Giaa Manek speaks out about her exit from Saathiya!

Giaa Manek rose the ladder of success thanks to her docile portrayal of Gopi Bahu in Star Plus show Saath Nibhana Saathiya. The show that is currently in its third years has been a roaring success with the audience and has maintained its position on the TRP charts.

Giaa Manek's exit from the show on Star TV to do a reality show on a rival channel has been making news and Giaa Manek finally laid to rest all the doubts plaguing her fans.

One of the accusations she was charged with by Star Plus was of not honoring her contract that she had signed. Giaa however clarified –'My contract says that I have to devote 25 days to Saathiya every month. Rest of the 5 days are at my disposal. I was asked to not do Comedy Circus as it did not suit my image and I can't sing, so any singing reality show was out of question.I had informed the production house that my participation in Jhalak Dikhla Jaa will in no way hamper Saathiya's progress, but they just did not listen.'

Giaa Manek was surprised that she saw being singled out for performing in a non-reality show –"I have not done any other reality show for the last two years. We actors have a very short life span and is all about making hay when the sun shines. I'm not the first actor to be doing a reality show. There are so many actors who have participated in other comedy shows and dance reality shows. I have no idea why am I being singled out."

This tussle between Giaa Manek and Star Plus has been going on for some time. Did it in anyway hamper her shooting for Saathiya in the last few days. Giaa informed us- "I don't want to get into the details. I was almost heading for a nervous breakdown. I met a phychiatirst and I was informed that the tension could lead to depression and then finally coma. I have to prioritise myself and my health is important."

There was news doing rounds of her throwing tantrum. Giaa rubbished the news saying-"I have been associated the show for three years now. There was not any tantrum news for the past three years , so why now? After Tulsi Virani, people think of Gopi bahu. I have done justice to the role and honored my commitment.'

She also pointed out that she could not understand why multitasking was being labelled as a bad thing. She quipped –"Production houses work on multiple shows on different channels. Each channel produces so many shows. We actors don't question their commitment, and then I don't understand why is our dedication questioned?"

She wants to let the bygones be bygones now and thanked her production house for giving her such an opportunity – "This should not be a mud slinging fest. I will say something and then they will say something. I just want to thank them for providing me with an opportunity of working on Saathiya that turned out to be such a hit. It is a little hard to accept that I will not be doing Saathiya now."

She is a participant of Jhalak Dikhla Jaa 5 – Dancing with the stars and we asked her how she felt about her debut on dancing stage – "I'm very excited. I always wanted to do Jhalak and it is the best dance reality show. I don't know how good a dancer I'm but I guess my choreographer can answer that question."

We hope that Giaa will be able to put this episode behind her and dances with her best foot forward!

Reporter - Ranjini Nair

Author - Medha Parashar