Primetime TV sees a change in leads

With lead actors bored of their tracks or audiences bored of them, they are often bumped off or replaced, something that’s happening quite too often currently. Leaps in recent times too, don’t necessarily comprise the pre-leap team and instead many new characters are introduced. We take a look at all the lead replacements, whether voluntary or involuntary and newer tracks introduced to retain and increase eyeballs in recent times.

Kuch Toh Hai Tere Mere Darmiyaan:
Recently Asha Negi stepped into Shritama Mukherjee’s shoes to play the female lead in Kuch Toh Hai Tere Mere Darmiyaan. The show’s male lead Vibhav Roy too, was replaced by Aly Goni. The replacements happened just a month and half after the show was launched on reasons rumoured from the show’s falling TRPs, to the leads being unhappy with the change in track. In spite of their best efforts, the show seems to have failed to strike a chord with the audiences and is going off air in January next year.
“The show was planned as a romantic story for the 11 pm slot whereas we were given an 8:30 pm slot usually reserved for drama. We did go in for a replacement, but even that failed to help matters as audiences had connected with the previous actors and we even lost them post the change. While many shows see changes in their lead or prominent characters, there is no formula as to what exactly will work and why. It all depends on the audience and one can’t predict anything,” said Muzammil Desai, the show’s director.

Bhagyalakshmi:
Another show going for a leap and a subsequent change of lead line-up is 'Bhagyalakshmi' that will witness the entire Prajapati family, except Bhabhi Ma (Aruna Irani) being killed. The leap will witness her bringing up Sara Khan, Anupriya Kapoor and Simran Parinja’s daughters. Retained from the original cast, Sara will be seen playing the role of her own daughter. Abigail Jain and Apurva Agnihotri will join the show in its new track.

Meri Ashiqui Tumse Hi:
While Ishveer fans have been waiting, since the show’s launch, to see Ishani (Radhika Madan) and Ranveer (Shakti Arora) getting together, it appears that a leap and change of track won’t allow it to happen even now. The show that has gone for a two year leap, has Mohit Abrol roped in as Ishani’s latest love interest.

Piya Rangrezz:
Another show that’s gone for a leap and subsequent change of lead actors is 'Piya Rangrezz'. While male lead Gaurav Bajaj has stayed back post the leap as Shamsher Singh, the son of his previous character (Sher Singh), his co-star Kritida Mistry refused to turn mommy for 20-year-olds on screen and walked away. Her character was killed before the leap. Bhanvari Devi Singh (Narayani Shastri), who now plays a grandmother to Gaurav’s character, has greyed on screen. New additions to the cast include Arjun Singh (Kanwar Dhillon) and his love interest Aaradhya (Gulki Joshi).

Kumkum Bhagya:
Unhappy with how the entire focus of the show shifted from sisters Bulbul (Mrunal Thakur) and Pragya (Sriti Jha), as planned, to Pragya and Abhi’s (Shabbir Ahluwalia) track, Mrunal quit the show recently. She has been replaced by Kajol Srivastava.

Qubool Hai:
In recent times, 'Qubool Hai' has become synonymous with twists and changes in tracks and characters. The latest replacement from the show’s stable includes Armaan Raza Sheikh (Avinash Sachdev) replacing Azaad Iqbal Khan (Rajbeer Singh).

Dream Girl - Ek Ladki Deewani Si:
In recent times, the lead actors of 'Dream Girl - Ek Ladki Deewani Si' were replaced, with a fresh storyline where Shraddha Arya’s twin track came into focus. This change saw lead Samar (Mohsin Khan) and Lakshmi (Nikita Dutta) exiting while Raghu (Sudeep Sahir) and Richa (Purvi Mundada) were introduced as the respective love interests of Aarti/Ayesha (Shraddha Arya) and Karan Roy (Kunal Verma). “It feels good having two heroines opposite me even though it’s Shraddha in both the roles that she is essaying superbly. A show’s story is its real hero and to make things interesting and keep audiences hooked, makers introduce required changes. It can be anything from killing a certain character to introducing new twists,” said Sudeep.

Mohi:
Unhappy with how the show panned out, Mohi’s lead actor Vinita Joshi is walking away from the show. The actor, who is currently serving her notice period, had said while quitting, “I have never said that I was unhappy with the show and how it was shaping up. The problem is not with the show. My equation with the producer is not that fruitful and positive. I thought rather than getting into a situation that is not positive, it’s better to withdraw yourself.” Her replacement on the show is yet to be finalised.