Shilpa won’t be seen on Coronation Street

But the longest running soap will soon feature an Indian couple

LONDON: Shilpa Shetty nearly joined the longest running television soap in the world. The Bollywood actress who became the darling of the British masses when she stoically faced racist bullying in the Celebrity Big Brother house last year was considered by the producers of Coronation Street for a part in the soap opera.

“Shetty held meetings with us but we didn’t get as far as auditions before it was mutually decided that we didn’t want to go down that road,” a spokeswoman for Coronation Street told DNA. While the spokeswoman refused to give reasons for why the idea to cast Shetty was dropped, she insisted that the part in the soap was not rejected by the Bollywood actress. “She did not dump us, but nor did she come for auditions and get rejected by us. It was simply decided that it would be best not to cast her,” said the spokeswoman.

Shetty’s sagging career got a new lease of life after her foray into British reality television and she became a household name in the UK.

Coronation Street is Britain’s longest running television soap. It has been on TV screens since December 1960, with about five episodes every week. Set in Manchester, the soap is extremely popular with millions loyally following the lives of the characters living along the fictional street. Many British Asians already watch Coronation Street, but critics argue that by casting Shetty the soap would have won in the soap wars and expanded their viewership to include all Bollywood fans.

Shetty was being considered for a part in a new storyline for the Indian resident of the street Dev Alahan. Dev, played by British Indian actor Jimmi Harkishin, has been in the show since 1999. He acts as a divorcee who owns a number of shops in Manchester including the corner shop in Coronation Street.

In a few weeks, the programme will introduce a new Indian couple called Prem and Nina Mandal, with Prem appearing as Dev’s business partner. Nina is shown to be a former Bollywood actress, who Dev was obsessed with when he was young. Dev and Nina go on to have an affair, but the plot thickens when Nina’s daughter Tara appears on the Street. Dev shifts his affections to Tara as she looks exactly like Nina did when she was young and glamourous. Interestingly, Shetty was being considered for the role of Tara, not Nina.

Other British Asians actresses have been shortlisted for Tara, but screen tests have not been completed yet.