March 22, 2010, (Sampurn Wire): Comedy Circus is a laughter riot but it’s also had its fair share of controversies. Warring partners, too much Pakistani influence, indecent content. Comedy Circus has seen it all. Perhaps, for the first time, Comedy Circus is now facing allegation of favouritism.

It all started when Khayali vented his frustration at the judges for the ill treatment meted out to his partner Karishma Tanna and him by the creative team. Well, that episode of Comedy Circus maha sangram has thrown light on a different aspect – is the show biased towards a jodi? The unfortunate pair who finds itself in this predicament is Swapnil Joshi and VIP (Vijay Ishwarlal Pawar).

A contestant requesting anonymity says, “The channel portrayed Khayali as the culprit. However, there’s merit in what he said. The channel seems to have their favourites while the rest are simply left to fend for themselves. It can’t be sheer good performance that sees Swapnil and VIP score every time. The truth is that they are being looked well by the creative team. They have the best writers whereas others at times aren’t provided with a single writer.”

When contacted, Khayali said, “I’m not too concerned whether others were provided with writers or not but the fact is I was treated like a dog. Despite explaining my grievance to the director and production officials, I never got an answer. So, I was left with no option but to vent my frustration on the camera.”

Rohit Shetty didn’t mince words in blasting Khayali and told him that rather than grumbling, he shouldn’t have turned up. “On a particular day, Rohit came late to the sets. The reason given was that his relative had passed away. Apparently, while taking on Khayali, Shetty claimed that despite suffering a personal setback, he honoured his commitment. I’d like to remind Shetty that Khayali had performed a day after his father had passed away. As always, the stand-up comedians are held culprit,” said the source.

Meanwhile, how does the jodi of Swapnil anf VIP react to these allegations?

Defending his team, VIP says, “These are baseless allegations. The ones who make these allegations are simply behaving like sore losers. The creative team isn’t biased towards or against anyone. They allot time for each jodi. However, if those contestants fail to come within their scheduled time then you can’t expect the creatives to entertain them at other’s schedule. If the channel or the producers are biased towards me then I would have won every contest. Besides, the creative don’t reserve the best content for a particular team. The content is allocated based on which pair can best enact that script. Other teams also have a great day but they never face such allegation. So, why is that it’s always Swapnil and VIP are singled out?”

-Mayur Lookhar/ Sampurn Wire