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Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi — news, coverage & facts — IJR

Plot

Set in Mumbai, the series focuses on the wealthy Gujarati Virani family, who live in their lavish house, Shantiniketan, where the three daughters-in-law, Savita, Daksha and Gayatri, control the entire family and create trouble for their wise and kind-hearted mother-in-law, Amba, called Baa by everyone. Savita arranges her son Mihir's marriage to the arrogant Payal, but he falls in love with and marries the family priest's kind-hearted and caring daughter, Tulsi. Savita despises Tulsi and wants to make her life a misery. The Viranis eventually accept Tulsi as their daughter-in-law, and she ultimately wins over Savita after many hardships, resolves various issues within the family, and has a son, Gautam. Mihir is involved in an accident and is presumed dead by his family.

Alive, Mihir suffers from memory loss and his caretaker, Dr Mandira, falls in love with him. Her brother Anupam proposes marriage to Tulsi, who agrees for Gautam. The wedding is canceled when Mihir is discovered to be alive. He gradually regains his memory. Obsessed with Mihir, Mandira plots against Tulsi, but she is unsuccessful. She is presumed dead in a plane crash. Payal also plots against the Viranis in order to avenge Mihir's rejection, but is ultimately exposed as well. Tulsi gives birth to a daughter, Shobha and gives Gautam to Mihir's brother, Kiran, and his wife, Aarti, who are childless. Aarti and Kiran leave India with Gautam fearing that Tulsi might reclaim him.

Tulsi and Mihir have another son, Harsh, who was raised along with Shobha. Gautam returns to India with Kiran and Aarti, who now have a daughter, Karishma. He learns about his birth parents and, after some initial hesitation, accepts them. Tulsi wants Gautam to marry Ganga, but he marries his love, Teesha, instead. Gautam's cousin, Sahil, marries Ganga to save her honour, while Shobha marries Payal's son, Vishal. Tulsi is shocked to discover that Mihir has been cheating on her for many years with an alive Mandira, with whom he has an illegitimate son, Karan. Mandira and Karan try to trouble the Viranis and take over their industries, but fail. Payal tries to use Shobha as a pawn against the Viranis to seek her old revenge but she and Vishal reform later on because of Shobha. Teesha and her unborn child die in an accident planned by Mandira that was intended for Tulsi. Tulsi accepts Karan as her own son, who comes to love her more than Mandira, after learning the truth.

Harsh marries the greedy Mohini, who frequently causes trouble for the family. Gautam remarries Damini, who later becomes pregnant at the same time as Ganga. Ganga miscarries, while Damini gives birth to twins, Mayank and Nakul. Damini and Gautam give Nakul to Sahil and Ganga. Vishal dies, leaving Shobha widowed. Harsh is revealed to be the son of Tulsi's cousin, Kesar. Kesar had switched Harsh with Tulsi's real son, Ansh, who was then raised by Aditya Gujral. Ansh is spoilt and ruthless, and becomes obsessed with Karan's lover, Nandini. Shobha marries Vishal's friend, Abhishek after his demise. Although Karan and Nandini are in love, he marries her to Ansh, who sexually abuses her within the marriage. The lawyer handling the rape case and Tulsi's friend, Meera Singhania, becomes fond of Mihir. Tulsi fights against her own son to secure justice for Nandini and ultimately shoots Ansh dead when he attempts to kill Nandini, who gives birth to their daughter, Bhoomi, before lapsing into a coma. Karan marries his friend Tanya to help take care for Bhoomi.

Tanya is pregnant. Nandini awakens from the coma and lives with Karan. Shobha leaves Abhishek after discovering that he and Rathi had killed Vishal. Nandini, who is pregnant with Karan's child, kills Aditya to save Bhoomi from being kidnapped and is imprisoned for 14 years. Ganga and Sahil have a son, Lakshya, while Karan remarries Tanya and they have a son, Manthan. Gautam adopts Eklavya, the son of Ansh and his first wife, Shraddha. Sahil falls in love with Tripti, and they begin an extramarital affair.

Meera falls for Mihir and conspires with Mandira against Tulsi. Savita discovers their conspiracies and vows to expose them, but suffers an accident planned by the two women. Left paralyzed, she asks Tulsi to disconnect her life support and dies. Meera convinces Mihir that Tulsi killed Savita in purpose, even though she did the mercy killing of Savita only to save her from the immense physical pain. Believing Meera, Mihir expels Tulsi from Shantiniketan. Heartbroken, she is later presumed dead in a bus accident. The Viranis are left devastated, and Mihir becomes an alcoholic, blaming himself for Tulsi's death. Ganga leaves Sahil after discovering that he has cheated on her with Tripti. Tulsi travels to Haridwar, where she sees a newborn child being abandoned by her father. Tulsi rescues the child and raises her, naming her Krishna Tulsi.

Tulsi's grandchildren are all grown up. Tulsi lives in Haridwar with Krishna Tulsi, who later comes to Mumbai for her education and stays with the Viranis. Tulsi eventually reunites with the Viranis and Mihir exposes Meera, who gets imprisoned for Savita's murder. Mihir and Tulsi remarry. Tanya plots to keep Karan close to her, but eventually divorces Karan after realizing that he still loves Nandini. Karan and Nandini remarry and attempt to find their lost son, who was taken away by Mandira after his birth, but fail to do so. Sahil divorces Tripti after realizing her true intentions, and reunites with Ganga, who is now a successful businesswoman. Krishna Tulsi and Lakshya are in love. Mayank, who is mentally unstable, is arrested for attempting to molest Krishna. Krishna Tulsi is forced to marry Eklavya, who resembles his father Ansh and he mistreats her. Bhoomi loves Abir but ends up marrying Joydeep because of family turmoil, while Abir marries Mohini's daughter, Archita. The sisters eventually accept their respective marriages and live happily.

Damini joins forces with Tripti and Tanya to avenge her son's arrest. They create situations that make Tulsi appear mentally unstable and send her to a mental hospital, from which she tries to escape and meets with an accident. Juhi Thakral enters, claiming to be Tulsi and revealing that she had undergone plastic surgery after the accident and is allied with Mandira. Eventually, she is exposed, and the real Tulsi, who had temporarily lost her memory, returns home and regains her rightful place while Mandira and Juhi's crimes are revealed. Lakshya unknowingly marries Tripti's adopted daughter, Vaidehi, who initially tries to sow discord within the family, but later reforms. Tulsi battles various enemies, including Tripti, Mandira, Juhi and Shiv (Ganga's obsessive lover), in order to protect her family from harm, and defeats them, while Damini also has a change of heart. The Viranis are reunited after a prolonged separation. Baa sadly dies, leaving her entire inheritance to an unknown person in her will.

Mihir and Tulsi live with an orphaned girl, Sugandhi, while Mihir suffers from Alzheimer's disease. After learning about Baa's will, all the children leave Shantiniketan because they received nothing from it. In the final episode, Tulsi's best friend Parvati Agarwal reunites with Tulsi and reveals that she has raised the inheritor of Baa's property, Parth (Karan and Nandini's long-lost son). The show ends on a cliffhanger.

Main

Dinesh Thakur / Sudhir Dalvi as Govardhan Virani: Amba's husband (2000) / (2000-2002; 2008)

Sudha Shivpuri as Amba Virani: Govardhan's widow; Mihir, Kiran, Chirag, Suhasi, Hemant and Sejal's grandmother (2000-2008)

Shakti Singh as Mansukh Virani – Govardhan and Amba's eldest son; Mihir and Kiran's father (2000-2004)

Apara Mehta as Savita Virani – Mansukh's wife; Mihir and Kiran's mother (2000-2006)

Amar Upadhyay / Inder Kumar / Ronit Roy as Mihir Virani: Savita and Mansukh's son; Tulsi's husband (2000-2002) / (2002) / (2002-2008)

Smriti Irani as Tulsi Virani: Virani priest's daughter; Mihir's wife (2000-2007; 2008)

Mandira Bedi / Achint Kaur as Dr. Mandira Gujral / Priyanka Dutta: Anupam's sister; Karan's mother (2001-2003) / (2003–2008)

Jaya Bhattacharya as Payal Mehra – Mihir and Hemant's ex-fiancée; Vishal and Urvashi's mother (2000-2007)

Sumeet Sachdev as Gautam "Gomzy" Virani – Tulsi and Mihir's eldest son; Tisha's widower; Damini's husband (2002-2008)

Ashlesha Sawant as Teesha Mehta Virani – Gautam's second wife (2002–2003)

Riva Bubber / Ravee Gupta as Damini Khanna Virani – Gautam's third wife (2003; 2004–2008) / (2003–2004)

Rahul Lohani as Mayank Virani – Gautam and Damini's elder son (2006–2007)

Naman Shaw as Nakul Virani – Gautam and Damini's younger son (2006–2008)

Kratika Sengar / Anita Hassanandani as Sanchi Virani – Nakul's love interest (2007) / (2007–2008)

Ritu Chaudhary as Shobha Virani Choudhary – Tulsi and Mihir's daughter; Vishal's widow (2002–2008)

Palak Jain as Child Shobha Virani (2003)

Rohit Bakshi as Vishal Mehra – Payal and Pratap's son, Shobha's first husband (2002–2004)

Vivan Bhatena / Nasir Khan as Abhishek Choudhary – Shobha's ex-husband (2004–2005) / (2005–2006)

Garima Bhatnagar as Pari Choudhary – Shobha and Abhishek's daughter (2005–2006)

Hiten Tejwani as Karan Virani – Mihir and Mandira's son; Nandini's second husband (2002–2008)

Gauri Pradhan as Nandini Thakkar Virani – Ansh's ex-wife; Karan's wife (2004–2008)

Rakshanda Khan as Tanya Malhotra – Kaushalya's daughter, Karan's second wife (2004–2008)

Amit Tandon / Vishal Watwani as Manthan Virani – Karan and Tanya's son (2006–2007) / (2007)

Akashdeep Saigal as

Ansh Gujral aka Ansh Virani – Tulsi and Mihir's younger son; Nandini's ex-husband; Shraddha's husband (2004–2005)

Eklavya Gujral Virani – Shraddha and Ansh's son; Krishna Tulsi's husband (2006–2008)

Amey Pandya as Young Eklavya Gujral Virani (2006)

Mouni Roy as Krishna Tulsi "KT" Virani – Tulsi's namesake daughter; Eklavya's wife (2006–2008)

Reshmi Ghosh as Bhoomi Gujral Virani – Nandini and Ansh's daughter; Joydeep's wife (2006–2008)

Chinky Jaiswal as Child Bhoomi Virani (2005-2006)

Manav Vij as Joydeep Virani – Sahil & Tripti's adopted son; Bhoomi's husband (2007–2008)

Aman Verma as Anupam Kapadia – Mandira's brother; Kesar's husband (2001–2004)

Narayani Shastri / Resham Tipnis as Kesar Kapadia – Tulsi's cousin; Raj's former lover; Harsh's mother; Anupam's wife (2001–2003) / (2003–2004)

Mehul Kajaria as Harsh Virani / Harsh Bhasin – Kesar and Raj's son; Mohini's husband (2002–2006)

Tassnim Sheikh as Mohini Mittal Virani – Harsh's wife; Archita's mother (2004–2008)

Gunjan Vijaya as Archita Virani Bhasin – Harsh and Mohini's daughter; Abir's wife (2006–2008)

Manoj Bidwai / Vikas Sethi as Abir Bhasin – Raj's son; Harsh's half-brother; Archita's husband (2006–2007) / (2007)

Jiten Lalwani as Kiran Virani – Mansukh and Savita's younger son; Aarti and Mandira's ex-husband (2000–2004)

Eva Grover / Rushali Arora as Aarti Patel Virani – Kiran's ex-wife; Karishma's mother (2000–2002) / (2002–2003)

Kiran Dubey as Karishma Virani Dey – Aarti and Kiran's daughter; Shantanu's wife. (2002–2004)

Narendra Jha as Shantanu Dey – Karishma's husband (2004)

Jitendra Trehan as Himmat Virani – Govardhan and Amba's second son; Daksha's husband (2000–2008)

Ketki Dave as Daksha Virani – Himmat's wife; Chirag and Suhasi's mother (2000–2001) (2007–2008)

Hussain Kuwajerwala / Amit Mistry as Chirag Virani – Himmat and Daksha's son; Prajakta's husband (2000–2004) / (2006–2007)

Tuhina Vohra as Prajakta Virani – Chirag's wife; Savri, Bavri & Hitesh's mother (2000–2007)

Masumi Mevawala as Savri Virani – Chirag and Prajakta's elder daughter (2006–2007)

Amita Chandekar as Bavri Virani – Chirag and Prajakta's younger daughter (2006–2007)

Hansika Motwani / Chandni Bhagwanani as Child Bavri Virani (2002) / (2003–2005)

Aditya Kapadia as Hitesh Virani – Chirag and Prajakta's son (2007)

Pooja Ghai Rawal as Suhasi Virani Mehta – Daksha and Himmat's daughter; Rakesh's wife (2000–2006)

Prashant Bhatt as Rakesh Mehta – Suhasi's husband; Aniket and Tushar's father (2001–2006)

Shabbir Ahluwalia as Aniket Mehta – Rakesh's son; Suhasi's step-son (2002)

Karanvir Bohra / Pradeep Kharab / Sameer Sharma as Tushar Mehta – Rakesh and Suhasi's son; Kanika's husband (2002) / (2002-2005) / (2006)

Gunjan Walia as Kanika Mehta – Tushar's wife (2006)

Muni Jha as Jamnadas "JD" Virani – Amba and Govardhan's youngest son; Gayatri's husband (2000–2004)

Kamalika Guha Thakurta as Gayatri Virani – Jamnadas's wife; Hemant and Sejal's mother (2000–2008)

Shakti Anand as Hemant Virani – Jamnadas and Gayatri's son; Pooja's husband (2000–2004)

Prachi Shah as Pooja Singhania Virani – Rajiv's widow; Hemant's wife; Sahil and Tarun's mother (2000–2004)

Sandeep Baswana / Amit Sarin as Sahil Virani – Hemant and Pooja's elder son; Tripti's ex-husband; Ganga's second husband (2002–2004; 2006–2008) / (2004–2006)

Shilpa Saklani as Ganga Joshi Virani – Gautam's ex-wife; Sahil's first wife; Lakshya's mother (2002–2008)

Suvarna Jha as Tripti Virani: Sahil's ex wife; Rishabh's wife (2006–2008)

Abhijit Khurana / Alok Arora as Tarun Virani – Hemant and Pooja's younger son (2002–2003) / (2003-2004)

Pulkit Samrat / Yash Pandit as Lakshya Virani – Ganga and Sahil's son; Vaidehi's husband. (2006–2008) / (2008)

Tia Bajpai as Vaidehi Virani – Tripti's adoptive daughter; Lakshya's wife (2008)

Khyaati Khandke Keswani as Sejal Virani Gandhi – Jamnadas and Gayatri's daughter; Hemant's sister; Anand's wife; Indira's mother (2000–2006)

Romanchak Arora as Anand Gandhi – Sejal's husband; Indira's father (2001–2004)

Karishma Tanna as Indira Gandhi – Sejal and Anand's daughter (2002-2005)

Ratings

Produced with the backdrop of Mumbai and the concept of an ideal Gujarati joint family, the show made Producer Ekta Kapoor and Star Plus achieve lots of success, by not only being the number 1 show on Indian Television which ran for eight constant long years, but also receiving great TRPs.

It was the consistently most watched Hindi GEC (general entertainment channel) overall until 2005 and the following years saw its position consistently in top five television programs.

Until five weeks after its premiere, the ratings did not languish. After that, it started to rise gradually and also became the second most watched Hindi show of 2000 after Kaun Banega Crorepati with an average TRP of 6.4. In 2001, it averaged 12.04 TVR. In 2002 and 2003, it had an average of 12.50 and 12.30 TVR while in 2004 it was 11.42 TVR with a peak of 19.41 TVR maintaining its top position mostly with its higher ratings.

In March 2001, the series garnered its all-time high ratings of 22.4 TVR when the lead character Mihir returned to life on popular demand and protests. In week during 7 May to 13 May 2001, it was at first position with 16.6 TVR. On 24 May 2001, it garnered 14.7 TVR. On the week ending 26 September 2001, it topped the TRP list with 18.8 TVR. From 14 October to 20 October 2001 it garnered 12.74 TVR while during the same time in the next year 2002, it garnered 9.84 TVR.

In third week of August 2002, it maintained its top position garnering 15.9 TVR.

On week ending 22 November 2003, it was the most watched with 10.1 TVR.

In 2005, it remained the most watched Hindi show however with about 10 TVR garnered lesser than previous years. As months passed, the TVR of the series decreased from double digits to single digit after 2006 due to fragmentation in viewership, however mostly maintaining its top position until months before its end. In week ending 1 March 2006, it maintained its top position garnering 9 TVR. It achieved its highest ratings of 14.17, 14.31 and 13 TVR on 31 July 2006, 29 August 2006 and 4 September 2006 during the year.

During the second week of January 2007, it garnered 6.3 TVR. In early March 2007, it garnered 4 TVR while in early June, it got 4.4 TVR. The sequence of Irani as Tulsi shown killed when she quit before being temporarily replaced by Gautami Kapoor made the ratings to increase to 7.81 and 8.09 TVR before which it was getting about 6 TVR in that year, maintaining its position in top 5 programs. After Irani was replaced by Gautami Kapoor as Tulsi in June 2007, the TVR dropped while it lost its number one position averaging 4.5 TVR while in that month it averaged 6.66 TVR overall. On 21 July 2007, it dropped to 5.3 TVR. Towards the last week in September 2007, it was beaten by Banoo Main Teri Dulhann with Kyunki... garnering 5.51 TVR and Banoo... getting 5.62 TVR. However overall, it was one of the top rated series of the year with its rating garnered less than the previous years.

In early 2008, Kyunki... had an average of 5 TVR, being one of the most watched series while on eventually it dropped to 2.5 TVR months before its end which made the channel to axe the series. As in week 17 of 2008, it garnered 5.5 TVR. In week ending 9 August 2008, it garnered 2.51 TVR occupying twentieth position. The final episode garnered 5.4 million viewership.

Impact

The death of the lead character Mihir Virani in early 2001 lead to fan protest marches to bring the character back. The return of Mihir Virani in March 2001 brought an all-time high rating of 22.4 TVR, despite airing at late night slot of 10:30 pm (IST), which has been one of the highest ratings ever achieved by an Indian serial.

In January 2001, despite the earthquake in Gujarat, people switched on their television sets for watching this series.

In February 2003, The Times of India reported that people started recreating the grand sets of the series in their homes in Kolkata.

In 2001, a conflict arose between Star India and the production house over the Tamil series titled Kelunga Mamiyare Neengalum Marumagal Than (trans. Listen mother-in- law, you were also a daughter-in-law) which began airing from April 2001 on Sun TV. While Star stated it as an exact copy of this series violating the copyright without their knowledge, Balaji Telefilms pointed only little similarities with the title meaning and the lead character name being similar. CEO of Balaji Telefilms Sanjay Doshi stated that the script of the Tamil series was already changed after episode 15.

In September 2001, the series was blacked out in Saurashtra when Rajputs protested for naming a dog in the series as Saint Jalamsinh Jadeja. Soon, it was sorted out when Balaji Telefilms apologized for it stating it unintentional.

In January 2002, the company Procter & Gamble, for advertising their detergent brand Tide, aired a spoof of the series consisting of the cast Smriti Irani, Aparna Mehta and Muni Jha of the series which was telecast on a rival channel. Both Star and Balaji Telefilms reported it as a copyright violation considering the advertisement which uses the same sets, backdrop, announcement fonts and music along with the cast of the series. Star filed a case against Leo Burnett (Star India v Leo Burnett) and the case was heard before Bombay court in 2003.

In February 2002, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation lodged a FIR at Andheri police station against Star TV and Balaji Telefilms when the episode aired on 5 February 2002 showed the character Puja undergoing sex determination test of her unborn child and also the doctor encouraging her for the child being a son. As per Pre-natal Diagnostic Technology (Regulation & Prevention of Misuse) Act of 1994, the test is illegal in India. Many NGOs and state women's organisations also protested against the episode's sequence. However, both Kapoor and Star were asked for an apology for portraying it to which Kapoor said, "It was not intentional. There was a slight lapse on the part of the writer of the script." while Star stated it as a genuine mistake and apologised in a subsequent episode.

In November 2004, Kapoor was summoned by National Commission for Women and Star was sent a notice following complaints from many women's groups for showing a marital rape sequence of character Nandhini by Ansh Gujral for 15 minutes in the episode aired on 14 October 2004 claiming it more sensitive considering the viewership of the series by all age groups. Kapoor's lawyer stated that they will appear on 1 December 2004, along with a copy of the episode to submit to them, while the channel defended that they were mindful of their programs and they are for general viewing. However, when Kapoor failed to appear on that day, sending her two lawyers to represent her, the case was adjourned for Kapoor's appearance on 14 December 2004. However, on her demand, it was further adjourned to 3 January 2005.

The series was dubbed in Dari language and was aired on Tolo TV in Afghanistan since 2005 becoming the first Indian television series to air there and gained huge popularity. But it was soon banned along with all other Indian series aired in 2008 with many complaints arising over the show's content.

In January 2006, protests in front of Balaji Telefilms office at Andheri took place against the depicted scene of mercy killing, which was illegal then in India, of character Savitha carried out by the lead character Tulsi in the series. However Kapoor stated, "I dealt with marital rape in Kyunki…, didn't I? Then why can't I show euthanasia? TV is fiction and we are only bringing up social issues. If there is any problem, my legal department will take care of it." while Star India's senior creative director Shailaja Kejriwal stated, "We at Star, along with Balaji Telefilms, have decided to take up (through the serials) social issues that are not talked about openly. We just though that euthanasia is a subject of great importance… we should talk about it and keep the topic alive." Smriti Irani playing Tulsi, said that she doesn't support mercy killing while she, who was uncomfortable doing it, said that she did the sequence considering that she would have been labelled as an unprofessional actor had she refused.

In January 2008, the dialogue "You and your God, go to hell" pointing against Lord Vishnu in an episode said by the antagonist Suvarna Jha playing Tripti hurt the sentiments of many people and the Vaishnav community. Protests and rallies were held in Junagadh led by the priests and various Vaishnav followers who also submitted a memo to the district collector for Balaji Telefilms, Producer Ekta Kapoor and Suvarna Jha to apologise for it. Many also criticised it as a move for increasing ratings. However, Kapoor stated that it was not their intention and they also, having Vishnu in their faith, requested apology from everyone.

In February 2008, Pulkit Samrat playing Lakshya got a notice from court stating his absence for shooting and no response to phone calls from production house while Samrat stated that he attended the shoots regularly but was idle for most of the time with inconsequential scenes and so wished to work on other series. The problem arose when he earlier complained to the production house for non-payment of his dues and their contract which does not permit him to work for other production houses. After these incidents he went to court and was relieved from the series and production house after the verdict.

In 2009, the series was criticised glorifying social evils along with few other Indian television shows during the discussions in the Indian Parliament.

Acknowledging the impact of some of her shows including Kyunki..., Ekta Kapoor stated, "They were heavily stylised and melodramatic. But they actually gave Indian women a voice. There's research that shows that after cable penetration, from about 2001 to 2005, which is when my shows ran, India, for the first time, saw women take decisions on family issues. This had never happened before, and it was directly linked to the fact that we made the women in our shows do this."