Actress Shilpa Shinde managed to kick up quite the storm once again when she encountered trouble with her comeback show Gangs of Filmistan Producers. Shilpa alleged them for not telling her about Sunil Grover's prominence in the show, making artists work for more than 12 hours and also for not following standard operating procedures that have been set in place to ensure everyone's safety amid the on-going pandemic. However, the show's producer Preeti Simoes has rubbished all allegations. Even though Shilpa ended up quitting the show, Preeti had a lot to divulge. Shilpa Shinde Quits Gangs of Filmistan, Says ‘I Don’t Want to Be a Part of a Show Where There’s No Self-Respect’.

Contrary to Shilpa's claims that she wasn't informed about Sunil's involvement, Preeti revealed to ETimesTV, "Shilpa is an extremely senior actor and she is also a very talented girl. After our last experience of working with her in a web show during the last IPL. Genuinely we thought she is one of the most professional girls to work with and she did not give us any trouble at all. Her and Sunil Gover's chemistry on screen was so brilliant and which was so appreciated by the audience that we thought that it would be great to repeat the pairing." Shilpa Shinde Alleges Gangs of Filmistan Makers of Making Actors Work Overtime, Not Following Safety Protocols and Sunil Grover of Taking Over Other Actors' Gags (Deets Inside).

Elaborating on Shilpa's accusations on Sunil and the producers, Preeti revealed, "When we were casting Shilpa Shinde was the first name who was finalized for the show Sunil was brought on board very later. Siddharth and Shilpa were the first two people who we spoke to for the show. And any creative process is a process by the time the show got developed into what it is today, there was a need to cast someone of Sunil's stature and experience to be a part of the show. So when the show went on the floor when we were shooting the promo Shilpa knew about it. In fact during the shooting of the promo she had few reservations and we spoke about it very nicely. I told her creatively how we are going to you doing this show and shooting. She was very much ok about it and she was very happy. She dealt with the rest of the cast very well in fact I really mean it from the bottom of my heart she really gets along well with Sunil also. They are very cordial with each other."

She continued, "We do many spoofs of Bollywood films in the show and every scoof has a male lead and a female lead so Shilpa usually ends up playing the female lead and Sunil the male lead. Their chemistry with each other is so good. We mail scripts two days in advance so if there was any apprehension she could have brought it up. She never did that. she never told me that she doesn't want to perform with Sunil Grover or her lines were less as compared to other actors."

Assuring and asserting that there is absolutely no favouritism towards Sunil, Preeti revealed to the portal, "Inherently, Shilpa is an actor and the other person is a stand-up comic actor. So a lot of improvisions happen then and there which is not in our control and ultimately it is for the betterment of the show. So, sometimes lines are very good, sometimes they are not but at the end of the day everyone improvises on stage. Ultimately, that is the process of how comedy shows work. It is a live stage set up and not a normal daily soap that you will follow line to line. I would say as the rest of the cast are professionals, who are doing it for so many years, she might find it difficult but she has been so good that this actually never came across that she was uncomfortable with the role she was given or with any line."

Talking about Shilpa's claims of flouting safety rules with lots of people on the sets, Preeti went on to reveal to ETimesTV, "We know it is a very large group even though many of us are working with limited people and many people are multitasking. From a production point of view tour channel point of view with such limited resources we can't take a chance of anyone falling sick. Literally the entire system will collapse. Earlier we had five people to write a script, now we have to do it with only two people. Because we have to actually cut down the number of people on the sets. It is a big set in filmistan and in the heart of Mumbai so anyone can come and check us at any point of time. There is an audit team which sits and monitors all the protocols and the SOP that happen on sets. They keep a watchful eye. There is a doctor and ambulance on set so we cannot take these things lightly for sure. All the apprehension that she has and that she has claimed I don't know where it is coming from. Because those are not true. Everyone who's coming on the set is living with their family in Mumbai so whether it is me as a producer I live with my grandmother who's 80 year old and I have to go back home to her."

Preeti also added how everyone on the sets is self-dependent, including Shilpa as no one wants to risk their and others' lived. "Someone has just got a baby or someone has just got married so do you think ok we will be flouting the rules and regulations obviously not. Nobody wants to get ill at this point of time everyone wants to work. no one wants any sort of accident to happen on the sets. Everyone is actually thankful that finally shooting has started because everyone was sitting at their home for 5 months without work. They have come out of their houses with fear so how can they not take care of the guidelines. Everybody smells of sanitizers on my sets. At this point of time all the artists have their individual vans, they separate makeup kits, makeup people. In fact, most of our artists have been told to get ready from their homes and do their own makeup and come so that nobody mixes with anyone else. Shilpa does her own makeup and hair and comes on set. So I don't know how we are flouting the rules. We are always open to anyone coming and checking because our set is an open set in the heart of Mumbai and not isolated. I completely refute these claims. For us all the artists and people back at our home are very important. I don't know why Shilpa felt it and she has not shared the information with anyone on the sets. In fact we are working as a team, and if there would have been a slide mistake also as a team you can point it out immediately, but it has never happened," said Preeti.

She went on, "And Frames, the other producers of the show is producing India's Best Dancer and that show is on a very large scale compared to ours. So we are following exactly the same protocol that is being followed there. Everybody has worked with everybody earlier, it is like a team and we have a homely atmosphere on the sets if we would have violated any rule someone would have definitely pointed out."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 01, 2020 06:25 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).