There was a lot of interference from the channel (Zee TV) pertaining to creative calls in Afsar Bitiya

Kinshuk Mahajan is not very happy with the way his Zee TV show Afsar Bitiya got wrapped up.

He shared with us. “Had the channel continued with this BDO (Mitali Nag) saga of fighting for social and family acceptance for a few months more when the second phase of digitization (Tier 2 cities) would have kicked of around March (2013), our ratings would have shown a much bigger jump. Sadly, they did not even wait for the data of the first phase that only included those of the four metros to come out before deciding to pull the plug. Even this new data would have shown a gradual increase as a large number of Biharis stay in the metros as well.”

“It would really hurt, for whenever we would go out, people would praise our show; yet the appreciation never showed in the ratings. I have been told that Pintoo Singh’s (his character’s name) kurtas were a rage in Bihar and Jharkhand. The low numbers would make us question our efforts,” he further added.

Talking about the popularity of the show, the actor averred, “The popularity of our show in the Bhojpuri belt can be judged by the fact that I was offered Bhojpuri films and item songs at an astronomical price; it’s a different thing that I desisted from doing it.”

Kinshuk also blamed the channel for lots of interference in the early phase as far as the creative calls were concerned. “Zee TV is known to do this. In fact, when I first signed on, I was told that the story would go on for two years and was accordingly briefed, but the way it finally came on screen, it was quite different. We only ended up telling three months of the whole story,” he maintained.

Looking ahead, this cute guy, who first came on the TV scene with Dhoom Machaao Dhoom on Zee TV, wants to do something different again. “This is very important, for if you keep repeating yourself, producers and channels start losing interest in you. Hence, after playing a lover boy in Bidaai and Chand Chupa Badal Mein, I deliberately chose to enact this rustic Bihari character in Village Boy Productions’ Afsar Bitiya,” he concluded.