Colors CEO Raj Nayak OPENS up about why CNWK went off-air

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Posted: 8 years ago

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Comedy Nights with Kapil: Colors CEO Raj Nayak OPENS up about why the show went off-air

Tue, February 2, 2016 1:10pm IST by Urmimala Banerjee
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In a candid interview, Raj Nayak spoke about what made Colors and Kapil Sharma part ways!

Comedy Nights with Kapil going off is turning out to be one of the most disappointing affairs on TV in 2016.With Krushna Abhishek making statements like the star comedian got insecure; it has become no laughing matter anymore. In an elaborate interview to a leading national daily, Colors CEO Raj Nayak opened up on the entire affair. He was quoted as saying, "Kapil Sharma was on television for over 10 years, first on Laughter Challenge and then on Comedy Circus before he did Comedy Nights with us. He is a nice person and is extremely talented. We gave him a platform and co-created Comedy Nights with him. It was the channel's decision to call it Comedy Nights With Kapil (originally the show was to be titled Comedy Nights), as we felt that it would give him a sense of ownership and his loyalty to the show would be 100%.We even helped him set up his production company ."

However, dealing with success is a task in itself and that's where Kapil Sharma apparently failed. He could not handle his stardom and his team reportedly did not help matters either. Nayak said, "The success of the show meant that we had a person who suddenly became a star and found it difficult to manage his success. He started renegotiating and asking for more money which we gave, but the more important and worrying thing was that he violated his contract by hosting shows on competitive channels in spite of having an exclusive contract with Colors for TV, which we felt was not ethical."

While many feel that the channel was happy to see the back of Kapil, Nayak states otherwise. The head honcho reveals that it was emotionally tough to say the least. He said, "In a normal course, no channel would let go of a good show. But it has to also be economically viable and more importantly, business s has to be conducted in an ethical manner. For many reasons, the decision to let Kapil go has been very tough. It has been an emotional show for us. Together, Kapil and our creative team created magic. He is extremely talented, probably one of the best of this genre. We never asked him to go. He was not happy with us and implied that we couldn't have another comedy show on the channel. That was unacceptable to us. He chose to walk out. He is a nice guy being misled, I guess, by the people around him for their own survival. I am very fond of him and feel really sad to see him go."

 

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Posted: 8 years ago
Full interview in TOI:

The real reason why 'Comedy Nights With Kapil' was pulled off air

Roshni Olivera | TNN | Feb 2, 2016, 12.00 AM IST

ter a successful two-and-a-half year stint on Colors channel, 'Comedy Nights With Kapil' came to an end a few days ago.

Clearly, there was a huge fall-out between Kapil Sharma and the channel. While Kapil has spoken about the issue, Colors refrained from making any comment so far. But CEO Raj Nayak has now decided to speak out. Excerpts from the interview...



You refrained from speaking about the issue all this while, what made you change your mind?

Whatever transpired between Kapil Sharma and us was a private matter and I wanted it to be that way. We have a lot of respect and love for him. But our silence was being misinterpreted. Our niceness was being misconstrued as our weakness and since much has been said, I felt is is important to set the record straight once and for all.


What exactly went wrong between Colors and Kapil Sharma?

Kapil Sharma was on television for over 10 years, first on 'Laughter Challenge' and then on 'Comedy Circus' before he did 'Comedy Nights...' with us. He is a nice person and is extremely talented. We gave him a platform and co-created 'Comedy Nights...' with him. It was the channel's decision to call it 'Comedy Nights With Kapil' (originally the show was to be titled 'Comedy Nights'), as we felt that it would give him a sense of ownership and his loyalty to the show would be 100 per cent. We even helped him set up his production company. The success of the show meant that we had a person who suddenly became a star and found it difficult to manage his success. He started renegotiating and asking for more money which we gave, but the more important and worrying thing was that he violated his contract by hosting shows on competitive channels in spite of having an exclusive contract with Colors for TV, which we felt was not ethical.

What about Kapil's allegations about the channel giving 'Comedy Nights Bachao' more prominence and even diverting celebrities to the show?

Film stars do integration for movies and want to be on non-fiction shows that rate well. We would encourage stars to appear on both shows. Kapil's insecurity or those of people around him was when the problem began. His managers started panicking when in terms of ratings, 'Bachao... ' started doing well and better than 'Comedy Nights With Kapil' in some episodes. And instead of working with our creative team and finding ways to reinvent and make the show ratings better, they kept living in denial and started casting aspersions on the channel. Both the shows were equally important to us. To ensure that both succeed, we kept promoting them with equal weight. We were clear as a channel that the success of either show need not necessarily be at the cost of the other. For us, they were both mutually exclusive.

Was 'Comedy Nights Bachao' started with the idea of easing out Kapil's show?

Not at all. We didn't do 'Comedy Nights Bachao' by choice. Instead, we requested Kapil not to make his show once a week as it was financially not feasible to us. He said he is busy with movies and doesn't have the time. He did not give us a choice and made his show a weekly and in the process, also doubled his fee. He ensured his personal remuneration didn't suffer, but caused a big financial loss to us. The truth is that we were forced to make CNWK once a week. And since we had built the weekend 10 pm slot as comedy, we had no choice but to bring in another comedy show in the slot vacated by Kapil.

How tough was it to actually let go of Kapil's show, given that it was one of your top shows?

In a normal course, no channel would let go of a good show. But it has to also be economically viable and more importantly, business has to be conducted in an ethical manner. For many reasons, the decision to let go of Kapil has been very tough. It has has been an emotional show for us. Together, Kapil and our creative team created magic. He is extremely talented, probably one of the best in this genre. We never asked him to go. He was not happy with us and implied that we couldn't have another comedy show on the channel. That was unacceptable to us. He chose to walk out. He is a nice guy being misled, I guess, by others around him for their own survival. I am very fond of him and feel really sad to see him go.

Does it worry you that Kapil is going to be on a rival channel?

I am not worried. I feel sad that after all that, we as a channel had done to package him, promote him and treat him like an integral part of the Colors family, he has chosen to move on. Our best wishes are with him in his future endeavours. I am sure he will experience the difference. There have been fights in the TV industry and the warring parties have even patched up at a later date.

Will Colors and Kapil too come together some day?

My team and I love Kapil Sharma the person and the artiste. We have not had any issues with him. He had issues with us. We respect his talent and would be happy to work with him in the future. The only condition being that he has to have a good set of managers and the terms of engagement should be mutually acceptable and respected.

What is your equation with Kapil?


Personally, I have a great equation with him. He wished me on my birthday and I wished him for New Year's. Professionally, we have had our differences. I am answerable to my organisation and I have to act and make decisions in the best interest of the channel.

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Posted: 8 years ago
See I knew this ,this was coming ,kapil hosted shows on other channels ,asked for higher fees,that also they satisfied but telling them they cannot another comedy show without wasn't acceptable.Which channel will accept this attitude.Kapil changed from simple man to star and he coudnt handle it.No channel can give up on talented guy like kapil.It must be the most tough desicion for channel.
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Posted: 8 years ago

Originally posted by: White-Rose



However, dealing with success is a task in itself and that's where Kapil Sharma apparently failed. He could not handle his stardom and his team reportedly did not help matters either. Nayak said, "The success of the show meant that we had a person who suddenly became a star and found it difficult to manage his success. He started renegotiating and asking for more money which we gave, but the more important and worrying thing was that he violated his contract by hosting shows on competitive channels in spite of having an exclusive contract with Colors for TV, which we felt was not ethical."



Hmmm
isise shuruat hui kya jhagde ki ðŸ˜²
Waiting for other side of story  Edited by ChotaBheem - 8 years ago
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Posted: 8 years ago
And the blame game starts... while I really do not know what went wrong, i have a hard time believing that the rest of the team would leave with Kapil if he was in the wrong.. that just seems weird to me.. and Kapil wanted to quite long back but they did not let him go.. he even had to let go of the YRF contract because of them which must not have been an easy thing.. so ya.. the problems were there long before these series of comedy shows came on board
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Posted: 8 years ago

Originally posted by: yamyam

And the blame game starts... while I really do not know what went wrong, i have a hard time believing that the rest of the team would leave with Kapil if he was in the wrong.. that just seems weird to me.. and Kapil wanted to quite long back but they did not let him go.. he even had to let go of the YRF contract because of them which must not have been an easy thing.. so ya.. the problems were there long before these series of comedy shows came on board



"He is a nice guy being misled, I guess, by others around him for their own survival"
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Posted: 8 years ago

Originally posted by: tanvismile



"He is a nice guy being misled, I guess, by others around him for their own survival"

Kapil was already leaving.. the others had a chance to stay back, especially Ali Asghar and Siddhu sir as channel wanted to retain them so whose survival are we talking about here?😕
Edited by yamyam - 8 years ago
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Posted: 8 years ago

Originally posted by: yamyam

Kapil was already leaving.. the others had a chance to stay back, especially Ali Asghar and Navjot Singh as channel wanted to retain them so whose survival are we talking about here?😕

I think the team choose to side with kapil as we heard he is coming with new show.As a team they were very close and loyal to each other.And dadi ,sumona what will they do without kapil,bua can still continue with her 22 yr old I m hot sexy...Navjot also took emotional desicion.
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Posted: 8 years ago

Originally posted by: tanvismile

I think the team choose to side with kapil as we heard he is coming with new show.As a team they were very close and loyal to each other.And dadi ,sumona what will they do without kapil,bua can still continue with her 22 yr old I m hot sexy...Navjot also took emotional desicion.

the new show is yet to materialize and if you manage to arouse such loyalty in people, you are doing something right. if Kapil was in the wrong or if he was throwing attitude and showing starry behavior, i doubt so many ppl would not have sided with him, esp Navjot ji
Posted: 8 years ago

Must say much well spoken then the arrogant Krushna