Jaya Bhattacharya shares interesting details and memories from ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’ days

In the history of Indian Television, if there's a show that's quite talked about and which changed the face of daily soaps is popular Star Plus show 'Kyuki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi'. The show had massive fan-following and it gave name and fame to various actors who became a household name. The show has recently started to re-run on the same channel.

Jaya Bhattacharya played the iconic character of an antagonist named Payal in the show. Payal made sure to bring trouble for Tulsi and Virani family. While Jaya debuted with the show, she continues to rule the Indian Television with her power packed characters and roles. Be it an illiterate and ignorant woman Manjiri from ‘Pinjra Khoobsurti Ka’ or the sophisticated artist Veena Devi of ‘Thapki Pyaar Ki 2’, the actress continues to leave a mark with her stints in almost all the shows that she’s a part of.

India Forums got in touch with the actor and ased her about ‘Kyunki Saas…’ re-running on Star Plus, she said, “The show is re-running after so long. I’m sure everyone will be excited with the news and I’m super thrilled to know about it. It brings along a lot of memories and nostalgia related to the show. Memories of Baa and all the memories of how hard we used to work for the show. We used to literally slog with crazy shooting schedule but it was so much fun. I remember we used to be in one small make-up room and we girls used to be so adjusting, letting each other get ready for the shots, it used to be a lot of fun. We girls never really fought amongst ourselves and always had each other’s’ back. We gave suggestions to each other and took the suggestion gracefully when somebody gave their suggestions. It’s safe to say that it was one of the most positive sets that I’ve worked on and we literally were like a family”.

Going down the memory lane, Jaya spoke at length about the friendship that she had with other actors of the show, she said, “Baa, Smriti Irani, Komilika Guhathakurta, Apra Mehta and I used to share the make-up room and while everybody on the sets were close, we five were a bunch of girls who used to hang-out and talk endlessly with each other. We would know the stories of our personal lives and it used to be a lot of fun to have the backs of these strong women. I remember how we used to tease Apara as she was fond of jewelries and would flaunt a new piece of jewellery whenever she gets one. We collectively and knowingly would ignore complimenting the same leaving her irritated until she finally gave in and talked to us about the new jewellery in her collection. Oh God! Those were the days”.

I remember we used to be in one small make-up room and we girls used to be so adjusting, letting each other get ready for the shots, it used to be a lot of fun. We girls never really fought amongst ourselves and always had each other’s’ back. We gave suggestions to each other and took the suggestion gracefully when somebody gave their suggestions.

Jaya Bhattacharya

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She added, “There are numerous memories from the show. I remember Baa introduced me to Kali mirch ka aachaar which I absolutely loved. She used to order the same for me from somewhere in Gujrat whenever I requested her”.

Sharing more anecdotes from the shooting days for KSBKBT, Jaya said, “I remember I had a huge scene with round trolley and I gave a take. Smriti gave me a suggestion and asked me to do it differently and I agreed for another take and I must say it was a better take. Later, I went on to be a part of Smriti’s own production house’ show titled ‘Thodi Si Zameen, Thoda Sa Aasmaan’ wherein I got to play a character which is so ‘me’ like a tom boyish. It was fun doing that project too. Everyone on the sets were quite supportive of each other".

She added, “I remember once when we were shooting in an early morning shift. Smriti was expecting her first baby and she was hungry. We planned to go to a nearby bakery to grab some snacks. We walked hand in hand and were checking out the menu and that’s when a lady came to us and removed my hand from Smriti’s hand and asked her to stay away from me as I’m a bad woman. The lady couldn’t differentiate between reel and real life. But Smriti came forward and supported me saying that I’m not a bad woman. Hilarious. Isn’t it?”

To conclude Jaya said that she wishes that the magic and the aura of the show returns. She said, “Life on the sets is much easier today. Back in those days, we didn’t had issues with elaborated shooting schedules. The magic and the aura were totally different and I hope the same returns”.