MUMBAI: Replacing a woman-oriented daily soap for an Arabian Nights story and filling the gap of a Malayalam folklore daily serial with an international horror saga - this is what Malayalam channel Asianet is doing for its post 9 pm primetime.

The channel is shifting its 9 pm daily soap Thalolam for Allauddinum Albuthavilakkum (Allauddin and the Magic Lamp) and filling the vacant space of 10 pm, caused by the exit of Kadamattathu Kaththanar, with Bram Stoker's Dracula.

"Asianet is continuing its tradition of bringing quality horror and popular stories. While Dracula will bring the original horror, Allauddinum Albuthavilakum is targeted at the kids as well. Both the shows have got a lot of special effects in it," offers Asianet vice president programming Sreekantan Nair.

The channel is shifting Thalolam to the afternoon time band noticing a drop in ratings. Says Nair, "Thalolam turned a bit male oriented and consequently lost some valuable points. So we are shifting it to the afternoon band."

Allauddinum Albuthavilakkum, directed by Malayalam film director Mummy Century, features Ansil, Rajan P Dev, Tiny Tom and Captain Raju among others. Produced by Gulf Horizon Group of Hotels, the serial has music directed by Bombay Ravi.

Dracula is shot in exotic locales including Vianna, Goa and Rajasthan. The serial, directed by Vincent, stars Captain Raju, Anil Mohan, Shalu Mohan and Anusha in the lead roles.