Actor Basant Bhatt has been a pivotal part of Sony TV’s Vighnaharta Ganesh for the past two years, ever since the show began airing, Having played the role of Kartikeya, he even became a favorite amongst the fans of the show. So, it does come as a surprise that he has been replaced by actor Pratham Kumar. And if you think, it is you who is shocked at this, the actor was as much surprised.
In a long interview with Bombay Times, he said, “The makers of ‘VG’ had blocked around seven days a month of mine, which was reduced to two days in December. Since a major chunk of my dates wasn’t being utilized, I took up ‘RadhaKrishn’ (‘RK’) — he plays Balram in it — and allotted 25 days to it. However, the makers of ‘VG’ realized that I was needed for more days around the time I got busy shooting for ‘RK’. So, I would shoot for ‘RK’ in Umbergaon and travel for three hours to do night shifts for ‘VG’ at Naigaon. However, it became difficult for my co-actors and the unit to shoot at nights for me and I believe that they were quite upset about it. The production house, thus, told me about the replacement and it came as a shocker to me. They told me that the quality is getting hampered, as I wasn’t able to give them more time because of which they had to use a body double for wide shots. Though I was aware, the news of replacement hurt me. They needed me to give them 10 days a month, which was practically not possible. I wish I could do the show till the end. I tried my best to make necessary adjustments, but it was too difficult to balance two shows at a time because of the travel time. Having said that, there is no bad blood between the production house and me, and I wish the new actor all the best.”
On the other hand, Kumar, who has also had a good share of mythological shows that he has been a part of, said, “Kartikeya is a very important character in the show and I feel fortunate to have been offered the part. My family follows the show religiously. I watched a few episodes featuring the previous actor to understand the attitude and graph of the character. I think that he has done a great job and has established the character well. However, I would like to add my own nuances to it and do justice to it.”
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