NEW DELHI: The Indian Artistes and Actors Forum (IAAF) today objected to the introduction of porn star Sunny Leone in the popular television reality show ?Bigg Boss 5? on Colors.

In a complaint to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, the IAAF said Minister Ambika Soni should taken stringent action against the channel for indirectly encouraging and promoting pornography in India.

IAAF Spokesperson Flynn Remedios said, "Sunny Leone has proclaimed on her website ?as seen on Bigg Boss 5?, but the website is nothing but a hard core porn site and there is no mechanism to stop minors from accessing the website. We have e-mailed the complaint to the minister as well as sent the same by registered post to her office."

The complaint said: "We are an informal body of actors and artistes (including singers, musicians, etc) all connected with the Film and Television industry. We would like to place on record through this correspondence our official complaint regarding the indirect promotion of adult content and pornography by TV Channel Colors via the introduction of adult porn star Sunny Leone in their popular TV Reality Show Bigg Boss Season 5."

"Several newspapers have reported on this trend and phenomenon and our own research has found out that thousands of youth including minors who were earlier not aware of Sunny Leone?s status or profession have been specifically searching for her photographs, biodata, etc on the internet and are exposed to hard core pornographic content including photographs and videos on the internet, the moment they type out her name on any search engine like Google.

"This is only because she is seen on the show Bigg Boss 5 and viewers would like to know more about her. Even her website which proclaims Sunny Leone "as seen on Bigg Boss 5" is a hard-core porn website offering pornographic content to users. Though it has an option asking viewer to exit if they are below 18, there is no mechanism to ensure that viewers below 18 do not view the pornographic content on sunnyleone dot com."

In its letter, the IAFF said: "It is our contention that TV channel Colors was aware of this possibility and knowingly chose to introduce an adult porn star into a TV programme which is watched by people of all age groups. By introducing Sunny Leone in their TV programme, TV Channel Colors is indirectly promoting a pornographic website www.sunnyleone dot com and is in blatant violation of Indian Television laws.

"We request you to take immediate and stringent action for this violation of the Broadcast code and ensure that other TV channels in future do not introduce porn actors in family shows."

MUMBAI: Colors is shifting three of its primetime shows to create an afternoon band, increasing its evening primetime and stretching Veer Shivaji to weekdays as it plans to regain the second spot with the launch of its big-ticket reality show Bigg Boss.

"With a strong fiction lineup during the week, we bring in Bigg Boss 5 to the 10.30 pm time slot this season. Na Aana Is Des Laado, which currently occupies this slot, will be moved to the 1 pm to build our afternoon band. On weekends, Bigg Boss 5 will air at 10 pm which will include the eviction episode on Saturdays (with Aakhri Farmaan) and some unseen tidbits from the show on Sundays (Undekha Action). This is being done with the aim to build up viewership on weekends and keep everyone tied to their seats with their fingers crossed in anticipation about who will be leaving the Bigg Boss house," says Colors head - programming Ashvini Yardi.

Apart from Laado, the channel is also shifting Hamari Saas Leela and Laagi Tujhse Lagan to build its afternoon slot.

As per latest Tam ratings, Laado clocked an average TVR of 2.8 while Hamari Saas Leela and Laagi Tujhse Lagan recorded 0.9 TVR and 1.6 TVR respectively.

The other changes include pulling the curtains on Mukti Bandhan and shifting Veer Shivaji from weekend band (Friday-Saturday, 8.30 pm) to weekday (Monday-Friday) 8.30 pm band.

"As part of our new scheduling, we have a new show Havan at 7 pm, followed by Sasural Simar Ka and Balika Vadhu, which are getting good ratings. Shivaji is a good and different show, which we think will get even better response on weekdays. Post that, we have shows catering to more urban audiences and finally Bigg Boss," Yardi explains.

On shifting of shows to afternoon band, she adds that it serves two purposes. "We will increase the original programming hours in afternoon; it also will help us get more viewership in the afternoon band," Yardi adds.

The channel is also going to premiere the Salman Khan-starrer Ready in the month.

Meanwhile, the Viacom18 channel is focusing all its energies on Bigg Boss. As the show will see two hosts Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt for the first time, the channel has big promotion plans.

"We have a high-intensity 1200 GRP TV campaign, where apart from network channels we have extensively promoted the show on cross network channels. We have created 10 promos and a music video of the show. We have an impressive 20 city outdoor plan and in print, on 2 October, 100+ publications in 50+ cities will carry Bigg Boss cover. On radio, Big FM is our partner where they will also have multiple on-ground activities around the show," Colors AVP marketing Rajesh Iyer said.

Bigg Boss 5 will start on 2 October at 8 pm, while subsequent episodes will be aired from Monday to Friday at 10.30 pm and Saturday to Sunday at 10 pm on the channel.

Vodafone is continuing its partnership with the show for the third year in a row as presenting sponsor, while Garnier Men, Sony Cybershot, Tata Motors, HRI (Streax), Havells, Dollar (Baniyan) and Bisleri are seven associate sponsors.