About the show

About the show

Meet Govardhan Virani. A powerful industrialist, Govardhan lives with his wife, three sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren, in his family home, ironically named Shantiniketan. Ironically, because his three daughters-in-law - Savita, Daksha and Gayatri - love nothing better than to put the rest of the family through trying times.

To make matters worse, Mihir, the eldest grandson, marries Tulsi, the daughter of the poor family pujari. Tulsi is made the target of much ridicule, till she decides to give her three mothers-in-law - Savita, Daksha and Gayatri - as good as she gets it from them.

Kyunki Saas… is about Tulsi's battle to teach the trio a lesson. Packed into this are four weddings - of Tulsi-Mihir, Sejal-Anand, Kiran-Aarti and Suhasi-Rakesh. And a funeral - Mihir's.

Or is it really a funeral? Because Mihir is not really dead - he just has a bad case of amnesia. And he manages to return just in time to save his wife from getting married again. Will the newly-forged positive relationship between Savita and Tulsi remain intact? Will Mandira, the doctor who nursed Mihir back to health, ever realise and accept that he can never be hers? And what is to become of Mihir's relationship with Mandira?

Find out all on Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Monday to Thursday, at 10:30 PM on STAR Plus.

Ashlesha Savant   : Teesha Virani

Akashdeep Saigal  : Ansh Virani-Gujral

 

Amit Sareen : Sahil Virani

Eva Grover   : Aarti

Gauri Pradhan/Tejwani  : Nandini Virani

Hiten Tejwani :  Karan Virani

Hussain : Chirag Virani

Jaya Bhattacharya :  Payal Mehra

Jitendra Trehan : Himmat Virani

Kamalika Guhathakurta : Gayatri Virani

Karisma Tanna : Indu

Ketki Dave : Daksha Virani

Khyati Keshwani : Sejal Gandhi

Kiran Dubey : Karishma

Mandira Bedi : Mandira Kapadia

Muni Jha : 'JD' Virani

Pooja Rawal : Suhasi Virani

Prachi Shah : Pooja Virani

 

Rakshanda Khan : Tanya Virani

Ritu Chaudhry : Shoba Mehra

Riva Bubber : Damini Virani

Rohit Bakshi : Vishal Mehra

Romanchak : Anand Gandhi

Ronit Roy : Mihir Virani (3rd Mihir)

Shakti Anand : Hemant Virani

Shilpa Saklani : Ganga Sahil Virani

Smriti Malhotra-Irani : Tulsi Mihir Virani

Sudha Shivpuri : Amba  Govardhan Virani(Baa)

 

Sumeet Sachdev    :Gautam Virani

Tassnim Shaikh : Mohini Virani

Edited by cutereems - 18 years ago

Bhoomi- Chinky Jaswal

Character description of Important characters

Tulsi- came from a poor family, married a rich guy and improved the entire family, especially her saas. She loves her children and everyone in the family and has problems maintaining a good relationship with her husband... She is the enemy of Mandira and people very often misunderstand her, like her daughter, Shobha and husband, Mihir. She is always the owner of Virani Industries and Shantiniketan, such power she has.... no one has the dare to go against her and if they do, they lose. She has extreme trust in her god, Thakorji. She will and can do anything for her family.
 
Mihir - smart, handsome, and love of Tulsi. Had affairs and an illegitimate child out of Mandira, the arch nemisis of Tulsi. Currently, he is the only son of the 2nd Generation in Shantiniketan. His brothers are gone out of the serial for some reason.  He never expresses his anger at his mother, Savita, hence he is a mama's boy. He is loving to his children and listens to them. He often fight with Tulsi, but loves her equally. He can almost never say no to anyone.

Ba - Loving, caring, the person whom all adore and no one has a problem with. She is the apple of the eye of everyone in the family. She is the person in whom Tulsi confides and has a very special relationship with Tulsi, more than Mihir, her grandson. She has survived alot of shocks, including the death of her son and husband and praying to Ma Ganga for Tulsi's help at prison. Very religious. She is shown in funny scenes with Indu, her great-granddaughter. Also.. she did show her "Saas" power to Savita and Gayatri until Tulsi became a bahu.

Savita - always misunderstands Tulsi and chides her. She is very easy to instigate and believes that Tulsi is a threat to her power, even though, now she has changed for the good. A widow, but dresses more heavily than Tulsi. Very arrogant and has extreme love for all her grandchildren and sons. Her son, Mihir cannot violate an order of hers. She used to be a partner in crime with Mandira and Payal in the past, but Tulsi taught her the lesson. She is very power-hungry person and tries to influence every decision she can. All decisions are finally made by her and the only person who can veto that is Tulsi.

Gayatri - she is the shadow of Savita and always agrees with her. She cannot make her own decisions, in short.

Gautam - eldest son of Tulsi, who was brought up in Australia, by his uncle and was spoilt kid. Changed by Tulsi, he used to resent her mother and go against her, until he was kidnapped and got improved. He now wants to support his mom and become the best son. He is very easy to confuse and instigate as well. Carries the genes of his dadi, Savita very well.

Damini - wife of Gautam, and very nice. The perfect bahu. Takes care of husband and house and is the best friend of Ganga, her devrani. She idolizes Tulsi and listens to her elders and never violates them. She tries to reason with Gautam, when he turns dumb and is very giving. She gave her son to Ganga.

Sahil - son of Tulsi's devrani, Pooja and very diligent, smart, good-looking and pious. He can never do wrong and has immense repect for her badima, Tulsi and tries to take lessons of conduct from her. Has alot of capabiities and is very loving to his wife, Ganga.

Ganga - the first bahu to enter Shanitiniketan and is the perfect bahu and Tulsi # 2. She loves her husband and mother-in-law and tries to respect her elders. She is the best friend with Damini and has a special relationship with her. She tries to improve the evil in the house, mostly Mohini and will fight those, when they are against right and truth, even Tulsi!!! Overall, very nice and lovable.

Karan - the step son of Tulsi, but loves Tulsi more than her own real sons. The perfect son who can do anything for her mother and will support her no matter what, even if she is wrong! He loves everyone, especially his wife, Nandini and another wife, Tanya. Has a beautiful step daughter, Bhoomi and loves her as his own. Cannot violate orders from anyone elder and respects all. Will fight for the truth and is Tulsi' male reincarnation. He is the perfect husband, brother, son and father. He is smart in business and is handed the power of attorney from his father.

Nandini - Karan's 1st wife whom he lost in coma and got back again. Loves her and she loves her family, especially her daughter, Bhoomi. She can sacrifice herself for Tulsi and others. She is one who got the keys of the house from Tusli.

Mohini - the evil within Shantiniketan who hates Tulsi and wants to steal all the wealth of the Viranis. Married several times, tricked her husbands to marry her for $$$. She is evil and wants to destroy Tulsi, since she is the one who always defeats her in the end and is the only major obstacle in the road to her robbery. Funny scenes are with her and her partner in crime, is her dadi, Savita and instigates her against Tulsi all the time, now, it is not that successful. She hates her husbands and is very lazy, cannot do any work and an awful cook.

Mandira - the person who is the archnemesis of Tulsi and tricked Mihir to sleep with her and gave birth to Karan, whom she used to get her revenge. She is now in jail for 7 yrs. SHe is the epitome of evil in the show.

Payal - a former nemesis of Tulsi, when she was enganged to Mihir, but then turned against him and tried to use Tulsi's daughter, Shobha as her weapon, but she started loving Shobha, after she took care of her very well. Now she has a relationship of mom-daughter with Shobha.

Shobha - the only daughter of Tulsi and the most loved one in the family. Gone through alot, she always goes against her mother's wishes and tries to follow her own created path, which lead to a dead zone. When she loses, she comes for comfort to her mother, Tulsi and then goes on the same anti-Tulsi path... she married her husband's killer, even though her mother warned her.

Tanya- was a friend of Karan and Nandini, but later married Karan becuz Nanidni went into coma and she was like Bhoomi's mother

Bhoomi- Nandini and Ansh'a daughter. She thinks her mother is Tanya and calls Nandini "Masi-Mummy"

Mayank/Nakul- twin brothers. Sons of Gautam and Damini

Abhishek- Shobha's 2nd husband. He was indirectly involved in Vishal's murder (Vishal was Shobha's first husband and Damini's son)

Meera- lawyer for the Virani's. She likes Mihir

Prajakta- mother of Savri/Bavri. Her husband is Chirag who disappered frm the show

Indu- Gayatri's grand daughter. Her mother is Sejal

Harsh- Mihir n Tulsi's son. He is actually Kesar's son. Kesar is Tulsi's younger sister (she also disappered).

Edited by DeepAnBH - 18 years ago

Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi (Because a Mother-in-law was once a Daughter-in-law too) is a popular Indian "serial" (a soap opera) in Hindi that revolves around the lives of the Virani family. It is produced by Balaji Telefilms.

This serial is produced by Ekta Kapoor, daughter of famous fimstar, Jeetendra. It is said that she took a vow at the holy Balaji Temple in South India for the success of this serial, and her wish was granted.

Originally, the serial was supposed to be called, Amma (Grandmother/Mother), but was revised to the current title by the suggestion of the Dress Designer.

Contents
1 Claim to Fame
2 Original Plot
3 First 20 year Leap
4 Future Events
5 Criticism
6 Cast
7 Change of Cast
8 Salary Report
9 Trivia
10 External links


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Claim to Fame
The airing of the serial was in 2000 on the same day as KBC or Kaun Banega Crorepati (Who wants to be a Millionare?), but the show lasted longer than KBC. The success was prominent, and all the actors in the serial became famous and were the center of attention for millions of viewers, not only in India, but also in Pakistan, Canada, United States of America, United Kingdom, Australia, Kenya and New Zealand with Hindi viewers.

The TRP (Television Ratings) were at an all time high and broke all previous records set by all other prominent serials in the history of Indian Television.


Original Plot
The story is set in Mumbai focused on the Virani Family that hails from Gujarat and quite successful and well-known in the Bombay Industrial world. The story is focused on Tulsi Virani, daughter of a family priest of the Viranis, who marries the eldest son of the family, Mihir through eloping. All the members except, Govardhan Virani, the patriach and Amba Virani, the matriarch were against it. Due to anger, the daughter-in-laws of the family, Savita (Apara Mehta), Daksha (Ketaki Dave) and Gayatri (Kamalika Guhathakurta) blame Tulsi for instigating the family's eldest son, Mihir for marrying him and entering the rich household from a smaller, middle-class family. However, due to respect and belief in God Shri Shrinathji, called Thakorji, a incarnation of Lord Krishna, Tulsi fights the injustice and battles her mother-in-law and her mother-in-law's Italic textdevraniItalic text (wives of the younger brothers of a woman's husband), in this case Savita.

The entire serial focuses on the battle between the mother-in-laws and Tulsi and in the process teaching them a lesson and earning respect from her family members and helping them in times of trouble and sharing their joy in time of happiness. Along the road, many new characters are shown, with elaborate weddings for each and affairs that are eventual discovered. The archnemesis of Tulsi outside the household is Payal who was engaged to Mihir before the marraige of Tulsi and Mihir. She always comes and destroys the peace in the household and instigates others, especially Savita, to boot Tulsi out of the house and get herself married with Mihir. However, Mihir dies (misconception of the family, he has amnesia and is in Delhi) and the bitter fight over Mihir is over between Tulsi and Payal. Due to family pressure, Tulsi agrees to marry another man, but at the altar, Mihir comes back and joy is back in the heart of Tulsi. But, the doctor who took care of Mihir, Mandira is the sister of the groom, Anupam who was supposed to marry Tulsi and plans to get Mihir, since she has fallen in love with him and comes up with some plans to devestate the marriage of Tulsi and Mihir. One of them being, acting pregnant, which was later discovered to be false. In the process, Payal tries to forget Mihir and decides to enter the household by marrying Hemant, Mihir's younger brother and then destroying the entire family, since even Savita won't support her now. But, at last, Truth triumphs and all the misconceptions are gone and everything is fair and well. Tulsi also gives birth to a son, named Gautam and gives it to her sister-in-law, Arti since she is barren and cannot have a child and yearns for one. Due to jealousy and animosity, she runs away with the child and her husband, Kiran, younger brother of Mihir to Australia and all are shocked. Tulsi tries to forget her son and gives birth to a daughter named Shobha. After some time, the patriarch of the family, Govardhan, dies and the serial takes a leap of 20 years. Some critics point it to the low TRP Ratings, while some point that this was the originial plot.


First 20 year Leap
After the leap, many new characters come and the drama occurs with the new generation with the return of Gautam from Australia as a spoilt kid, who is turned nice by the teachings of Tulsi and the marriage of all the sons and the marriage of Shobha, the only daughter of Tulsi with Vishal, the son of Payal Mehra, the originial archnemesis of Tulsi. The drama takes place with that and the return of Kiran and Arti, who are dicvorced and have a daughter, Karishma who is addicted to drugs. She is reformed by living with the family and the revelation of Harsh, the youngest son, not being the biological son of Tulsi and being a product of rape and his attempt at suicide, which is unsuccessful. After reforming, it is shown that Mihir and Mandira had an affair over the years, which has produced an out-of-wedlock child named Karan, who comes to India from Australia and takes revenge on the Viranis for not supporting his mother, Mandira. Mandira on the side is using her son, Karan as a weapon to destroy the others in the family and get Mihir forever. Problems also occur between the sons and their wives and a few dicorces occur, one of them with Ganga and Gautam, where Ganga eventually marries Gautam's younger brother, Sahil due to a difference of views between Ganga and Gautam, and since Gautam did not want to marry her in the first place and was having an affair with another girl named Teesha, who dies in a car accident that collides with the car of Mandira, who tries to kill Tulsi, but kills her accidently. Then, Karan learsn of his mistake and accepts Tulsi as his mother, since she was the one who taught him love and the love of a mother. The serial unfolds as a divorce between Tulsi and Mihir occurs and tensions flow into the family. Later on, Tulsi comes to know that she has another son named Ansh, who was brought up by a gangster named Aditya Gujral and comes in the family for the sake of the money and marries the love of Karan, Nanidni and then is later killed by Tulsi due to the rape of Nandini by Ansh and dealing with drugs. In the process, Vishal also dies and Shobha gives birth to a son and marries her husband's murderer, Abhishek through the pressure of her mother-in-law, Payal. There is a dramatic court case fought by Meera, Tulsi's best friend who is in love with Mihir and Tulsi goes to jail for 3 years for the murder of her son, Ansh. Nandini and Karan get married and because of the rape, Nandini gives birth to a girl called Bhoomi and goes into coma. Meanwhile, to support Karan and take care of the newborn, Karan marries his best friend, Tanya. Later, she leaves as Nandini comes out of coma and according to Doctors, cannot be given any bad news, or else she will die. Tanya on the contrary is pregnant. Tulsi comes out of jail and the family ignores her. Gautam gets married to Damini and they have twins. Since Ganga protected Damini during her pregnancy and lost her own child, Damini gives one of her sons to Ganga and Gautam get mad and another court case regarding the custody happens after some time. Meanwhile, Gautam leaves home and Mandira comes back and kidnaps him and blackmails Tulsi and dictates her to do some horrible things to the family, otherwise, she will kill Gautam. One of the most important things was to kick Karan out of the house. Tulsi does that, but to her surprise, Karan knows and goes to Mandira to finish her shady business and is successful. In the progression, Mandira goes to jail for 7 years and Tulsi gets cancer. Gautam improves and accpets the family. Everyone is sad that Tulsi will die, but that is changed when it was not cancer, but a coughing problem and all are relieved. Also, Shobha finds out that Abhishek was the person who killed her first husband, Vishal and leaves home. In this process, Harsh marries Mohini, who has one sole purpose of marrying, to acquire the wealth of the Viranis, she is shown as a comic person with her new styles and evil ways. She tries to capture the wealth, but is stopped in her tracks through the works of her mother-in-law, Tulsi.

The serial currently airs on Star Plus, Monday to Friday at 10:30 pm IST. The last sentence is the latest update on the serial


Future Events
Word has it going on that there will be another 20 year leap in either late September or early October, though it is very much unclear. Also, it is final that Amba (called more famously as Ba) one of the most important and famous characters will die due to her age. Also, there is speculation that Tulsi will leave the house because of some unclear reasons, critics speculate because of her knowing that Meera, her best friend has a crush on Mihir and vice-versa.


Criticism
The serial has recieved and survived some tough times due to the high level of criticism from both viewrs and TV Critics. One of the most important is the age. Amba Virani or Ba has seen her great grandchildren's children and her supposed age is to be above 100 according to some critics and this brings attention, that the age factor is not being very well played.

Clothing of the characters is also another hot topic. The traditional sari worn by the female characters are out of their age. For example, Savita, who is now a widow, wears heavy clothing, like a blissful wife, which is very uncommon in India, but she has contended that this is normal in the 21st century and must be accepted.

Another criticism that has been applied is that it is very unrealistic and does not portray the reality of life. For example, the value of each contract that has been discussed in the serial has never been less than 50 crore and that is not very common in India.


Cast
The following are the prominent members of the Virani Family:

Tulsi Virani -- Smriti Malhotra, after marraige, Smriti Zubin Irani (Famously known as Smriti Irani)
Mihir Virani -- Amar Upadhyay, Indravadan, Ronit Roy (character played by three actors)
Amba Virani -- Sudha Shivpuri
Savita Virani -- Apara Mehta
Daksha Virani -- Ketaki Dave
Gayatri Virani -- Kamalika Guhathakurta
Gautam Virani -- Sumeet Sachdev
Damini Virani -- Riva Bubber
Sahil Virani -- Amit Sareen
Ganga Virani -- Shilpa Sakhlani, after marriage, Shilpa Agnihotri
Karan Virani -- Hiten Tejwani
Nandini Virani -- Gauri Pradhan, after marriage, Gauri Hiten Tejwani
Tanya Virani -- Rakshandha Khan
Mohini Virani -- Tasneem Sheikh

Change of Cast
Some of the important characters in the serial were changed some times due to their resignation. Most of the famous being Sahil Virani, Mandira Virani, Govardhan Virani and even the most important character, Mihir Virani. Mihir Virani's cast was changed three times, since it was hard to find a replacement for the originial character, Mihir played by Amar Upadhyay that the viewers would approve of.


Salary Report
According to each contract, each of the characters gets a specific amount of money, that is kept quite confedential, but early in 2005, reports were spilled to several key journal enteries, that the main character, Tulsi Virani, played by Smriti Irani gets paid Rs. 50,000 ($1000) per show, or in other words, around $405,000 per year (More than the income of the President of the United States of America), and it is possible that she is the highest earning TV Star in the history of Indian Television.


Trivia
In April 2005 the show celebrated its 1000th episode as well as the completion of 5 years on the air.
After the death of Mihir Virani in its early stages, the public forced Ekta Kapoor, the producer/director of the serial, to revive the character, and it was done so according to the wishses of the public.
Rs. 50 Lacs ($100,000) were spent on the shooting of Ansh Virani by his mother Tulsi, which was done in The Matrix style.
After the prominence of the serial and the well-knowing of the characters, it is very common for people to start a chat with the famous character when they meet in shops and people come to hit the person who causes trouble to the most favorite character, Tulsi.