Ekta Kapoor On Casting Tejasswi Prakash For 'Naagin 6'

Producer Ekta Kapoor said that she auditioned multiple actors for the lead part in 'Naagin's forthcoming sixth season, but ended up selecting someone she'd never seen and didn't even audition for. 

In a new interview with Pinkvilla, Kapoor said that she signed eventual 'Bigg Boss' winner Tejasswi Prakash when she was still competing on the reality show, based only on web footage.

“So, I saw Tejasswi in the show, we spoke to her manager, and we signed her with the manager who assured us that she will be on. Before this also we had seen her, but on the show I just liked her so much. I don’t see too much of Bigg Boss honestly, but the clippings are all over Instagram and you watch it. I think she is a very attractive young girl, there is something in her eyes. Honestly, I have never met her except for in the show (Bigg Boss 15) and when I gave her a narration now (for Naagin 6),” she said.

When asked if rumours that she had evaluated 55 actors for the part were real, KapoorKapoor stated it would be 'immodest' of her to confirm. She explained that she was  ‘in a jam’ since the actors she wanted were all ‘busy doing web shows or movies’. She added, “So yes, there was this process where we went through a lot of faces, but it would be a little immodest for me to say that I auditioned 55 faces and I rejected 55 faces. But there was this spark that we wanted and couldn’t find it till we found Tejasswi.”

Kapoor also admitted that she’s sure she will be ‘trolled’ for introducing a pandemic plot in 'Naagin 6,' but wants to approach it with ’empathy’. She said, “Honestly, I was very sure I would get trolled. Like there was not even a moment that I thought that I wouldn’t get trolled. Actually a friend of mine had given me this idea, and she had told me that we don’t in India make fiction stories on real life incidents well, for example a Titanic came out of a real incident. So while the pandemic is probably something that everyone will do it – the Netflix’s of the world and Amazon will do these large billion dollar shows – we are witnessing history.”

Tejasswi Prakash’s 'Bigg Boss' win was controversial, as she wasn’t a favourite. Many former contestants have cast doubt over her victory. Naagin began airing in 2015, and has featured actors such as Mouni Roy, Surbhi Chandna, Nia Sharma and Surbhi Jyoti in the lead roles.