Will Kapil Sharma Make Way For Sunil Grover On Sony TV? By Suhel Johar

 

Kapil Sharma has been the hottest topic in town (for all the wrong reasons) after his infamous mid-air brawl with Sunil Grover. Kapil Sharma and Sunil Grover’s fight is going to some unexpected direction with each passing day. Their ugly on flight fight is coming with new twists and turns. There seems to be no end for Kapil and his show. He continues to face the consequences of his co-stars Sunil Grover, Chandan Prabhakar, Ali Asgar and Sugandha Mishra’s absence from the show as it is said that the show no longer is what it used to be.

Ironically, despite all the backlash and reports of the show going downhill in terms of viewership ratings, Kapil is seeking a 50% raise in his fees. Let’s see if he gets what he wants and if he is able to revive the show post the controversial episode. Not happy with the way things are going Sony TV has reportedly given an ultimatum to Kapil Sharma to put his act together or face the axe.

The channel, apparently, has given one month’s notice to Kapil Sharma to solve his issues with Sunil Grover and also to get back the show on track. If Kapil fails this challenge, and is unable to turn the tide, his whopping Rs 110 crore deal with the channel will be scrapped. However, there is no official confirmation regarding the same and the channel is currently refraining from speaking anything about the matter.

Not even in his dreams ace comedian Kapil Sharma must have imagined that his mid-air brawl could cost him so dearly. The channel (Sony TV) is forced to take this step as Sunil Grover, Chandan Prabhakar, Ali Asgar and Sugandha Mishra are not in any mood to return and have not only refused to shoot, but the ratings of the last two episodes have also been badly hit by their absence.

Kapil is trying hard to fill in the vacuum created by Sunil's absence on The Kapil Sharma Show. He has even brought Raju Shrivastav on the comedy show, but the veteran comedian has till now not been able to create any magic.

The Kapil Sharma Show, that premiered in April last year, has seen its share of ups and downs. First, it did not exactly open on a brilliant note. In the initial few weeks, the show, on an average, could just about manage 5-5.5 million. But as the weeks passed by, the show's ratings saw a marked improvement, also because the creative team and Kapil worked really hard on their guest list and introducing innovative concepts.

But sadly, the team work, the friendship, the marvellous work, all has been spoiled after the mid-air fiasco between Kapil and Sunil. Kapil and Sony TV are trying their best to bring back Sunil in the show but he is adamant about not returning to the show. And the show’s novelty, TRP and fame is crushing.

So you can see why the comedian looks so troubled and stressed out these days. No wonder the once full of life Kapil Sharma is just a  sullen and worried figure in his own show post the exit of his core team. So disturbed is Kapil these days that earlier this week Kapil sent his loyalist, Kiku Sharda and guest Raju Srivastav packing post a 10-minute shoot since all acts seemed out of sync, the laughter forced and camaraderie missing.

Sony channel is certainly not ready to let Sunil go from TKSS and continues its efforts to convince him to return to Kapil’s show. He has been told that if he comes back his interaction with Kapil will be minimum or not at all (Kapil won’t be in the frame when Sunil will be on stage). In the meantime, they have also told Kapil to mend bridges with Sunil. It’s a prime slot and the show has been popular, though lately, it has suffered a setback due to the Sunil-Kapil fallout. Let’s see if Sony can get Sunil back on the show with “no Kapil clause”. We wonder how that will work when the show itself is called ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’.

If nothing works Sony TV has already made up its mind to pull plugs on The Kapil Sharma Show once and for all. In fact, they are terribly disappointed with how much bad press the entire Kapil Sharma episode has brought to the channel and the show. The ratings have dipped way more than what they thought it would.

Incidentally, much recently, the number of dislikes on the episodes uploaded on YouTube has increased tremendously while the likes remain at a low stance. The YouTube episodes, that usually score a ‘big yes’ from the audience also decided to boycott against the comedian as they hit the dislike button for the most recent episode.

Because of whole fiasco which has resulted in heavy monetary losses for Sony TV it is also considering planning to invest in Sunil now for a different show altogether. Sony TV’s rival channel Colors (who have a long standing issue with Kapil) has approached Sunil for a show but he has not signed anything. Sony has rights to his characters – Rinku bhabhi and Dr. Mashur Gulati and also earn a chunk of money from his live shows where he performs in his avatars. And they are incredible characters in their own spaces already. So they might have a show with these characters.

Interestingly,  since the stalemate continues Sony TV is trying to cash on Sunil Grover’s past episodes on YouTube, now that the new episodes aren’t doing any great. Yes! Considering how fans are sorely missing Dr Mashoor Gulati, Sony TV compiled the best of Sunil Grover and put it up on YouTube a few days back and with no surprise, it recorded the maximum views and likes. Now doesn’t that clearly prove what has been the USP of The Kapil Sharma Show.