Asira Tarannum (MID-DAY; July 16, 2015)

Speculations on the fate of Kapil Sharma’s comedy show have been swirling around for quite some time since the funnyman is currently nursing a back injury. On July 10, hitlist had reported that Comedy Nights With Kapil would go on with a few Bollywood faces hosting one episode each till Kapil gets back on his feet.

Now we hear the channel has decided to pull the plug on the show and replace it with a “ roast” featuring other standup comics. Reason? A source says, “The show’s TRPs are no longer impressive while Kapil continues to be paid a whopping fee per episode. So the channel officials have made up their mind to pull it off air and introduce a new show called Comedy Nights Roast in its place. That will be telecast
from August."

The new programme will feature stand-up comics Krushna Abhishek, Sudesh Lehri and Bharti Singh, suggest sources. “They have decided to retain the ‘Comedy Nights’ title for the audience connect. Madhuri Dixit is likely to be seen as the permanent celeb guest, like Navjot Singh Sidhu used to be a constant fixture on Kapil’s show. The promo will be shot in a day or two,” says a source.

An insider reveals that Kapil was paid around Rs 40 lakh a day while the new hosts have accepted a daily compensation of Rs 5- 6 lakh, thereby enabling the channel to save on a lot of money and risk launching another show.

Officials of the channel and Optimystix, the new production house on board, remained unavailable for comment.

A source close to Kapil, however, insists that the channel will not pull his show off air and is currently trying to figure out how to accommodate two comedy shows in the same week.

Two sides to the story

"It's a rumour. Our show will be aired every Sunday, as usual, and new show will be telecast on Saturdays. It's also called Comedy Nights because of the brand that our show, Comedy Nights With Kapil, has become. No one is replacing me."
— Kapil Sharma

Sudesh Lehri and I are coming back together along with Bharti Singh."
— Krushna Abhishek