Where’s the Bhabhi girl?

Dolly Sohi's disappearing act and sudden shift to London leaves Bhabhi's producers and actors in a state of shock

This isn't the first time that an actress has willingly chosen her family over career aspirations. The most recent is Dolly Sohi, popularly known as Bhabhi, who has joined her NRI husband Avneet Dhanova in London. Her choice to shift base was not a cause for concern, but what flummoxed everyone is that she chose to vanish mysteriously, leaving her producers and co-stars in a quandary.

After tying the knot recently, Sohi had continued to live in India completing her television commitments. In her role as Bhabhi she enjoyed immense popularity.

But, things changed dramatically when Sohi went missing from the Bhabhi sets a couple of days ago.

On her last day, everyone present on the sets insisted that Manish Goyal, who plays Tilak in the serial, patch up with Dolly (they had a spat a couple of days ago)," says a production member. That was the last anyone saw of her. "Dolly has left the country," informs Goyal, "I do not know the details behind her disappearing act, as I was a busy with Nach Baliye."

A few days before she mysteriously vanished, Sohi had expressed her desire to settle down in London. She had even stated that she wasn't interested in acting anymore.

An insider says that on the December 19, UTV had arranged a farewell party for her as well.

So what pre-empted Sohi's low-profile exit from the country, and was it a personal choice? "I am really not in the know about Dolly's shift, but I've heard that she was keen to go to London," says so-star Rucha Gujrati. Incidentally the production house has done away with Dolly's lead actor Bhabhi in the eponymous show by making her a sanyasin. They did not want to resort to a clichd end like an accident, plastic surgery or replacement to justify her exit.

So, in the January 16 episode, Bhabhi will renounce the world and become a sanyasin. The big question now is, who will play the title role?

Says lead-actor Goyal, "I think the focus will shift to Rucha. The team has no intentions of getting another actor to replace Dolly. The track of the story will mainly revolve around the younger generation on the show."

What is the fate of Goyal's character, since he is left with no love-interest? "It's very difficult to comment on the issue at this point. I'm aware that Tilak doesn't have much left to do in the show but I'm still meeting the channel heads and the creative team, to see if we can work this out."