Shrishti Arya

"Lipstick is ending....we didn't want to bring in 20 year leaps for the heck of it"- Shrishti Arya 'Lipstick' started with a bold theme, but later petered out to become standard family drama fare. Didn't the original track work? The beauty of television is that you get instant feedback. Based on the feedback, we made the changes. We are in a consumer-oriented business where we want our software to be sold. We didn't make drastic changes, though. It was just a matter of what we highlighted and what was relegated. We didn't bring any new characters. Why was Shveta Salve replaced by Gautami Kapoor? Shveta had date problems so she left the show on her own and we roped in Gautami Kapoor immediately. Gautami has done as many numbers of episodes as Shveta by now. Do you think audiences identified with Gautami? Gautami is a fabulous actress. She was actually our first choice for the role of Suniti Verma. She had just got married at the time when we wanted to cast her. She wanted six months off, which was not practically possible, as we could not delay our show. Ratings went up after Gautami appeared in the show. We had a great comfort level with Gautami as we had seen her work. She was appropriate for the role. Was the channel, Zee TV, also involved in this decision? It was a mutual decision. Such decisions can't be unilateral. Everyone has something at stake. Is it true that the serial is going off air soon? It is a fact that the serial is going off air on 11 July. Is the story naturally coming to an end or there is some other reason behind the show's closure? The story can't be pushed any further. Lipstick was a story of two protagonists Suniti Verma and Sheetal Singhania battling over business and man. Now Gayatri has married the man. We cannot go on stretching the story for the heck of it. We didn't want 20 year leaps and the like, as that would have not worked for a show like Lipstick. It's best to go off air on a high note. How did you get 'Jeet'on Star plus and why did it go off air so soon? Lipstick got us more offers. Jeet was one of them. The contract for Jeet was for 26 episodes and it wasn't renewed. I guess the 10.30 pm slot was just not happening. Which are your upcoming projects? It's not for me, but for the channels to announce the projects at the right time. Just wait and watch.