They never heard my side of the story: Aniruddha

Dropped from the hit serial ‘Jothe Jotheyali’ and banned for two years for his alleged behavioural and professional issues, the actor tells Akash Hegde that the episode has hurt him deeply

The hit Kannada television serial Jothe Jotheyali faces a precarious future as communication between the lead actor Aniruddha Jatkar and the makers of the show has ceased.

Aniruddha, who was ousted from the show “through an email”, has also been reportedly banned by The Kannada Television Producers Association for two years.

The show’s director Aroor Jagadish and the makers had removed the actor due to his alleged rude behaviour.

Speaking about the future of the show, Aniruddha told Showtime, “I’m committed to my work and the audience. Whatever they have done is unethical and wrong. It has hurt me. If at all they call me, I would come back to the show for the sake of my fans because they have supported me a lot. I have requested the channel to bring me back. This serial and the role have given me a lot. So if at all they call me, I’ll definitely resume work.”

When asked about how he would react if he were to be replaced by another actor, Aniruddha said “I wish them the best. I have worked with the team for three years, they’re like family. I wish them nothing but the best.”

The actor also said that he was neither contacted nor given any details regarding the ban by the association. “They never heard my side of the story,” he said.

Director Jagadish, at a press conference, had said that the producers were fed up with Aniruddha’s exorbitant demands and anger issues on the sets. “He doesn’t understand the difference between TV and film. The budget and time is very limited in the television field but he never understood that and made demands even during the peak Covid period.”

He also mentioned that the actor would often fiddle with the team’s creative process and that further annoyed the producers. “He has walked out of the shooting spot without completing his portion several times because he didn’t like the way the scene was written. He wanted to control the show and the script all the time and wasted hours on discussions rather than actually shooting,” he had told reporters.

Aniruddha, defending himself, said, “I have fought for a reason. I have a responsibility towards the audience. If there are logical loopholes in the script, don’t I have the rights to discuss it? I had told them several times to put in a lot of thought in writing because we are responsible to our viewers. The executive producer of the channel had agreed with my observations and changed the script once.”

There are rumours floating around the future of Aniruddha’s character Aryavardhan. Some say the makers are set to scrap the character and change the story entirely. There were talks that the serial team had approached ‘Vikrant Rona’ director Anup Bhandari and actor-director Harish Raj for the replacement. Despite repeated calls from Showtime, director Jagadish was unavailable for comments.

‘Jothe Jotheyali’ is an official remake of the Marathi show ‘Tula Pahate Re’. The story is about a middle-aged man Aryavardhan, who falls in love with a middle-class girl named Anu. Despite the differences, they manage to come together but it remains to be seen if they stand the test of time.

While the Marathi show concluded in mid-2019 with 298 episodes, the Kannada version continues to air at 8.30 pm from Monday to Saturday on Zee Kannada.