New Delhi: Winner of television reality show Khatron Ke Khiladi and small screen actor Shabbir Ahluwalia has recently launched his own production house in partnership with two of his friends who are already engaged in various areas of TV show production. The production house was named as Flying Turtles.
Ganga Ki Dheej, is the first production of the company and will be on air on Sahara One, next week. The show's promo went on air in September and was expected to launch much earlier.
"Blame the 'shraadh' period for that," Ahluwalia said.
"The period is not considered auspicious by Hindus. Also, there were too many big shows being launched after that. We didn't want to lose out on visibility."
The actor's company has tied up with film producer Harry Baweja's production house to co-produce the show. "Baweja was keen on launching the TV production wing of his company. We wanted a strong financial base. So, we decided to tie up with Harryji. Fortunately, there has been no clash of interest. We've all been on the same page," stated Ahluwalia.
Ganga Ki Dheej is also actor Kabir Bedi's Hindi TV soap debut. Was he difficult to convince? "Kabir was apprehensive," admitted Ahluwalia.
"But while brainstorming on our cast, we couldn't think of anyone else to play the role. So, we approached him. He took some time to decidebut after that he was comfortable in Dada Bhai's skin." The show revolves around the tradition of testing a girl's purity before marriage, followed in remote parts of the country.
"It's strange but it's still practiced. It's sexist and unfair but followed religiously. It was unheard of for me. So we thought that it would be interesting to weave a story around it for our viewers," he explained.
