Shilpa on her show being called a cheap rip-off of Vampire Diaries: We don’t even have the bandwidth to match the quality

Shilpa Agnihotri’s comeback project Tere Ishq Mein Ghayal is facing a lot of flak for blatantly copying popular show The Vampire Diaries, with some calling it ‘cheap rip-off’, others labelling it ‘cringe’. But Agnihotri is unfazed, and instead believes it’s unfair to compare the two. “It took nine months to shoot one season (of the original show) which comprises of 13 episodes, whereas we end up shooting that season in 26 days, or maximum 35 days, so what are we comparing here?,” she wonders.

Stating that it’s not possible to match up to what’s happening aboard, she goes on to explain, “We don’t even have the bandwidth to match the quality, so how can we even compare the two shows. This is a daily soap because and everything here is cut to cut. When I reached the set for the first time, even I was surprised to learn that they are shooting for 17-18 hours every day.”

On whether show runners in India should focus on what they are good at instead of copying the West, Shilpa says that’s the safest best, but everyone feels it’s worth giving it a shot. “I think it’s the ‘what if’ that keeps everybody going in the industry. Who would have thought that a show on dayans and naagins would do so well in today’s time. It was a surprise that people indeed accepted such characters. So, who knows what works,” she cites an example.

The Tere Liye actor recalls when someone asked her to play the character of Vish Kanya and her reaction to it was, ‘Are you mad. Kya kar loge tum isse?’

However, she still went ahead and did it because it was something she had never done before. “Either it would have turned out to be nice or I would made a complete fool of myself. But I was fine both ways because it was worth trying. Rest, I believe every show comes with it’s own destiny,” she tells us.

Further defending how no maker embarks on a journey to create a flop show that is trolled by thousands, Agnihotri adds, “If tomorrow, I wish to recreate Grey’s Anatomy, as a producer I might have certain ideas and expectations regarding the show. But everything sort of changes when you start the ground work. Once the channel has approved the project, makers have to get verifications, look into what the audience want and what they don’t, wahan se aate aate everything changes. Kya soch kar nikalte hain, aur kya banne lagta hai and finally kya banta hai, uss mein most of the time bohot difference hota hai.”

Furthermore, recalling how the same has happened in the past with her, the 40-year-old actor shares, “A story was narrated to us but at commencement, it was something different. While shooting it, it began to change a little more and after we were on air and had given two episodes, everything changes because everyone has suggestions for improvement ki ‘aisa krenge toh better lgega.’ That’s how TV works. I don’t think there is much of space for creativity here. I also understand that you or me would not be the kind of people who watch TV but I am pretty sure there must be good shows happening even now because producers are constantly trying to bring out something new,” she ends.