Sooraj Barjatya can afford to take some of the biggest names of Bollywood and television for his TV soaps. But for his next serial Piya Albela, for Zee TV he has cast newcomers Akshay Mhatre and Sheen Dass as the main lead. Sooraj explains, “Big stars come with big fee and the budget gets bigger. In India, on TV you are airing five episodes a week which involves a lot of time and hard work. For the stars, reality shows which get aired twice a week on weekends, work better than doing a daily soap. It requires a different mindset, but I am sure it’s just a matter of time till Bollywood stars do TV serials too. Piya Albela required fresh faces as it’s a modern day take on the love story of Menaka and Vishwamitra. It’s about a boy who lives in Rishikesh and is into spirituality. His parents find him too good to be true so a girl, who is not-so-good and a commerce student, is introduced to him to bring him out of all this. The subject required innocence, hence the fresh faces.”
