| K-line leaps |
In its quest for immortality, Ekta Kapoor's Kyunkii Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thhi is set to take its second gigantic 20-year leap this June. That would make Tulsi 70 and Mihir 80 years old, but both will be as robust as the day they got married all those 40 screen years ago. From Tulsi Ma to Tulsi Ba, Balaji thinktanks have used up considerable ink to conceive a wholly new role for its iconic character. Down the line, both Tulsi and the serial she so sanctimoniously dominates will undergo a sea change. Balaji's nationwide search for a new face as the young Tulsi has zeroed in on a 'face with brains' either from Mumbai or Bangalore. Deebshree Mohanty visits the sets in Mumbai to bring back all the buzz around the Indian soap dish's biggest ever makeover
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Soap dishmaker Kyunkii Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thhi turns 1800 this June. Quite an age for the serial to vye for a makeover but that's exactly what Ekta Kapoor is going for, and with much fanfare. | | 
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"I wanted Kyunkii to do at least 1800 episodes before the leap. We celebrated our 1000th episode last December and have have canned 500 of the 800 we plan to go with in our present format," she tells you from her plush West Andheri office.
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On the Kyunkii sets nearby, the much hyped 20-year leap scheduled for June has had the entire apparatus sitting on an active volcano - of new ideas, new faces and a new set.
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The planned storyline would erupt such: "Meera's long lost daughter would produce fake documents affirming that there was an outside chance of Savita's recovery, which her bahu Tulsi had disregarded. With this evidence (apparently fake) in his face, Mihir treats Tulsi like a pariah and the lady decides to leave the Virani parivar for good. She proceeds to Haridwar to live a sanyasi's life. The shock of this kills Ba (finally, the old lady is being laid to rest!) and that's when the serial leaps 20 years.
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"Tulsi leaving Shanti niketan will be the present serial's last shot. The next shot will come with the leap and open with an aged Tulsi in Haridwar. The new story will develop around a lonely Mihir, Tulsi's vanvas and her adopted daughter who'll be our new Tulsi and will hold the key to the serial thenceforth," a source in knowledge of the new script reveals.
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Very cautiously though, she seeks absolute anonymity. "Last time Mumbai Mirror scooped a story and spilt out Kyunkii's best kept secret - that Harsh was the murderer of Ansh Gujral. With the suspense out in public domain, Balaji had to change the entire script and make poor Nandini 'Gauri' Pradhan the killer instead. Ekta was furious. She sued the newspaper and even won the case," she adds in a whisper.
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This time round too, the leap secrecy is tight though soap queen Ekta Kapoor has settled down on the anger front. From her Andheri West office, she lets out the basics about the change. "We have a special team stitching up the storyline. After the leap, Tulsi will replace Ba and look 65 plus. Mihir will be 70. We will have a fresh face as the new Tulsi who will be as iconic as Smriti now," she says.
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Does that mean the end of the road for Smriti 'Tulsi' Irani? "Not really. The post-leap script has equal meat for Tulsi Ba and the new Tulsi," says creative head Shivangi Chauhan.
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Irani herself is not quite perturbed about the transition, brushing aside the possibility of her role decorating the sidelines. "If I stay in Kyunkii, only I will be Tulsi, howsoever old," says Irani.
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A little birdie tells us otherwise. Apparently, Ekta had to spend considerable time convincing Smriti to add more white to her locks than she did when she agreed to sport the slightly grown up look the last time the serial leapt 20 years in 2002.
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Known for the stands she takes in enhancing her role vis a vis others, it is quite something that Irani has agreed to not press for a double role - as Ba and as the new Tulsi.
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Her pliancy, it is said, has emerged from the mess around her ugly spat with former friend, script writer Rekha Modi, who was arrested for threatening her but recently won the case and is now pressing for an apology from Irani, as also Ekta who had sided with Smriti on the issue.
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"Smriti and I were friends but she had this bad habit of influencing the script. As the writer, I used to make the small changes she wanted but when she asked me to chop off Gauri Pradhan's role, I had to put my foot down. That's when things started getting ugly," Modi, who has since left Balaji, tells you with growing anger over Irani's undisputed clout in the production house.
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Refusing to comment on Modi, Irani who has led contentious social issues like marital rape, murder and euthanasia through her character, says "it will be a challenge to play Ba. It is easy to enact a middle-aged woman but to be 65 plus and yet guide so many people can be difficult," she says.
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Though a few wrinkles of worry can be spotted on her pancaked face as she readies for her shot, Irani is a fighter who has the support of her general. "Smriti is a talented actress, always ready to accept changes," says Ekta, feeling proud of her leading lady's confidence that "I will be Tulsi till either the serial perishes or she dies, whichever happens first."
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No possibility of the serial perishing as Ekta has set her sights on overtaking the longest running ones in the English circuit. "Kyunkii will continue much like Friends and Baywatch," she says. But news is that the younger Kapoor would be handling the Bollywood division of Balaji and her mother Shobha looking after teleserials, a fact she confirms.
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Back on Kyunkii, 'new' is the buzzword in all quarters. The grander Shantiniketan will be a new address for which the set will shift to Powai from Andheri West where the serial is being cooked up now. "Floored in marble and loaded with chandeliers costing more than Rs 50,000 each, it will beckon the next generation in style," says Shobha Kapoor. The present set, anyway, looks desperate for a change. In between shots, the harried director screams for silence, a shout meant not for humans but the cows mooing nearby. "It is very difficult to save the tulsi ka ped, thanks to these munching creatures," says a spot boy, shooing them away. Then there are the stray dogs who have visitation rights and halt shoot every now and then - now and then being the time Shilpa 'Ganga' Saklani takes to feed them, saying "my heart goes out for these creatures" and "it's sad I can't keep them as pets as my mom-in-law hates them."
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Meanwhile, the present Ba, after getting three lives in the serial due to sheer viewer power, is now reconciled to the ease-out. This 'nani of shaitani' as "I am only 40 plus" Sudha Shivpuri is unanimously voted by the crew, was considered for screen death many times down the six years of Kyunkii. "Last time, we almost did it but viewer outrage made us kill Savita instead," says concept head S Grewal.
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A stickler for detail on the set, when not shooting, it's speed drives from pizzarias to coffee homes for Shivpuri. "I love coffee outings at night," she says. And 'Ba' drives not a family, but a Ford Ikon in real life. "I am not materialistic, but fond of comforts," she reveals with a wink. Next, she orders the spot boy for a thanda. "Ba, 8 rupiya," he tells her. "Arre bhai Balaji se le lena," Ba shouts back.
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Shivpuri is philosophical about her exit and happy that "the character of Ba will stay on." So what if it is "my favourite bahu Tulsi" who will be playing it and "I will be a flashback."
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"Ba," Tulsi reciprocates, "is my teacher. Our scenes happen in lightening speed because we do not need to act. Ba is an icon. I am just a sidy actress," she says.
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Even Shobha Kapoor agrees. "We and Kyunkii will miss a great actor."
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Ba's clout is second only to Tulsi's at Balaji. Once, Shivpuri had a spat with an episode director who told her "to get out of the serial if she didn't obey orders." The crew demanded the removal of the man and his apology. They got both.
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Besides Shivpuri, the other big dropouts would be Mandira, Meera, Payal, Shobha, Chachi and Rakshanda Khan. Shobha and family would go missing though the fate of Mohini is yet to be decided. As for Ronit 'Mihir' Roy, "90 per cent I'll be there."
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"The focus will be on new faces and that includes the new Tulsi and the men in her life - both the wrong ones and the right one," says Shivangi Chauhan.
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Whatever the new line-up, Balaji faithfuls are quite at home with the leap. "I would love to be associated with the serial till its end. It is the greatest thing that has happened to us," says Saklani. Her on-screen husband Amit Sarin seconds with "hum to yahin dam todenge". Another matter though that the man was deleted just a week after this contention with a mere asten: "Henceforth, the character of Sahil will be played by...".
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Not that abrupts exits don't rub shoulders with abrupt comebacks. Take Aakashdeep Sehgal's poised return. "I cannot deny rumours," he says.
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All said, post leap Shantiniketan and its residents may look different. But one thing will never change: The tulsi ka ped outside this house. Dry, yet not dead. That's the essence of Kyunkii.
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Now, Tulsi with a new face & name
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There is a veil of secrecy over the new Tulsi, who will not only have a new face but also a new name.
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Ekta Kapoor is tight-lipped. She only says that "a nationwide hunt had been launched for a brand-new face I wanted. We spent hours looking at the videos sent to us by applicants. We are yet to zero in on anybody, but there are two girls from Mumbai whom we are having a close look at and one from Bangalore."
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The basic criterion of choice laid down by Ekta is that the new Tulsi, whatever her new name is, should have a beautiful brain to go with the looks, though the latter is secondary.
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The post-leap story will mostly pivot on this new character who, Ekta plans to build up as the next big icon of Indian television.
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"She will draw from all the traits that our present Tulsi is known for and yet be more contemporary and young enough to draw the audiences into her web of charms," says Kapoor.
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The story of the serial will go something like this. The new Tulsi, the adopted daughter of the old Tulsi living in vanvas at Haridwar, will have two men in her life - the wrong one and the right one. Surprisingly, the wrong one will be a Virani and that's how the old Tulsi will come back into the picture. She will fight against her adopted daughter's wrong choice and get back into the Virani fold as Ba with the entire family running to her for advice. Everyone, but Mihir, for Ekta feels the twain can't be meeting up yet again, not at 80!
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Ye Hai Mohabbatein
Mangal Lakshmi
