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Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi is slated to go off the air on November 10, after the birth and even rebirth of many characters.

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A contractual breach has brought about the end. Another series, Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki, was also wrapped up after 1,700 episodes. Long-running TV serials are losing their charm. Their formula of reincarnation and plastic surgery to resurrect characters after they die to prolong the life of these soaps is getting jaded. Which other serials are past their sell-by dates?

Interior designer Rashmi M thinks Kumkum is being stretched too far. ?The lead characters in Kumkum, Sumit and Kumkum, die and the family names a dharmashala after them. Nine months later, in the same dharmashala, a boy and a girl from different families are born and named Sumit and Kumkum. It?s too much of a coincidence that the characters have the same face and fall in love with each other,? says Rashmi.

?One serial that needs to end is Kasamh Se,? says Drishti Saha, a freelancer. ?I liked the serial originally and watched it every day. The story is about three sisters who want different things from life. But now the producers have one of the lead characters, Bani, come back after plastic surgery and she?s a different person called Protima. It shows the scriptwriters have run out of ideas and are trying desperately to extend the show,? Drishti adds.

?The serial Kayamath should end because it?s confusing to the point of being funny,? says Sahana M, a project manager. ?Prachi, the main character, is married but living with another man, Protik Dasgupta, pretending to be his wife because of a tragic sequence of events. The real husband, Milind, lands up at her house after five years and discovers his wife has been staying with another man. But Milind stays back and now Prachi is living with her real husband and Protik, and he?s none the wiser for it,? says Sahana.

Have these long-running soaps lost their charm? Actor Shekhar Suman says audiences now prefer short series as they have a definitive story. ?Ekta Kapoor serials are nonsensical and the audience gets fed up with their far-fetched stories. Changing a character?s face and continuing with a character which is almost 500-year-old does not work. Viewers need a story,? he says.

Director Kaushik Ghatak, who directed certain episodes for Kyunki... and Sanskruti, doesn?t agree. ?A serial must end because it can?t run indefinitely. But the audience doesn?t get bored of long-running serials as the characters become a part of their lives. Besides, these soaps have layers in the storyline and that needs to be told,? he says. ?The TRPs of long-time running shows haven?t fallen. That means people watching them,? Kaushik adds.

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