Ali Asgar speaks up on 'Comedy Nights With Kapil' controversy

Mumbai: The final episode of popular show “Comedy Nights With Kapil” will now air on January 24 after the channel postpone the date by a week amid reports that there were differences between them and host Kapil Sharma.  

Actor Ali Asgar, who played Dadi on the show, confirmed that there issues between the production house and the channel while another star of the show Kiku Sharda said that they did not know about the date of telecast.

Asgar said they were aware that the show might go off air but thought things might work out in the end.  “It is not that we were running out of content or the audience got bored. We continued to get good response. There were some issues between production house and the channel,” Asgar told PTI.

“Before 25 days or so we were aware that the show is going to end but we thought things might work out. We got to know about the last day of the shoot before 15 days. The production house and channel decide when the show goes on air,” he said.  Sharda, known to the show's audience as Palak, told PTI, “We were aware about the last date of the shoot but we did not know about the date of telecast.”

The final episode of the show, which was shot with the “Airlift” stars Akshay Kumar and Nimrat Kaur was supposed to air on January 17 but Colors will now air it on January 24.  

The channel aired rival show “Comedy Nights Bachao” instead on that day but it seemed that the “CNWK” actors were not aware of this change as Sunil Grover, Sumona Chakravarti kept promoting the show for January 17.  Kapil had tweeted on January 17, “I hope @ColorsTV will air the last episode of cnwk with @akshaykumar tonight since its our way to say a gracious thanks to our audience.” Akshay, however, posted recently that the final episode will air on January 24, two days after his film's release.  

“Like all good things must come 2 an end, watch Nimrat & me on d last ep. of ur fav show @CNWKOfficial on Jan24 @ 10pm (sic),” he posted.

Sumona, who plays Kapil's onscreen wife, simply tweeted, “Finally.”

When contacted the channel declined to comment on the issue while Kapil could not be reached.  Meanwhile, a leaked video from the final episode that shows the actors getting emotional as they say goodbye, went viral before being blocked by Network 18.  

Asgar said it was indeed a very emotional day for the star cast of the show, which is ending after three years.  “We shot on January 12 with ‘Airlift' team. The last day was emotional for all of us. This show gave all of us name, fame and money. It has been a memorable journey for me,” he said.

Sharda, who had to face imprisonment for mimicking Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, said he had a great journey on the show.

“All the characters on the show grabbed eyeballs. We all gained popularity with the show and we thank the audience for it. The team has been wonderful and has no ego. Kapil is a great person and he promoted everyone on the show,” Sharda said.