Sony Entertainment Television Asia's latest weapon in the war for eyeballs is big ticket soap 'Viruddh', which launches on the channel this month.

'Viruddh' is being co-produced by Smriti Irani and Aditya Birla group's media arm Applause Entertainment for Sony TV. The two production houses have also jointly produced STAR Plus' 'Thodi Si Zameen Thoda Sa Aasman', which has had a lukewarm response from viewers.

'Viruddh' will also star Smriti Irani in the lead accompanied by Sushant Singh, Ashwini Kalsekar, Vikram Gokhale, Achint Kaur and Govind Namdev

With the launch of 'Viruddh', Sony TV is re-jigging its weekday schedule with 'Kulvaddhu' facing the axe, 'Kajjal' being shifted to the 20:30 slot and 'Viruddh' taking the competitive 21:30 slot. The changes come into effect on Monday 26th March.

Chief creative head Sandiip Sickand told online portal IndianTelevision; "You do take chances with new production houses and new shows. Unfortunately 'Kulvaddhu' didn't work for us. But with Smriti Irani and a host of other power packed performers like Vikram Gokhale, Sushant Singh and Achint Kaul we are hoping that Sony's prime time will pick up. We have already covered the 10 to 11pm slot."

The recently launched 'Durgesh Nandini' and 'Jeete Hain Jis Ke Liye' have not been able to live up to the channel's expectations. Its now hoping the publicity surrounding 'Viruddh' will garner enough eyeballs for its new look primetime schedule. Let’s wait and see.