| The long-in-the-making Ek Chaabi Pados Mein (Star Plus) and Mohalla Mohabbat Wala (slated for SAB) allegedly have the same plot. It is learnt that when an actor from Ek Chaabi... was approached for a role in Mohalla... recently, the actor was shocked when he realised he was being offered the same role that he was playing in Ek Chaabi!
Nukkad revisited
Both shows have been inspired by Saeed Mirza and Kundan Shah's Doordarshan show, Nukkad. This popular drama of the '80s was based on characters found in every street corner. It included the hotelier Kaderbhai (Avtaar Gill), the drunkard Khopdi (Sameer Khakhar) the teacherji (Rama Vij), the electrician Guru (Dilip Dhawan) and Hari the cyclewalla (Pawan Malhotra).
Two decades later, Tigmanshu Dhulia is making Mohalla Mohabbat Walla for SAB. What's interesting is that Dhulia was also associated with Ek Chaabi initially. Now Anupam Kalidhar of Taurus Productions is producing Ek Chaabi; he was formerly executive producer for Neena Gupta's television shows.
Caught unawares
| | | A scene from Mohalla Mohabbat Walla slated to air on SAB | Both the serials are currently being shot and are slated to air soon. Ek Chaabi... stars Varun Badola along with his father, Vishva, besides Suhaasi Goradia, Ashiesh Roy and Kavita Rathod, among others. However, Mohalla Mohabbat Wala has Deepraz Rana with a host of newcomers.
Priya Mishra, programming head, SAB, says, "Mohalla Mohabat Wala will be a big show for SAB, being made by Tigmanshu Dhulia."
When asked about the show's similar concept with Star's Ek Chaabi, Mishra says, "I am unaware about this."
Dhulia, who has directed films like Haasil and Charas, points out that it may be possible that the premise looks similar. "That's because both the shows are set in a mohalla and have those typical characters. But we have given Mohalla an extremely comic touch. There is a fun element to all the characters."
He admits that Ek Chaabi was his concept, but he is no longer associated with the Star Plus show. Interestingly, even Mohalla is his concept. "But the approach is different," says Dhulia, who made his debut as a television producer with the telefilm, Woh Dus Din on Star One in January 2005. He had earlier directed telefilms for the Star Bestseller slot.
Common factor
It is learnt that after Dhulia's exit from Ek Chaabi, several cast members were changed and the episodes scrapped by Star. The show was reworked and started afresh. Considering that both shows have (or had) Dhulia as a common factor, comparisons will be inevitable as both are being hyped as comedies with a nukkad setting. |
| Tigmanshu's film front
After Haasil and Charas, Tigmanshu Dhulia has been missing from the big screen. His film, Killing Of A po*n Filmmaker with Irrfan Khan, lies incomplete "as the producers took us for a ride," he says. He admits, "It is over two years but I have been busy writing," he says.
He is slated to write-direct a film with Shiney Ahuja and Kay Kay Menon, which will be produced by Vinay Sinha. There is also another project with Rajkumar Santoshi. He is also part of Santoshi's project to make a sequel to the Sunny Deol-starrer, Ghayal. | |
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