Actors Smita Bansal and Anup Soni Balika Vadhu's Sumitra and Bhairon are quitting the show after six years. They will shoot their last episode in the last week of May. Keeping their popularity in mind, we hear, the makers will not replace them on the show. Instead, they will be shown leaving the city.

Says Smita, “This show has given me a lot, but I have nothing more to offer to the character. As an actor, I am exhausted doing the same thing. At the same time, I understand that the story had to move ahead and that more tracks had to be incorporated. I had nothing to explore in mine."

Isn't it risky to quit a popular show? “I don't believe it would be difficult to find work. Actors who are professional and don't throw tantrums, do get work. I don't have to work for money and don't mind sitting at home for a couple of years," she says. Wouldn't being a part of another show distract her from the burnout? “I had participated in a reality show but the stint was short. Also, Balika Vadhu kept me too busy to take up another show,“ she asserts. For now, Smita wants to spend quality time with her husband and two daughters and doesn't know how long the break would last. “I want to take up something that's creatively exciting," she signs off.

Actor Anup Soni feels he isn't contributing to the show any more. Says he, “I have had a wonderful time being part of Balika Vadhu for the last six years. But I wasn't doing much for the past year-and-a-half.
The decision to quit was a mutual one between the production house and me. The show is bigger than any of us and pushing the writ pushing the writers to accommodate our tracks wouldn't have been a wise idea.
They now have more characters to play with. Acting is my passion and I want to be creatively satisfied."

The actor says this is his longest stint on a daily soap. “The production house is very organised and we never had to do overtime. Even the younger lot that joined us worked sincerely towards making the show a success," says he.

Ask him about Smita quitting the show at the same time and Anup says, “That's a surprising coincidence. I keep telling her jokingly that I won't work with her again as we won't have anything new to offer to the viewers."