Ejaz Khan

Hiten replaces Eijaz in 'Kesar'

Kesar's Abhi will no longer be played by Eijaz Khan but by Hiten Tejwani.

Justifying Eijaz's replacement, Balaji's creative head Nivedita Basu offers, "Hiten is a fine actor. I am sure he will fit the bill."

But will it be easy to identify with him? After all, Kesar is more than 200 episodes old. "Hiten will easily register. We have had replacements in the past- be it Amar Upadhyay in Kyunki... or Nausheen Ali Sardar in Kkusum. Moreover, we wanted Eijaz to be exclusive for Kkavya's role," she replied.

But how would Eijaz be exclusive? He has a substantial role (Sohan) in Kkusum. "Sohan is dying next week.

Trishul (Akashdeep Saigal) will knock him off. That would make him available for longer hours, which is a requirement for

Kkavya's role," Basu quips.

Currently, Hiten is relatively free. He has an important role in Kyunki... but it's not a role that he needs to shoot long hours for. Plus Kkoi Dil Mein Hai which he utilised his remaining time for, went off air recently.

A fortnight ago, Eijaz Khan patched up his long-standing differences with Kesar's leading lady Nandini Singh. Had the dude known that he wouldn't remain long in the show, would he have softened? Your guess is as good as ours!