Raj Simaria who is popular as the adorable Abhishek in Zee TV and Drishtant Media's Aap Ki Antara has fallen ill, and is apparently, turning the whole shooting schedule of Aap Ki Antara topsy-turvy.

According to our source, "Raj has come down with measles and  won't be visiting the sets for the next few days. Thankfully, they finished all close shots with him yesterday itself. Now for the long shots they are managing with a dupe."

Even then, the scripts had to be altered. Adds our source, "It's true, they had to alter the script slightly to accommodate Raj's prolonged absence. Since its measles, it's understandable that he needs at least a week's rest."

Raj's mother Kavita Simaria confirms his illness. She says, "Actually, the whole time during Diwali and then later on Sunday when he went for a small party, he was alright. We never saw this coming. Yesterday afternoon we noticed some reddening on his skin. But we thought that maybe because he had to shoot in the Sun. His skin is very sensitive so it usually reacts that way to extreme heat. We thought it will subside once the shoot is over."

But sadly, it wasn't a mere skin rash. Says Kavita, "Yesterday evening we took him to a doctor who noticed symptoms of measles and confirmed it."

With the leap in Aap Ki Antara to happen very soon, has Raj's sickness disturbed the whole schedule of the show?

Says our source, "No no. The leap has to happen and it will happen. The audiences will surely see the leap within the first two weeks of November."

But one thing is for sure, that the contracts of the three kids in the show, Zaynah Vastani, Raj Simaria and Aarav Velhal end on October 31st.  Confirming this, Raj's mom further states, "Well, I'm not sure when the leap is expected, but our contract gets over by October 31st and they haven't renewed it yet."

We sent a text message to Producer Monish Sekhri, asking him about the leap but he remained unavailable for comments.

As we await more news on the leap, we wish Raj a speedy recovery so that we can see him in full form before we see the grown-up versions of the tiny tots...

Reporter and Author: Susan Jose