Lately there have been many reports around Kapil Sharma’s show being sabotaged and aborted by his friend and associate Rajiv Dhingra, who incidentally served as Creative Director on The Kapil Sharma Show, after the infamous mid-air scuffle between Kapil and Sunil Grover, which made half the actors sharing the stage walk out too. Dhingra was also the director of Comedy Nights With Kapil for the first 30 episodes.
But in this exclusive interview, Rajiv has a different story to tell.
Now that The Kapil Sharma Show is terminated, at least for now, it is easy to make a scapegoat out of someone who is very close to Kapil. And I am very close to him. I am his childhood friend. We’ve grown up together and I’ve been with him from the beginning. It pains me to see fingers being pointed at me for the show being closed down.Rajiv Dhingra, Kapil Sharma’s friend and associate
It is being said that Kapil would cancel shootings of The Kapil Sharma Show to give dates for a feature film titled Firangi, which Rajiv is directing with Kapil in the lead.
This is nothing but an attempt to make me look like the villain of the piece. There were people on the show who hoped to gain Kapil’s confidence and trust by discrediting me. I wish them all the best. But I don’t think they will succeed in their evil designs. I’ve never used my closeness to Kapil to benefit personally from the association. Even the allegation that I ruined the show after I took over the as creative director following the mid-air incident, is a lie. And those spreading such lies about me should look into their hearts to see how much they’ve damaged Kapil’s image and how prominently they’ve contributed to the show’s closure. As far my taking over as director (of Comedy Nights With Kapil) is concerned, when the old team left Kapil after the fight, I filled in the creative gap on Kapil’s insistence. He wanted me to step in as his trusted friend and associate, till the time the show got back on its feet again, as he also knew that we would be busy with the post-production of his film later. All the media articles to sabotage my name is only because they want to turn away the attention from their flop show, which is on the verge of getting shut.Rajiv Dhingra
So who is Rajiv pointing fingers at? “They know who they are. They will be exposed in time. By trying to make me a scapegoat they’re only hastening their own ruin”.
Rajiv says Kapil has genuine health issues.
He is overworked. He would complete two episodes of The Kapil Sharma Show and rush to shoot for my film. His blood pressure would rise alarmingly and his sugar level fell. He needs this break before he comes back again. The truth is, there has never been a stand-up comedian like Kapil. There never will be. He can’t be stopped.Rajiv Dhingra
It is being said that Kapil would cancel episodes of The Kapil Sharma Show to shoot for his film Firangi with Rajiv Dhingra. Rajiv stoutly denies this allegation.
We always shot when Kapil had completed shooting for the show. These are false allegations being spread by those very people in the team who would create a confusion about dates, so that Kapil ended up shooting neither for the show, nor for our film. In our mythologies it is always insiders who bring an empire down. Kapil’s empire has been brought down by people he trusted. But it is not me.Rajiv Dhingra
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