Ali Baba: Dastaan-e-Kabul: Sayantani Ghosh on Abhishek Nigam replacing Sheezan Khan; says, “It’s not easy”
The show must go on and Sayantani Ghosh couldn’t agree more. She recently shared a pic with Abhishek Nigam on her social media account. For the unversed, Abhishek is the new male lead of the show and has replaced Sheezan Khan for the role of Ali. The show is now titled Ali Baba – Ek Andaaz Andekha: Chapter 2.
Sayantani talked about it during a recent interview and shared, “I have just begun to shoot with Abhishek. He is sweet-natured and very respectful to everyone around him. What I appreciate about him is that he is a learner, which is a great quality. He knows the responsibility that he has been entrusted with. Kudos to him for taking it up because it’s not easy. Any sort of replacement is not easy. In this case, it’s not an ideal situation or a regular replacement. There is a history, and he has had to step into another actor’s shoes midway. Also, it’s not easy to perform under such pressure. It takes a lot of strength and courage to do that. Though he is the new Ali, he has come in the façade of another character. So, it becomes a multi-layered character. We are appreciative, thankful, and happy that Abhishek has come on board for the show. He has brought in a new lease of happiness and energy.”
Talking about her off-screen bond with Abhishek, Sayantani said, “We are at ease with each other. He seeks my advice to help him out on this journey. I hope we can translate and create that freshness and positivity on screen. I am happy that Abhishek has come on board to help us move on.”
She added, “Changes are not always easy to accept, but survival is the basic human nature, as can be seen in our case. There is a part of me, which wants to hold on to chapter one (Ali Baba: Dastaan-e-Kabul), but life is about moving on, and we are choosing to do that. We must respect so many lives associated with our show. So, I request the audience and Abhishek’s fans to stay with us and keep the love coming because it’s not been an ideal situation for us to perform. We are pressed for time and deliveries to meet because we have lost out on the crucial shooting time. Keeping everything in mind, we have decided to respect the spirit of survival and move on.”