After Sony’s sudden decision to take their controversial daily soap Pehredaar Piya Ki off air, the cast and crew were left in shock. The actors had said on Tuesday that it was disappointing how the show was cancelled and now, the producer has also reacted to the news.
In an interview to Times of India, producer Sumeet Mittal has compared the cancellation to a ‘miscarriage’. “It’s a very painful process to end the show abruptly. It surely feels bad. Taking a show off air is like suffering a miscarriage. We work hard for each of our creation, without thinking about the outcome. Whether the show works or not, we put in the same amount of hard work and passion. We didn’t want to wait for the audience to reject our show,” he said.
The producer clarified that the decision to cancel the show was not sudden and was brewing in the team since the I&B ministry asked for a change in time slot for the show. “It’s not sudden. We have been discussing it internally with the channel ever since the change in time slot was decided. We were skeptical about it and not convinced. We wrote the story keeping the prime time audience in mind and change in the slot would have given us no output. Hence, we decided to end the show mutually. It was a difficult call, but we had to do it.”
Sumeet said his team took the decision in the right spirit and is now gearing up for a new show.
Pehredaar Piya Ki drew a lot of flak from the audience for its regressive content. The show, starring Tejaswi Prakash and Suyyash Rai, told the story of an 18-year-old woman married to a 9-year-old boy and how their ‘love story’ unfolds.
here was a much publicised petition, from a viewer to the Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani, asking for a ban on the show, and the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC) asking the makers to change the time slot. It even asked the makers to run a disclaimer saying the show doesn’t promote child marriage. While rumours are that the leap was planned three months after the launch, now it will be for naught. The show was taken off air on Monday.
Suyash had expressed shock over the cancellation. “If this is happening, then I am shocked. I was waiting to re-enter the show after the leap. Tejaswi is a close friend so I wanted to be a support to her and work with her. I wanted the show to do well as a lot of hard work goes into a show when it is launched. So many people including technicians will lose their jobs when the show shuts,” he said.
