And the 'Pratha' continues

Having said this, we hear that there was a time when both Vishal and Shalini would pack a punch as close friends.

Our source states, "Vishal and Shalini initially hit it off like a house on fire. Shalini for the matter of fact was bowled over by the eye-candy looks of the guy, and was in awe of Vishal. This distraction actually affected her dedication towards work. The girl even got warned by the Producer and was asked to concentrate on the work in hand, as nothing could get bigger than the show. Meanwhile, the friendship between Shalini and Vishal got sour as the latter did not commit to the so-called relationship. Things went out of control when they stopped talking to each other. The cold war got reflected in their scenes, and this did not do well for their on screen chemistry".

The creative team we hear, simply could not take more, and were left with two options. They had to either replace the female lead or change the story line to bring in a temporary solution to the problem. And the channel decided to take the first solution and looked for a known face to play Surbhi. This brought about the entry of Parul Chauhan in the show..

When contacted, Producer Pearl Grey reasoned out on the various factors that brought about the replacement in Rishton Se Badi Pratha. "Shalini had some personal problems which hampered her work. She was not concentrating on work, and this affected the show. When we noticed this, we immediately had a word with her, and asked her to get her act right quickly. She seemed to be careless about her work, and lacked professionalism. Ultimately the channel decided to replace her with a known name. Even then, we did not want to talk about anything in the media, as we were genuinely concerned about Shalini's future in the industry. We are now clearing the air as we do not want the channel or the actor to be maligned. Everyone has their own set of problems, but when it starts affecting your work, one needs to find a solution. That's what happened with Shalini".

We also hear that the channel had always been hesitant to cast Shalini as the lead of the show. However, it was Pearl Grey who had convinced the channel and got Shalini the role.

Though Shalini acknowledges that Pearl has always been a guiding force for her, she denies to accept that she was not professional towards her work. Shalini tells us, "I will always remain thankful to Pearl for offering me this role. But I have never been unprofessional on sets. I always gave my best, and in fact used to ask Pearl to help me with her feedback on the on screen chemistry I shared with Vishal. I don't think I ever got distracted from work, and I do believe that it required two people to create chemistry. Rishton Se Badi Pratha meant a lot to me, and it was great working with Pearl".

Ask Shalini whether she was ever dating Vishal and pat comes the answer, "Never. Initially we were very close friends but we never got into a relationship. All of a sudden, things changed and he stopped talking to me. When he made his stand clear, I too did not feel it necessary to confront him and reason it out".

Guess at the end of the day, all that counts in this industry is 'professionalism' and there is no room for 'emotions' or 'friendship'..

Reporter and Author: Srividya Rajesh