The tale of Nandish Sandhu, replacement and Sony Entertainment Television

Of late, there seems to be some spite of sorts between actor Nandish Sandhu and Sony Entertainment Television. For this talented actor, last seen in Zee TV’s Phir Subah Hogi, was, according to our sources, approached for at least two shows on the above One Alliance Network flagship channel, namely Desh Ki Beti Nandini (Rashmi Sharma Telefilms) and the upcoming Jaya Bachchan acted and co-produced show Vasundhara, but at the last minute, he got replaced by someone else in both the projects. Our source added that Nandish was approached for the role of boyfriend of the younger daughter of Mrs Bachchan’s character, but was later dropped. The buzz is that he might have been replaced by Sudeep Sahir, who was last seen in Main Lakshmi Tere Aangan Ki. When we spoke to Nandish, who gained fame thanks to Uttaran, confirmed and said “I had a casual talk for Vasundhara and I was interested but then I have not been contacted again.” He also confirmed that he had a number of meetings for Nandini and things had even reached the contract stage however at the eleventh hour he was dropped. “I was not given any reason but later found out via sources that the channel preferred a fresh face hence they opted for Rafi Malik,” added Nandish. “See I have a great relationship with Sony. I have done two of their other shows Khwaish and Hum Ladkiyan as well. I have no issues working with them in their other projects for ultimately what matters is face for a character. If tomorrow I become a producer I can’t accommodate all my friends. I have no problem with Rashmi Sharma as well for they had approached me later for another character in Sasural Simar Ka.” When we spoke to our channel source, he/ she said, “We can confirm that Nandish had indeed been approached for Nandini and Vasundhara. But we were not responsible for his dropping. Kindly ask the production houses concerned. We step in very late. Nandish was penciled in for Nandini but something went wrong with the production house. We have no problem with any of our artists.” When we buzzed Endemol India’s Deepak Dhar (co producer of Vasundhara), he said, “I can’t talk about it now.” Rashmi Sharma remained unavailable for comment. We also did not get any response from the channel’s side officially. Finally, before singing off, Nandish said that soon he will sign a “big project”. We wish him all the best!!!