| |  | | Ekta Kapoor's serial Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi completes an astounding 1,000 shows on April 13. The episode will be a special one, and will feature an appearance from the queen of soaps, Ekta, herself. She will play a sutradhar in the one-hour episode, a deviation from the regular half-an-hour show. Audiences all over India and even abroad have laughed and cried with the Virani family, and shared their troubles from Monday to Thursday at 10:30 pm for almost five years. rediff.com presents some trivia about the mother of all soaps. |
| Name Game Would you have watched the saga of the Virani family if it were called Amma? Probably not. No wonder the makers decided to change it to Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. They felt Amma -- a name they toyed with -- was not catchy enough. That is not the end of the name saga. Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi had already been registered by actor-director Sachin. But he willingly gave the name to Balaji Telefilms, the producers of the show. Kyunki was added because of the K factor proving lucky for the company. The name game still does not end here! The protagonist Mihir was named after Ekta Kapoor's school friend Mihir Shah. KSBKBT shares its birthday with... ...None other than our (and Balaji's) very own Jeetendra! The serial's first shot was taken on April 7, 2000. Little did the producers know then that the serial would scale such heights. In fact, during the entire span of the serial, Kyunki firmly held on to its position as the numero uno of all serials. It registered the highest rating when Mihir Virani returned home alive -- on public demand -- after being 'killed' in an accident. The return of Mihir Virani The mass hysteria over Mihir's death remains untouched. Star TV executives fondly remember how mail boxes crashed, thanks to the number of requests from all over the country, wanting Mihir to return. Newspapers carried articles on how the nation would deal with a tragedy of the magnitude of Mihir Virani's death. The rating of the serial touched an all-time-high of 22.4 when Mihir returned home -- just in time to stop Tulsi (Smriti Irani) from getting married to Mandira's brother. | |||
| Mihir has by far been the most popular character in the serial, of course after his on-screen wife, Tulsi. In the casting contest before the serial was launched, there were two lead runners for the role -- Cezzane Khan and Amar Upadhyay. Ultimately, the balance tilted in favour of Upadhyay. But Kyunki's loss was Kasauti Zindagi Ka's gain. Khan shot to fame with as Anurag Basu in Kasauti. |
 | | Enter the dragon As if the Virani family was running short on problems, the scriptwriter decided to add to the list of woes. And Tulsi's son and villain, Ansh Gujral (Akashdeep Saigal), made a grand entry. In a convoy of limousines, guarded by gun-wielding security guards and surrounded by sniffer dogs, Ansh's entry was the most expensive scene shot for the soap. It cost the producers Rs 5 lakh. Ansh's exit was equally dramatic. Shot Matrix style with multiple cameras covering all angles, his killing in the hands of mother Tulsi raised quite a storm. How could a mother kill her own son? But since it signified the victory of good over evil, Tulsi |
Her character, Tulsi, has become synonymous to greatness. She accepted her husband's illegitimate son, killed her own evil son, and fought against all odds to protect the Virani family.
 | | Cute Couple Nandini and Karan (real-life couple Gauri Pradhan and Hiten Tejwani) have become very popular onscreen. Their real life love blossomed during the making of the serial and they tied the knot in April last year. Apparently, Akashdeep Saigal hurt Gauri during the shooting of a scene. Hubby Hiten could not stand that and the incident snowballed in to a sensitive issue. But since Ansh's (Akashdeep's character) exit was in the offing, it died a quick death. |
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