Channel axes Vikram Bhatt Show

Producer-director Vikram Bhatt’s suspense thriller show, due on Star Plus in the 11 pm slot, will not see the light of day anymore.

Producer-director Vikram Bhatt’s suspense thriller show, due on Star Plus in the 11 pm slot, will not see the light of day anymore.

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Sources indicate that the channel, after its re-launch of sorts, decided to drop the idea of turning the 11 pm to 12 am time zone into a thriller-oriented slot. The shoots for this show, and another BBC thriller due at 11.30 pm, have been halted only days before they were to be shot.

Sources indicate that the channel wanted to bring in Bhatt’s show, a supposed adaptation of the international series Afterlife, after Ekta Kapoor’s Tere Liye.

“Vikram had shot the pilot episode, but the channel asked him to hold on till he received instructions from them. Mansi Parekh had been finalised as the protagonist. It was to go on the floors in May,” informs our source from Bhatt’s ASA Productions.

The thriller, which has a Gujarati backdrop, was reportedly going to last 52 episodes.

“Eventually Vikram was asked to hold on to the show indefinitely when the channel decided to bring in Tere Liye in the 10 pm slot,” says a source close to the channel.

Sanjay Gupta, the chief operating officer of Star Plus admitted that Bhatt and the channel were in talks and the filmmaker has been asked to rework the idea and the script.

“We’re still trying to develop the concept. As a channel, we have meetings with production houses all the time. Each meeting doesn’t result in a new alliance. I can’t say whether the show will come on air as of now.”

Vikram Bhatt didn’t respond to our messages or phone calls.