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Sumeet Mittal, producer of “Pehredaar Piya Ki” — the show which was pulled off air due to its “obnoxious” plot — says he was heartbroken when the controversy emerged.
It’s been a week since “Pehredaar Piya Ki” aired on Sony Entertainment Television – the empty slot was taken up by extended episodes of Kaun Banega Crorepati 9, which premiered on August 28. The producers of Pehredaar Piya Ki – Sumeet and Shashi Mittal – were “heartbroken” but quickly recuperated to have another show releasing this week.
Titled “Yeh Un Dinon Ki Baat Hai”, the new series is a school-time love story based in the 1990s and will premiere on-wards.
The makers could not be more excited about their comeback and told news agency IANS: “We are creative people, so Shashi and I have seen a lot of ups and downs in our creative journey. Yes, I was heartbroken when even after giving a proper explanation to the authorities (BCCC), we had to stop the show. But you see, simultaneously we were developing this show Yeh Un Dinon Ki Baat Hai.”
Sony Entertainment Television had last month pulled “Pehredaar Piya Ki” off air after a string of complaints to the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC) against the show which revolved around an 18-year-old girl marrying a nine-year-old boy. The decision was reportedly taken under pressure from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
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After the show was shelved, Sumeet told TOI that the cast will return with a better story: “We treat audience as an asset so we don’t want to lose them. We will return with a new show and the same team very soon. In fact, we have started working on the same. The next show will have a better story. The actors will be with us till then.”
According to Sumeet, the basic story of their upcoming show is inspired by the love story of his and his wife Shashi, who is also his production partner.
He said: “We met in school and started a journey from there. We were 1990s’ kids. While shooting the first boy-met-girl scene in the school, the boy walking hurriedly to the teacher and the girl coming from the opposite direction and they fall down for the obvious reason, I sat down and thought, ‘Was that the way she looked at me?’.”
Sumeet said revisiting 1990s was special. In his interview to IANS, Sumeet revealed that “Yeh Un Dinon Ki Baat Hai” is inspired by his own love story. “These days, mostly parents let their kids do what they want to. Earlier, we always tried to find our own sweet little ways. And then the 1990s era brings an instant mood of nostalgia… So, it is relatable for the major audience,” he added.
The show introduces two new talents Ashi Singh and Randeep Rai as lead actors who underwent a two-month workshop to get a better understanding of their characters.
“In 1990s, kids had a different body language, they were simple, innocent and something very sweet about it. School life love stories are more platonic. So we tried to capture that and instilled some of those characteristics in our lead characters. We showed them some films like Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak and made them listen to superhit songs from films like Chandni,” Sumeet said.
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