Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah, India's longest-running TV show, has consistently held its top-ranking position on the charts throughout the years. Nevertheless, it has been garnering attention for all the wrong reasons, being the subject of controversial headlines for quite some time now. From allegations of sexual harassment against producer Asit Kumarr Modi and cast members exiting the show amid claims of a toxic work environment to claims that those who left the TMKOC didn’t receive due payments, Taarak Mehta's legacy has not aged well. Meanwhile, actor Priya Ahuja, who had been associated with TMKOC since its inception, playing the role of Rita Reporter, recently made a public announcement about her official resignation from the show. For the past eight months, the actor, who happens to be the spouse of the show's former director Malav Rajda, has been noticeably absent from TMKOC. Commenting on this, she told Hindustan Times, “It’s been eight months and I have not heard from the makers or informed whether or not I am part of the show. I tried to contact producer Asit Modi and operations head Sohil Ramani enquiring about their plan, but they didn’t bother to reply to my messages.” Alleging that Asit Modi and his team were "sadists", Priya said, “I then dropped them an official resignation, clarifying that I am no longer a part of the show. They didn’t even reply to it. I think they were waiting for me to get tired and take a step like this. And after my resignation, I was sure that the makers will replace me with some other actor within two days. And that’s what has happened. They have brought back the track of Rita and have cast another actor. That’s how they are. They are sadists who like to do such things." Priya stated that she took this decision because it had started affecting her career as an actor and said that she lost a lot of opportunities because of her association with the show. Priya stated after her husband quit the show, the team broke all ties with her. "I was removed from the show because I am Malav’s wife. But I did not come to this city to be someone’s wife. How can they do that to an artiste? Even though my husband was the director of the show, I never crossed the boundary. I always behaved like any other actor on the set. But Asit ji definitely mixed up my personal and professional life. Because Malav left the show, they did all this to me,” she told HT. Explaining as to why her husband and the show's former director, Malav Rajda, decided to leave, she asserted that no one leaves the show on favorable terms. "Malav had been part of the show since the start. He gave 14 years to it despite being unhappy with certain things. There were several episodes of misbehaviour which left him disappointed, and he was contemplating quitting for a long time. But Asit ji jaane nahi dete the. However, one day he finally decided to put in his papers after his patience reached the saturation point. He was on a one month notice period but 15 days later, Asit ji told Malav through Sohil not to come to the set from the next day. He anyway was leaving, but the way Asit ji made it a point to remove him from the show, all of a sudden, was disheartening for Malav and he cried that day. TMKOC was like a child to him,” Priya said.
