MUMBAI: The outbreak of deadly coronavirus has made the world come to a standstill. The entertainment industry too, has suffered immensely and the shoots of all the current shows have been stopped. This, however, has paved the way for many old cult shows re-running on various channels.
Once a blockbuster show on Star Plus’ Sapna Babul Ka…. Bidaai has also made a comeback on the Television. TellyChakkar.com connected with the producer of the show, Mr.Rajan Shahi and in a candid conversation with us, he shared interesting anecdotes about his shows which we would provide to our readers in several articles.
When asked about the casting of the show, Mr.Shahi revealed, “Television was ruled by popular actors during that era. Audience would know the celebrities as ‘actors’ and later by their ‘characters’ and that’s what I didn’t want. I wanted characters to become a household name and thus I decided upon having newbies”.
We asked the producer as to how did he zero upon Sara Khan to play Sadhna in the show.
He said, “It’s a long story. I saw Sara in one of the pictures and thought she would fit the bill as Sadhna in Bidaai. However, the channel was reluctant in casting a known face from down South still, I called Sara from her hometown to Mumbai and give an audition but things didn’t materialize. I tried convincing the channel and kept calling Sara for several look-tests, however, the channel didn’t budge and I sort of gave up and told them that we can go ahead with the actress that they want in the show but I was extremely disappointed, hurt and angry that Sara was not casted in the show. Just a day before I flew to Agra for a shoot, I got a call from the channel informing me that the actress has backed out and they are fine with me casting Sara. I called up Sara and asked her that she was finalised but she couldn’t believe it. She told me she doesn’t think it will materialize as the channel is keen on having someone else on board. I explained everything to her and she was hurriedly brought to Agra. On the way, her photo shoot was done and her hair was colored on flight and she landed in Agra and became Sadhna for Bidaai”.
Bidaai was Rajan Shahi’s last show as a series director as he had set up the show. He recalled his first scene with Sara and Aloknath, he said, “I remember, Sara was so nervous that she would just couldn’t meet Alok Nath’s eyes. She gave almost 35 takes for that shot. I spoke to her and gave her pep talk”.
Interesting, Isn’t it?
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