4 min readMumbaiUpdated: Oct 28, 2024 07:40 PM IST
Over the last few months, Rajan Shahi-produced show Anupamaa has seen multiple exits. While the reasons cited have been lack of growth, it was rumoured that the show’s lead actress Rupali Ganguly was actually the reason for actors walking out of the show.
Now, in a podcast with Bhaktiyar Irani and Ali Asgar, a few ex- actors from the show, Paras Kalnawat (who played Samar), Nidhi Shah (who played Kavya), and Sudhanshu Pandey (who played Vanraj Shah) spoke about their exit from Anupamaa, indirectly hinting at Rupali causing problems, and how the sets have a toxic work culture.
‘We used to cry while performing scenes’
Sudhanshu Pandey had quit Rupali Ganguli’s TV show Anupmaa. (Photo: Sudhanshu Pandey/ Instagram)
Talking about his exit, Sudhanshu Pandey said, “It had been four years, this was my life’s first daily soap. I have done over 50 feature films, and worked on OTT. Anupamaa happened when Covid had just kicked in, from then till now, the show became a cult. It created history, but everything has its time for a descent, and it was getting difficult for me to show it effortlessly. There would have been a time my character would get repetitive, boring the audience. I feared that.”
Adding to Sudhanshu’s point, Nidhi revealed the challenges he faced. She shared, “We used to cry while performing the scenes. His pain, mental health, body everything went for a toss. He couldn’t stand properly, there was a time when he was so ill that he had to rest and we all kept waiting. He would take 5-6 painkillers in a day. He would have 15 page scenes to do alone.”
‘A person became a troublemaker’
Further Nidhi went on to share what became a trigger point, rather who became the trouble maker. “There had come a trigger point, it was a person. Our scenes were repetitive, we kept fighting. At one point we just didn’t want to do the scenes. There was a time where we just didn’t want to work with each other on the show. We would just want to stay away from each other on set too.”
When asked if Rupali Ganguly was a trigger point, Nidhi said, “She is a very good actor, I am not being politically correct. We were 10 artistes, from those 2-3 created problems.” Paras also added, “My scenes were cut.”
Sharing her experience, Nidhi continued, “My scenes were cut too and there was an issue with my clothes and hair too. It happened to me a lot because I was given better clothes.”
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‘I don’t know if I left or was thrown out’
Paras Kalnawat is not happy as not many from the Anupamaa team contacted him after he left the show. (Photo: Paras Kalnawat/Instagram)
Paras Kalnawat made headlines for his shocking exit from the show, the actor revealed what had actually happened. “It’s been two and a half years now, I was the first one to leave, it was all of a sudden. I didn’t know if I was quitting or being thrown out. I wanted to leave, but they don’t have a policy where you can quit. They can only fire you, they get satisfaction in doing that. There is no exit clause, if you want to leave the terms go bad. I wanted my track to grow, but someone had gotten it abruptly ended. I know who it was. But because it was the number one show, the channel never intervened, if someone said she had a problem shooting with me, no one will question her. Everyone knows who had the problem.”
Sudhanshu also commented on this and said, “Every action in life has a reason, but if we give that reason importance, we will get stuck in it. We should just believe it is God’s will.”
Anupamaa producer Rajan Shahi has also been blamed for having problems with the actors in the past too.
Sudhanshu Pandey had quit Rupali Ganguli’s TV show Anupmaa. (Photo: Sudhanshu Pandey/ Instagram)
Paras Kalnawat is not happy as not many from the Anupamaa team contacted him after he left the show. (Photo: Paras Kalnawat/Instagram)
Anupamaa 's ex- actors spoke about their exit from Anupamaa, indirectly hinting at Rupali Ganguly causing problems.