'Kasautii...' to be shifted to afternoon slot

Ever since TV actress Shweta Tiwari's personal life came under a cloud, she has been unable to focus on her soap "Kasautii Zindagii Kay". And the sufferer is none other than Balaji Telefilms whose schedules are going awry.

Raja Choudhary, Shweta's violent-tempered alcoholic husband, is the root cause of the turbulences in her personal and professional life. Recently, he swooped down on the Balaji premises with a gun in his hand threatening to kill himself.

Though matters did turn ugly, the incident served as a flashpoint. Choudhary has now checked into a rehabilitation centre.

According to sources, the creative heads at Balaji now intend to give STAR Plus a brand new show to replace 'Kasautii...', which has been on air for over five years, relocate "Kasautii..." from daily prime time to an afternoon slot and replace Shweta.

While refusing to comment on the casting freeze in "Kasautii...", Balaji's head honcho Ekta Kapoor told IANS: "The cast is a perennial problem for us. The actors become successful through the show and then start believing that the show runs on their steam. But the truth, I'm afraid, is otherwise."

However, a source said that the serial would not survive the prime time slot minus Shweta.

"See, now that Cezanne Khan is out of it, the serial can't survive without Shweta, at least not at primetime. And Shweta knows it," said the source.

"It's becoming more and more difficult for us to coordinate Shweta's dates. She is sometimes hours late for shooting. This may be a permissible lapse in a feature film. But in a daily soap even half an hour's delay means an inexcusable delay in delivering the episode," added the source.

The other prime-time biggie from Balaji "Kyunkii Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi" would probably see the return of Smriti Irani as soon as the actress is inclined to do so.

Indo-Asian News Service