Comedians Zakir Khan and Mallika Dua have been sacked from Star TV’s show The Great Indian Laughter Challenge.
The show has Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar as the chief judge. The recent development has taken place after the show makers became jittery over the falling ratings of the programme.
A Star Plus source told Janta Ka Reporter that both Zakir and Mallika will not return to the programme adding that Shreyas Talpade and Sajid Khan have been brought in as the replacements.
“Both Shreyas and Sajid have signed the papers and will join Akshay in the next episode. All three have worked together in Bollywood films and enjoy great camaraderie. We hope this will do the trick for the show.”
The Great Indian Laughter Challenge was launched after a gap of several years. The third mentor on the show along with Zakir and Mallika was Hussain Dalal.
The show seeks to hunt for comedy talent from around the country. The show has given some of the most popular stand-up comedians such as Kapil Sharma and Sunil Grover in the past.
A lot will depend on whether Sajid and Shreyas are able to change the fortunes of the show with their great camaraderie with Akshay Kumar. Sajid has worked with both the actors in Housefull and Golmal series.
Sajid told Mid-Day, “There is tremendous talent on the show. Akshay and Shreyas are like brothers and our bond will be evident. We won’t have to worry about the laughter because whenever we are together, we end up laughing.”
