Saath Rahega Always leaps, leaves leads

Sahara One's college drama has taken a whole new turn! Not only has it moved ahead by five years, but it has also left behind it's original leads. The show is now moving towards a family drama from being a campus story. The first episode with the new cast went on air on 10 April.

Neha Marda, who played Pihu in the show has been replaced by Shilpa Shinde and Krissh's character, originally played by Karan Rai has been taken over by Sachin Verma, who was last seen in Reth.

This is perhaps the first time that leads have been replaced to accomodate a mature storyline. Admittedly, other shows have moved forward with their original starcast without as much as streak of grey in their hair. This leap for one, seems more logical as both Neha and Karan are much too young to play married characters and really it would have been ridiculuous to expect them to be part of the show post leap!

"Neha is too young! She is short and thus looks her age! We are moving to much more mature characters, since they have changed post leap. We now have a married Pihu and thus the track is moving towards the family and away from the college. After shooting 60 episodes in the college, this movement was necessary as far as the show is concerned," says producer, Hemant Seth (Behind the scenes). Seth also pointed out that the duo were clued in about the leap as well as the replacement when they were roped in to play the characters.

"Well, I left the show beacause I was supposed to be married with two children! I am too young to play that kind of a character! Really I am not mentally prepared for such a role. But this was decided beforehand and I knew!" says Neha.

Karan too sees nothing wrong in being replaced, rather, he sees this as a blessing in disguise!

"I quit because I had other priorities! They had contemplated this in the beginning, but the final replacement came as a surprise. They wanted a bigger, maturer look. They are moving from the college to the family now! We worked it out mutually...and frankly it's good that things turned out this way as I am sure I wouldn't have looked the part," says Karan, who plans to move behind the scene and produce shows sometime in the future.

The main lead post leap, Shilpa Shinde, seemed excited about her brand new character! The lady was recently in news when it was reported that she had lost her eyesight due to eye hemorrhage.

"It doesn't seem like I have replaced anyone since now there's a whole new track running. It's a challenging role to take on, ...and I am hoping it'll do well," says Shilpa.

Although the show isn't a major TRP grosser, it looks like that the production house has made one last ditch effort to save it -- but hats off to them for having the guts to take a risk and replace their most established characters with new ones!