Peterson Hill's creative hiccoughs; but on course to launch

It was only yesterday that Sab TV had a press conference about its  new show  Peterson Hill  which is slated to debut on 26 January. Being produced by Ashwini Dheer's Garima Productions,  the show had a bit of  a minor hiccough. For starters the creative director Palak Harprit Kapoor who was working on the show since its inception is no longer associated with it.

Says a source close to Palak:  “She was handling the show but suddenly Producer Ashwini Dheer appointed someone else to supervise things. This new guy started finding fault with everything, miffing Palak. Thus she chose to move out.”

We tried to reach Palak but she remained unavailable.

However, a source from the production house stated that producer Ashwini Dheer actually asked her to say sayonara. "She had claimed to be a creative director on Jodha Akbar; and also on Encounter," says the source. "And hence he hired her. But then we found out that she was only the associate creative head on these shows. She also told him that she worked on the Shashi Sumeet show for Pal but was asked to discontinue before it went on air."

This apart, the buzz is that three Peterson Hill  actors who were also initially hired have also put in their papers irked with the working of Garima Productions. The names who are out now are Aditya Singh Rajput, Prasad Barve and Sushil Parashar.

Said Aditya: “I quit over date issues. I was signed two months back and gave my commitment to the show, I did not take up any projects. Coordination has been a problem and even the plot has seen a change. I thought it was better for me to move out.”

Prasad Barve quit over date issues while Sushil mentioned that the rude behavior of the production team triggered his decision to leave.

The production house source says that though Prasad was initially selected for a role in the show, a decision was taken not to cast him even before it went on the shooting floors. "Both Aditya and Sushil bagged roles in other shows and hence they backed out citing date issues."

After repeated calls, Ashwini Dheer came on the line, but refused to comment about the creative turmoil on the set of Peterson Hill. All he was willing to say was that the show is on schedule and everything is fine on the sets and that Peterson Hill is going to delight viewers like no other show has earlier. "We have shot in the beautiful location of Shimla and we have put our heart and soul into the show. Viewers are in for some surprises."

We at Tellychakkar.com hope that this is the last we have heard of the creative clashes on the show.

Palak later said, "It's really hurting whatever has happened because I have given my heart and soul to the project. I don't want any controversies. We all are creative people and I had put my best into this project. I wish the Peterson Hill team all the very best. Let’s both move on gracefully."