Nikitin Dheer’s exit from Nagarjun — Ek Yoddha has opened a Pandora’s box. There is more to the muddle than meets the eye. Contesting the actor’s version given to a leading daily, an actress from the show, on conditions of anonymity, reveals that insecurities with co-star Mrunal Jain and bad performance are the real reasons for Nikitin’s exit.
She says, “The channel and the producer had huge expectations from the character of Astika that Nikitin played. It was made the face of the show and the actor was aggressively promoted as the larger-than-life antagonist. Unfortunately, he failed to deliver. The creative team felt the character wasn’t picking up because of the actor’s inability to act. In addition to that, his Hindi too wasn’t up to the mark. He was always struggling with his lines and as a result he would end up taking 15 to 20 takes per scene.” Therefore, according to the actress, the channel had no option but to change the storyline and focus on other characters that successfully managed to connect with the audience. “The focus was taken away from Astika’s character. It was pretty obvious that his dates were not utilised simply because they were not required,” the actress adds.
Meanwhile, Mrunal Jain’s character of Astika’s son Shankachurna started gaining prominence. “The fight sequences between protagonist Arjun (Anshuman Malhotra) and Shankachurna (Mrunal) have been getting good ratings. So the channel has increased Mrunal’s track handsomely. In fact, now Mrunal and Anshuman are practically in every scene. Incidentally, Mrunal is playing a double role in the show and his act as cop Rajbir is also getting humungous appreciation. His success was making Nikitin increasingly insecure and he was feeling left out. Finally, things came to a point where he could not continue any more,” says the actress.
When contacted Nikitin rubbished the talks, saying, “I want to laugh at these preposterous reasons being given for my exit. If you see FB, Instagram and Twitter, you will realise the ratings were higher when Astika was on the screen. Before coming on board, I had given three different look tests and shot four promos. Would they have taken me had I been a bad actor ” He continues, “They increased my dates after seeing the response to my character. I was supposed to shoot 20 days with them but I was being utilised only for five days, because they wanted to save money on a per day basis. I was told I am the most expensive artist and that I should reduce my price as the show was running into losses. Being an emotional person I even did that for them and yet I was made to suffer. I was promoted as this great antagonist but the character was vague. It wasn’t developed as was promised to me. I had raised all the points in my notice given to them on July 26 but I am yet to receive a response. I have worked with actors like Shah Rukh, Salman and Hrithik — why would I be insecure If I were, I would have taken the role of main lead. And lastly, I would request you to come on the sets and see how my Hindi is and how many takes I take for a scene. You will know the reality.”
