Controversial TV show Pehredaar Piya Ki shuts down

The controversial serial Pehredaar Piya Ki that created a furore over the regressive content and the marriage between a nine-year-old boy and an 18-year-old girl, has been finally axed by the channel. In an official statement, the channel said, “Effective August 28, we are pulling off our programme Pehredaar Piya Ki from TV. While we understand that the decision to end this serial will be disappointing to those whose creative energies are vested in it, namely, its crew and cast, we are convinced that we will be better served by focussing instead on developing viewer interest in our upcoming, new shows.”

Sources say that the serial which was about to take a generation leap was yanked due to pressure from I & B Minister, Smriti Irani. She had written to Broadcasting Content Complaints Council to take immediate action against Pehredaar Piya Ki.   

However, producer Sumeet Mittal says that they had got an order from BCCC to shift the time slot from 8 pm to post 10 pm, which they did. “But we know our story better and were sceptical about it working post 10 pm and the 10.30 pm slot would have done injustice to it. So, we along with the channel mutually decided to shut it. It’s a creative call,” says Sumeet.

But why end it abruptly? “It would have been abrupt anyway because there was no good way of winding it up. There was a lot of story in the current track, which would have got killed and the ending would have never been satisfactory,” quips the producer, who has already started working on another serial. “We will return as soon as possible on the 8 pm slot. It will have the same star cast as Pehredaar Piya Ki (Tejaswi Prakash Wayangankar, Affan Khan). The production team and the cast is set, as soon as I finalise the story, we will start shooting. This time the story will be such that no one can point fingers.”