hen a television channel like National Geographic app-roaches a filmstar to act as a host, there�s got to be something big riding on it.

In a major promotional initiative to broadbase its viewership in India, National Geographic Chan-nel, which has a penetration of 24 million C&S; homes in India, has signed up Bollywood star Akshay Kumar, a black belt in karate, to host its new show, Seven Deadly Arts with Akshay Kumar. This, incidentally, is the first time that an Indian filmstar has been roped in by the channel to host a show for it (though Harrison Ford did so internationally for National Geograph-ic�s first feature film K-19: The Widowmaker). ... more