“Mercy, break down the door!” Or the childhood of 90s children is incomplete without lines like “Something is wrong Daya…” Today is the birthday of powerful actor Aditya Srivastava, who played the role of Senior Inspector Abhijeet in the most iconic and long-running detective show ‘CID’ in the history of Indian television. Serious face, sharp mind, killer style and fingers always resting on the pistol…Aditya has ruled the hearts of crores of viewers of the country for decades by playing the role of Inspector Abhijeet. But do you know that ‘Abhijeet’, whom the world worships today, came to this show only for 26 episodes?
On the special occasion of Aditya Srivastava’s birthday, let us know the whole story of his struggles, continuous rejections and that one fate-changing deal of 26 episodes.
Struggle took a tough test
Born on July 21, the early life of Aditya Srivastava was not easy. Aditya, who belonged to Prayagraj (Allahabad), was more inclined towards theater than studies. He came to Mumbai with the dream of acting in his eyes, but initially the rejections and struggle gave him a tough test. From plays to voice over artiste to small roles, he worked day and night to make his mark. He won a lot of praise from critics with his roles like ‘Khandilkar’ in Anurag Kashyap’s cult film ‘Satya’ and ‘Badshah Khan’ in ‘Black Friday’, but the recognition he was looking for was yet to be achieved.
How did ‘CID’ get the historic deal of 26 episodes?
When ‘CID’ was started in 1998, Aditya was not a part of it. His entry in the show took place in 1999. When the makers (B.P. Singh) offered Aditya the role of Inspector Abhijeet, he flatly refused to do it. The reason was that at that time Aditya wanted to focus more on theater and films and did not want to get tied into a long TV daily-soap contract. The makers wanted to see Aditya in this role at any cost. After this B.P. A special deal was made between Singh and Aditya. According to this deal, Aditya agreed to work only for 26 episodes.
It was decided that after 26 episodes, his character ‘Abhijeet’ would be killed or thrown out of the show. But when these 26 episodes were telecast, his acting and personality on screen got so much love from the audience that all the TRP records were broken. The makers and Aditya himself had to bow down to the huge demand of the public, and that 26 episode guest star became the main pillar of ‘CID’ for the next 20 years.
‘Daya’ told the story of first impression
Even though Aditya Srivastava’s destiny was unlocked by becoming ‘Abhijeet’, the atmosphere when he entered ‘CID’ was completely different. At that time, ACP Pradyuman i.e. Shivaji Satam was the single biggest star of ‘CID’, while Daya (Dayanand Shetty) and the rest of the cast were completely new and were struggling to make their mark. Compared to other actors, Aditya was already a known name due to ‘Satya’ and many big theater projects.
In a special conversation with ‘TV9 Hindi Digital’, famous actor Dayanand Shetty, who played the character of Daya, himself revealed this. Dayanand Shetty had told that when the news came on the set that a well-known and experienced actor Aditya Srivastava was joining ‘CID’, there was a different curiosity and hesitation among the other actors about him. According to Daya, “We were all new and Aditya was an already working actor, so we were curious about how he would be and how he would work. But as soon as he came on the set, he got so attached with us that later on, our bonding on-screen and off-screen became the strongest.”
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