Lock kiya jayee

new delhi: where do you go after campaigning for friends in the up elections? if you''re amitabh bachchan, you''ll go back to work to honour the 85-episode commitment with star plus. beginning july, expect to see him back on the channel he drove to the top of the charts. and this time, probably as the host of a clone of the tonight show with jay leno.from lock kiya jaye to joke kiya jaye. leno, who began as a stand-up comedian, has hosted nbc''s the tonight show, an hour-long mix of headlines, celebrity guests and comic interludes, for nine years now. ironically, desi tv''s last attempt to do a leno — sony''s movers and shakers with shekhar suman — ran out of steam when kbc arrived. bachchan''s comic timing in movies has always been impeccable and the outtakes of some kaun banega crorepati shows have been memorably funny. anita kaul basu, director of synergy communications, producers of kbc, says: "mr bachchan himself is open to any format. of course, it has to be in keeping with his stature." kbc ended its run (beginning on july 3, 2000) on january 1 this year. it had a trp of 22 at its peak in september 2000 but had declined to 3 by the time it wound down. synergy is in contact with star plus about what role to give to the superstar. as head of programming sameer nair says: "we set ourselves a crazy benchmark. now we have to do something at least as good as kbc." as a result of the benchmark, kamzor kadi kaun, a clone of the weakest link, is perceived as a dampener, with its ratings hovering between 5.7 and 6.5. the hour-long show every tuesday, hosted by the wannabe queen of mean neena gupta, has already aired six episodes, but will be pulled off after its 26th episode. "this will be the first time we will introduce the season concept in the country. we don''t want to flog our shows till they''re dead. we''d rather that they take a break, as shows do in the west, and come back with sharper focus," says nair.