Here comes another shocking news from Telly town. Ritvik Arora who was playing Shaheer Sheikh's younger brother, Kunal, on the show Yeh Rishtey Hain Pyaar Ke will no longer be part of the show. In fact, the makers of the show have already started hunting for his replacement. Well the replacement is no ordinary one. It has stemmed from a reported rift between the show's producer and the actor. While the production house says he is no longer a part of the show because of his unprofessional behaviour, the actor insists that he has not been able to resume the shoot owing to the COVID-19 situation. We get you their conversations in details below;
The show is being produced by Rajan Shahi and the man had recently opened up on 'an actor' demanding an exorbitant fee hike and behaving unprofessionally in the times of COVID-19. At that time the producer didn't take the actor's name but now talking to Bombay Times he has not only revealed Ritvik's name but also shared what exactly went wrong. Rajan says, "A few weeks ago our supervising producer Vivek Jain called Ritvik. He said he could start shooting from July 1, but we should first speak to his father. That itself was unprofessional because he’s the actor, who has signed a contract with us. Yet, Vivek called his father, who asked for a raise in his remuneration, almost double of what he was being paid, and also a minimum 25-day work guarantee. What’s really wrong is the way he communicated it saying, ‘Don’t even think of calling back if you want to negotiate’. After this, Vivek reached out to Ritvik again, and even this time, he told us to speak to his father."
He went on to add, "Sometimes an actor or a technician may have some concerns and want a change in certain clauses. These things happen, but they have to be discussed proactively. I have always been approachable. But for someone to say that don’t even think of calling if you want to negotiate... negotiate what? You are going against the contract! When they were asked to send an email on this, they started dilly-dallying. A few days later, Ritvik’s father started sending apology messages for laying down those conditions and tried to blame things on the COVID situation. However, we have a record of all communication exchanged. We have been very accommodating with actors who have genuine COVID concerns. If an actor wants to opt out of a show, we totally understand. But the behaviour of unprofessional people, who hold a production house to ransom, should be called out. In the case of Ritvik, there was a problem even last year when he didn’t turn up for shoot for a day and he was not reachable on phone, and we suffered losses. He apologised later in writing and we gave him another chance then.”
With this producer has made his mind to replace the actor as he says, "No matter how popular an actor maybe, it’s his work ethic and professionalism that is of paramount importance to me. If that is not there, I don’t mind replacing him."
Whereas according to Ritvik, reasons for him are different. He says, “My uncle passed away recently because of coronavirus, so obviously, everyone in my family is worried. Then we learnt about actor Parth Samthaan testing positive, which further fuelled their apprehensions. I first received a call from Rajan Sir in May, asking me when I would be able to resume the shoot. I informed him about my uncle passing away and said that I needed some time. I asked my father to take the communication ahead with the production house, as I was deeply affected by my uncle’s death. A few days later, Vivekji called me, and I told my father to talk to him and decide whether I should go to Mumbai to shoot. I am their only son and they were anxious because I would be living alone in Mumbai. I didn’t know about the conversation that transpired between my father and them. After I learnt about it, I told my father that he was wrong in asking for a pay hike. However, he didn’t ask them to double my money, he asked for a minor hike thinking that it would serve as a deterrent and they wouldn’t call me to Mumbai. My father was willing to send me to shoot from July 1, as he thought things would get better. He called them several times to clear the air, but our calls went unanswered. I asked him to apologise through messages and on mail. In his apology, my father stated that it wasn’t about the money, but about my safety and well-being. I totally understand their decision to not respond. However, I can vouch that my father wasn’t rude, nor did he tell them to not call him for negotiation. In fact, I received a mail from them on July 7 asking me when I would return. I didn’t want to commit to a date as I wasn’t sure if I would be able to stick to it, owing to the ongoing crisis. So, I wrote a mail stating that as of now, I don’t plan to return to Mumbai. There is absolutely no reason for me to leave the show because it’s such a good opportunity. This is a case of miscommunication and misunderstanding.”
Ritvik's character of Kunal was appreciated by the audience. It will be interesting to see who steps into his shoes on the show.
Image Source:- instagram/rajan.shahi.543/ritvik_arora
Image Source:- instagram/rajan.shahi.543/ritvik_arora