Kanchi Kaul steps into Maayka

Janaki Viswanathan gets her talking about her yet another replacing act after Bhabhi. She replaces Shilpa Shinde's character of Soni.

In another replacement move (there seems to be an epidemic of them on the tube), Shilpa Shinde has bowed out of Maayka. And Kanchi Kaul has replaced her. No bad blood Kaul was last seen in Bhabhi, in which too, she took over from Rucha Gujarathi. A year later, Gujarathi was back being bahu, biwi and bhabhi.. but more on that in a minute.Kaul who has just returned from London (“Some prior commitments.. nothing to talk about.”) is now shooting non-stop for the Zee daily. She doesn’t seem frazzled about being a replacement again. “It keeps happening on TV,” she shrugs, adding that Shinde’s exit had not created any bad blood.

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In the interim period between Bhabhi and Maayka, Kaul kept herself busy with ads. Has she spoken to Shinde for tips on the character? “Nope.” Incidentally, Shinde had also stepped into another actress’ shoes more than a year ago to play Soni.. and her doomed love story with Jeet aka Romit Raaj. Contract fundas So, why was Kaul re-replaced in Bhabhi? The actress answers breezily, “I had a contract for a specific period only. It ended and I stepped out.. also because of personal reasons. But it was an amicable parting.” What about her first big break, Ek Ladki Anjaani si? She was replaced by Sai Deodhar in the daily. She says, “Like I told you before, replacements keep happening. I have only lovely memories of Ek Ladki Anjaani si.. it was very close to my heart.” What if Shinde decides to pop back as Soni in Maayka? “I’d rather you addressed that to the production house,” replies Kaul. Kaul had made her movie debut with Woh Tera Naam Tha. How about another try? The actress says she loves working on TV and would only consider films if there’s an exciting offer. Finally, would she want to clarify on her link-up with former co-star Vishal Singh (he played her uncle in Ek Ladki.. and then her husband in Bhabhi)? Kaul protests, “I don’t need to clarify anything. It’s ridiculous. You work with the same actor in more than one show and the press talks of a link-up.”