LACK OF SHILPA?

Ekta: Better to end on a positive note

Confirming the news, Ekta Kapoor says, "It's true. We will be pulling out Kkusum after its 1001th episode, which will be aired on November 30. It was a mutual decision taken by the channel and us. We don't have a story left and there's no reason to keep on stretching it. It's better to end it on a positive note where it will be remembered as a super hit show."

The general impression is that Ekta doesn't want her shows to end. "That's not true. But why should I close down my shows like Kyun Ki and Kahani or other shows, which enjoy TRPs of 13 and 11. They are much more than any of the other shows. Why should I close shows of mine which are doing so well?"

TRPs were at an all-time low

Says Nivedita Basu, Creative Head, "There were some reasons why we decided to go off air with Kkusum. We'd rather have new shows on air than continue with ones that have lost the audience.

The time slot had been shifted from the 9 pm slot to 7.30 pm but Sony hadn't promoted the change of time properly. Nobody knew of the change in timing and a result of which our TRPs were dropping and were at an all-time low.

That's bad when you take into account that it was doing much better than Jassi a few weeks ago. (That's just plain pathetic!!!) Kkusum will be Balaji's third serial after Kyun Ki and Kahani to complete 1000 episodes."

The actors were troublesome

Nivedita says another reason why they decided to close down the show was because, "We wanted to have a time transition of 20 years and bring back Kkusum's family of brothers and sisters. But none of the actors wanted to play older roles and replacing each character made no sense.

We wanted to show the conflict between Kumud and Ksusum after Kkusum comes out of jail. How Kumud blocks Kkusum every step of the way. There would be conflicts between Abhinav (Amarr Upadhyay) and Kkusum too, but Amarr was also giving trouble, as he wanted more time for his film shoots. So there were problems with everyone."

Nausheen Ali Sardar was approached recently again to act in and as Kkusum. "But it didn't work out as she wanted more money," says Nivedita.

upala@mid-day.com