Pehredaar Piya Ki: Channel issues official statement of show's closure; producer holds social media responsible

After facing an almost unanimous flak from viewers, social media and even people within the TV industry,  the makers of Sony Entertainment Television’s controversial show, Pehredaar Piya Ki has gone off air officially. [caption id=“attachment_3932549” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Still from the show. Image via Facebook[/caption] When the show didn’t air on 28 August, it  did give into many rumors and speculations . While it was an anticipated move, the channel finally decided to call it quits with the show. In a statement, the channel said: “Effective 28th August 2017, we are pulling off our programme, Pehredaar Piya Ki, from television. While we understand that the decision to end this serial will be disappointing to those whose creative energies are vested in it, namely, its crew and cast, we (as a channel) are convinced that we will be better served by focusing instead on developing viewer interest in our upcoming, new shows. We are grateful to all the artists, producers and fans of our shows and request you to graciously support the viewership of our newer ventures,”  reports The Indian Express. The show was under a lot of scrutiny  ever since the pilot episode  was aired. The entire concept of a romantic pairing between a 10-year old prince and an 18-year-old girl didn’t go well with most of the viewers and soon all of social media went abuzz with hate posts, online trolls and  petitions  against the show. The producer of the show, Sumeet Mittal  maintained  that the entire fuss about the show was created by the ones who didn’t watch the show. He told The Indian Express, “I agree that people have the freedom of speech but one can’t be so irresponsible. There’s a show where so many people are working and you can’t judge it over an out of context promo or scene. I have time and again said that the people who are talking negatively about the show are not the ones who watch TV. We have to understand the organic reach of a specific show. Pehredaar Piya Ki audience is not the ones who troll or bash things online.” Mittal also informed that the channel has offered them to launch a new show at their designated time-slot (8.30 pm). He added that the team is now gearing up for the new show and will take this entire episode in positive stride.