with having a child is like a life threatening disease. Arzoo Govitrikar will play an important character in the show.

"Yes, I am doing the show, and playing the lead," says Kanchi, who has acted in several Telugu films and modelled for Pantene shampoo and other products. She has also played the lead opposite Gaurav Chanana in Kuku Kohli's Woh Tera Naam Tha.

The scenes in Juana la Virgen

Shakti, who is currently hosting Crime Patrol on Sony, will be seen as the obsessive Mauricio, who falls in love with Juana. "It's too early to talk about it, but yes, I have signed the show and given them dates adjusting my schedule for Nach Baliye accordingly," says Shakti.

Kanchi Kaul: leading lady!

The original Latin American version has a lot of steamy and candid scenes -- will our desi version, (that has a working title of Juana) be ready to replicate her Venezuelan counterpart? This is something that has to be seen.

Although the cast, as well as the production house is tightlipped about this project, a little bird tells us that shooting has already started in Mumbai and that publicity for the show will start in a few weeks time.

Business head Sony, Tarun Katial, admits that the channel is doing the show but refuses to divulge any details about the same.

(Title design by Jay Hasija)

Kanchi Kaul pic from The Hindu