"Every time I put up a new show on air, I hope it's not cricket season. Because I used to know when Sachin used to play, as you could see the TRPs of my show. I used to ask 'what happened', and got the answer 'oh Sachin played'. That was the only time they used to get affected. It was the same even during 'Kyunki...' and 'Kahaani...' times," Ekta told the reporters here.
The producer, who was in the capital to promote her upcoming show "Kundali Bhagya", which is a spin-off of Zee TV's popular daily soap "Kumkum Bhagya", said the new serial will be her ode to the world of cricket.
Ekta said the character played by actor Dheeraj Dhoopar is of a young, brash cricketer, which was loosely based on Indian all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
"I'm not a fan of cricket. But I've been hearing a lot about this young cricketer Pandya. I haven't seen much of him but I hear he's quite an IPL sensation.
"For writing the story, we thought why not pick a character like this who is likely to get placed in the national cricket team. We thought this is an interesting world to explore. There's so much madness about it. But, I've heard the gentleman is quite well behaved and polite," she said.
Dheeraj said he is a huge fan of Indian skipper Virat Kohli and has tried to emulate his mannerisms for his role prep onscreen.
"I didn't do much homework. But I like Virat... He is a rage in the country. I have somewhere tried to look like him."
"Kundali Bhagya", which also stars Shraddha Arya, Anjum Fakih and Manit Joura, premiers on the channel on weekdays from July 12 at 9.30 PM.
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
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