Kapil Sharma's 'Comedy Nights With Kapil' to end in January

He redefined comedy on the tube with his show Comedy Nights With Kapil. However, after a successful run of three years, stand-up comedian and actor Kapil Sharma has decided to wind up the show. The last episode will air on January 17. It was apparently team Kapil's decision to end it as they were not happy with the stepmotherly treatment meted out to them by the channel. They felt that their show was being sidelined for the newly-launched Comedy Nights Bachao, which was being promoted more aggressively by the channel.

Informs a source associated with Kapil's show, "We were told that the new show will be called Roast. However, it was titled Comedy Nights Bachao, which is often mistak en for Comedy Nights With Kapil. It also looked like a clone and whatever happened in Kapil's show was replicated on Bachao... They even recreated the Sunil Grover-Ranbir Kapoor's suhaag raat sequence with Krushna Abhishek and Ranveer Singh.Same celebrities appear on the show. There should be a demarcation between two shows airing on the same channel."

Kapil, who usually refrains from talking to the media, opens up on the issue. The actor, for whom the show is close to his heart, says, "Yes, it's true. We told them we would go off air in December, but since they didn't have a replacement ready , they requested us to continue till January 17.We started on a good note and put in immense hard work to maintain the quality ." Kapil adds, "We have been successfully entertaining the audience for the past three years with our content. But when our show became a habit for the viewers, they introduced another one on similar lines. Celebrities who readily agreed to come on our show were told that they will have to make an appearance on the other show as well. I understand the pressure on the channel to work towards making their shows a hit, but not at the cost of sabotaging an established one. They told us that their comedy slot is working in the weekend, which doesn't seem true as their previous comedy ex periments failed miserably . They introduced a new show in the time slot vacated by us when we went weekly from bi weekly . It's perfectly fine to launch new shows, but no two programmes should have similar content and celebrities. I have great respect for people heading the channel. How ever, I don't want to be part of the crowd and hence, I decided to call it a day ." The channel chose not to comment on the story.