Multiple Emmy Award-winning celebrity tic-tac-toe game show format “Hollywood Squares” is getting an Indian adaptation. It will be hosted by film actor and television personality Navdeep Pallapolu.

The show is coming to India for the Telugu audience, and will be titled “Tollywood Squares”.

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Viu, video-on-demand OTT service by Vuclip and PCCW, Morris Street Advisors, Star Maa — the Telugu entertainment channel which is part of Star India — and GroupM’s Motion Content Group have joined hands to bring the global format to India, read a statement.

This partnership will help deliver content cross-platform as the show will be available on a digital platform and a television channel simultaneously.

Morris Street Advisors, a boutique content leader, has acquired the format rights to “Hollywood Squares” from CBS Studios International for India and has partnered with Viu to produce a localized version of the format.

Created in Telugu, the 26-episode weekend show is set to go live on Saturday on Star Maa and the Viu app and website simultaneously where one episode will release every Saturday and Sunday.

The series will be based on tic-tac-toe, a universally popular game and will showcase nine new celebrities and two new contestants in each episode.

Vishal Maheshwari, Country head, Viu India, said: “Our insights gave us the belief that a format like this, which is iconic in its own right globally, would be a timely new addition to our bouquet of differentiated content.”

Rohit Tiwari CEO, Morris Street Advisors, who negotiated and closed the deal with CBS for the iconic series, said they “are now placing more focus on producing popular programming that captivates Indian viewers”.

On the India launch, Roxanne Lettman Pompa – Vice President, International Sales and Production at CBS Studios International, said: “‘Hollywood Squares’ has had success in many countries around the world, and we’re convinced it will appeal to viewers in India.”