'NO HORSING AROUND'

No horsing around!

Sangeeta Ghosh refuses to ride a horse for a romantic scene in Viraasat. The shoot is delayed by five hours

Sapana Patil Poojary

Talk about grabbing eyeballs for all the wrong reasons. This is undoubtedly the case with Star Plus's new serial Viraasat. Be it the Aman Verma and Amar Upadhyay animosity or Rohit Roy's unsolicited acting advice, the show is gaining notoriety for the behind-the-scenes drama.

And now it's the turn of the leading lady, Sangeeta Ghosh to play difficult. Apparently, Sangeeta and her co-star Rohit Roy had to shoot a romantic sequence on horseback. However, Sangeeta refused to do the scene at the outset. Nevertheless, the show's creative team insisted that the actors would have to ride a horse together. Sangeeta's reluctance resulted in the shoot being delayed by nearly five hours.

"There was a slight problem while doing the scene. Rohit was supposed to blindfold me and bring me to a stable, after which we ride a horse," says Sangeeta. "It was a lovely scene, and there were many horses around us. But, we had to sit on the same horse. That wasn't possible, as one horse could barely accommodate the two of us. Secondly, I was wearing a sari. Had I even attempted to get on to the horse, I could have fallen. I thought it is unwise to ride a horse in a sari. So the creative team found a way out. Instead of the two of us on horseback, Rohit lifted me in his arms."

Ravi Chopra, the producer, says, "We want the scenes to look good, but not at the cost of our actors feeling uncomfortable." On the recent controversies surrounding his show, Chopra says, "Frankly, everything is hunky-dory on the sets. Whenever I visit the sets, I see everyone having fun."

• I thought it is unwise to ride a horse in a sari — Sangeeta Ghosh