Comedy crew walks on thin ice

The hugely popular Comedy Nights with Kapil team has had enough brushes with the law in the past, to know that the contract territory must be tread with much care and caution. On Tuesday, we told you how the channel had threatened Sunil Grover and Ali Asgar with legal action for taking their characters Gutthi and Dadi, respectively, out of the show and onto a stage at a public event. According to the channel, their contract mentioned that they couldn’t play the characters outside the show.

To avoid more such unpleasant brushes, the team we hear, is brainstorming to ensure that there is no breach of contract when the show moves from Colors channel to Sony.

Says a source close to the team, “Kapil’s team can’t have the same characters because Colors owns the rights of the original show on television. The team is taking detailed legal advice to bring back the original characters in avatars that won’t amount to a breach of contract with Colors. Viewers want to see the same characters again, so the team has to make sure that the viewers don’t feel cheated with the new show. At the same time, the same characters can’t be repeated on Sony’s format of the show. They have to be re-created — with different names, looks and quirks perhaps.”

Naturally, the name of the show is in contention too. Many names are being bounced off the team to finalise as the title of the new show. Adds the source, “We have 10-15 title options at the moment. The name Kapil will definitely be part of the new show’s title. That’s all that we have locked down so far. The other elements that will join the name are still being discussed.”

The team hopes to come up with a name that still establishes a connect with the old show.