n the evening, while enjoying a hot cuppa and
watching IPL's encounter between Kings XI Punjab
and Chennai Super Kings, a source called us and
dropped a bomb.
The line on the other side said, "There is a buzz that
Pratyusha Banerjee is replacing Tina Dutta in Uttaran
(FilmFarm Productions)."
Wait what!!! Was our reaction and we laughed it off
saying it was highly improbable.
However, being as inquisitive as ever, we decided
not to take the information casually and dig deep.
After all, you never know what lies at the end of the
tunnel.
First of all, a brief history. We all know that
Pratyusha Banerjee was the face of Colors when she
played the role of Anandi in Balika Vadhu (Sphere
Origins) with utmost precision and conviction.
But the lovely lady threw in the towel and decided to
move on in search of greener pastures. She said ciao
ciao, bringing in Toral Rasputra as the replacement.
There is also news that Pratyusha has bagged
Cinevistaas' next for Star Plus, but Producer
Siddharth Malhotra and Pratyusha are yet to confirm
the development.
Coming back to Uttaran, is it really possible that the
channel will bring in someone who just waved
goodbye to one of their shows?
Tellychakkar.com believes it is a tad difficult.
However, this is what our source said, "You never
know. Equations change overnight in the industry
and Pratyusha coming in will always make big news.
And there is no doubt that she has a huge fan
following."
We called up Fiction Head, Colors, Prashant Bhatt to
get more info but he remained unavailable.
Then we decided to check with another credible
source, who said, "How do you guys get news so
fast. I can only divulge in the next four to five days,
not now."
Fair enough.
Producer Pintoo Guha (FilmFarm) said, "Don't ask
me...ask the channel."
Well, the interest element lied in the fact that Pintoo
neither denied nor confirmed the news.
Next, we decided to call up Tina (who better than
her to clear the air). She said: "It is entirely
hogwash. Is this technically even possible? Why will
channel bring in Pratyusha when she just left Balika
Vadhu? This is a negative campaign and I am not
being replaced."
You heard her...
Pratyusha, in spite of repeated attempts, remained
unavailable.
By now we were starting to believe that the buzz was
indeed a mere hogwash, like lovely Tina said. But
hold on...right then we came across another
interesting development.
While browsing the net we found out that Uttaran
and Pratyusha Banerjee's Wikipedia pages had
already been updated mentioning that she is a part
of the show since April (2013) and is playing the
role of Meethi.
Whoa...uncanny resemblance or unveiling of a
meteoric development?
Well, another source threw a different angle.
"Uttaran is low on numbers. This is nothing but a PR
gimmick to gain eyeballs. I think Tina is still there in
the show. But there has been a strong buzz in the
media of late of her being replaced. Having said
that, I have also heard that if at all Pratyusha comes
in, the show will be given six months to better its
numbers, or else will be pulled off air. All said and
done, we can be sure only in the coming days."
Well, all lovers of Uttaran, we are neither confirming
nor denying anything.
We are just sharing information which we have with
us. Yes, on getting any more updates, we will publish
it here in a jiffy.
But readers do tell us if you think it is a good move
to replace Tina and bring in Pratyusha? Will it work
or not? Hit the comment section below.