Kahaani Hamaarey Mahabharat Ki didn’t go down well with the audience because they couldn’t think of her as anyone but Parvati of Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii.

Rajan Shahi of Director’s Kut feels that time commitments also contribute to the strain. “To play the lead is as much a drawback as an advantage. If an actor is shooting for me 10 hours a day, they don’t have time to do much else,” he remarks. “Besides, soaps are driven by scripts — new faces bring freshness to new characters.” Citing an example, he points out that there are hardly any faces in the industry that could have done justice to the four young characters in the new show Miley Jab Hum Tum.

It leads to fierce competition, but these days, with the advent of reality shows and experimentation with scripts, a la Balika Vadhu, the actors have more options. Karan Panthaky, the lead in Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, points out, “Reality shows like Nach Baliye require many senior actors, which paves the way for new ones on other shows.”

Panthaky has not been seen after his show went off air two months ago. “I’m open to doing non-lead roles; after all, these days, villains are more important.”

But Sanjeeda Sheikh disagrees that the career scope of an actor is limited after having played the lead.

“My role as a vamp in Kayamath became more popular than my lead character in Kya Hoga Nimmo Ka.” Sheikh will soon be seen in a film but says she’s happier doing TV. “There’s so much to do. I have no complains.”