Exclusive - Anupamaa's Rupali Ganguly and Sudhanshu Pandey react to rumours of their rivalry: We fight sometimes but we are like family

Rupali Ganguly and Sudhanshu Pandey starrer Anupamaa has been ruling the roost ever since the show has gone on-air. The TV show has successfully managed to make a special place in the audience's heart. Recently, Producer Rajan Shahi arranged an Iftar party on the sets of Woh Toh Hai Albela which brought together the cast of his three shows, Anupamaa and Yeh Rishta together. Lead actors Sudhanshu Pandey and Rupali Ganguly and Rajan Shahi spoke exclusively to ETimes TV and opened up about their bond, rumours of rivalry and show's success. Rajan Shahi also talked about Anupamaa and how he chose Rupali and Sudhanshu for the lead roles.
Reacting to the rumours of his off-screen rivalry with Rupali Ganguly, Sudhanshu Pandey said, "When the audience gets to hear things from other mediums, they tend to take things very seriously and believe it. So whenever we are asked about our equation, I always tell people to visit our sets and see how we work together. If you are working together the most important thing is mutual respect. After working for such long hours on sets, it doesn’t remain a workplace, it becomes our second home."

Rupali Ganguly also responded to the same and shared, "When you work with each other for 12-14 hours a day daily, you become a family. And when you are part of the family, differences and fights are very natural. Dus bartan saath mein rahenge toh khatkenge hi. We fight a lot with each other, I am being very honest but after 3 days we sit and chill together. It is bound to happen because we both are very strong individuals. We are not like pals or best of friends but there’s a huge respect for him as an actor and I love doing my scenes with him."
Rajan Shahi was all praise for Sudhanshu and Rupali and called them their 'do anmol ratan'. He recalled about why he cast the two as Anupamaa and Vanraj, "Yes, they are my do Anmol Ratan. Rupali and Sudhanshu. When I was making Anupamaa, I called two people Rupali for Anupamaa and Sudhanshu for Vanraj because I was very sure that only they could do the roles. The immediately correct casting was bang on. Anupamaa brought back the beautiful moments, performances on the small screen again. It created a euphoria across India. It was only because of the performances that these two have given. They took the character to extreme heights with their performances."
Sudhanshu interrupted and added, "It is entirely his genius. Also to be able to identify who can play which role and can truly justify it, for that you need an eye. It is an unbelievable talent and Rajan's identification of casting actors for roles is beyond comparison."
The trio thanked the audience for the love and appreciation and revealed how much people love their TV show, Anupamaa. Rupali said, "He doesn’t compromise as far as Anupamaa or any of his shows are concerned. "Even men are watching the show. We keep doing research and we found out that not just women but youth and men are watching Anupamaa, revealed Rajan. "We have toddlers, and I have seen videos of them. They get attached to the show and I don’t have any idea how that happens or what kind of sentiments that are coming across that it is touching even a toddler’s heart. There must be something to it. It is heartening to see it," concluded Sudhanshu.