from wilkipedia:
The serial has received and survived some tough times due to the high level of criticism from both viewers and TV critics. Appearances of the characters are a point to be seen. Earlier, the clothes' utilitarian look or stylishness were suited to the occasion and situation. Now, glamour is the be-all and end-all. The traditional sari worn by the female characters is always gorgeous & elegant even if the woman is supposedly working in the kitchen at the time. Tulsi's saris are usually inexpensive but heavily embroidered. Some of the other supposedly non-glamorous ladies have frequently even had their hair coloured several bizarre shades.
Another criticism that has been applied is that it is very unrealistic and does not portray the reality of life. The only references to the family business are on the grand scale - huge contracts to be won or lost, some factory on fire. The nittygritty that was present in the serial's beginning is no longer there. And widows and widowers are, within months of bereavement, encouraged to remarry, being given no time to grieve.
There are several examples of discontinuity and self-contradictions in the serial. Timing is just another factor that the producers seldom take into account. For example, merely to show a melodramatic karvaachauthh dilemma for Tulsi-Mihir & Karan-Nandini-Tanya, the serial-makers conveniently forgot that this annual ritual had happened in the story a few months earlier when Tanya was at least two months pregnant. And instead of criticism for having two occurences of an annual ritual during the course of one pregnancy, everyone kept harping about Tanya's pregnancy being ludicrously lengthy.
And the writers seem to have no memory of the characters' names. Earlier, they forgot the marital surname of secondary character Sejal Virani Gandhi. Now, they have gone and forgotten Ganga's pre-Virani surname was Joshi, and she introduces herself frequently as 'Ganga Mehta'. The first time she did that, the viewers thought she'd married a Mehta. But no, she's supposedly reverted to her pre-marital surname but evidently forgot what it was. And 'Mehta' is a favourite of the KSBKBT writers. Karan pre-Virani used the surname 'Mehta'. Gautam's deceased wife Teesha's pre-marital surname actually was 'Mehta'. And there were at least a couple of other instances. So, Ganga MEHTA, forward!
And perhaps the greatest deviation from its USP was the transformation of Tulsi from a role-model into a self-proclaimed divinely blessed avenging arm of God... from a girl you couldn't help but like into a woman whose every catastrophic mistake & error of judgement was promptly forgotten not only by her but by every other character as well. Her every wrong decision, her supporting characters say this is the first time she's wrong. And then the next time, everyone says it again. And Tulsi herself has total selective amnesia about her errors.
The series started off with Tulsi as the girl who won't let anyone slap her if she's in the right, regardless of their being her elders. And then the series metamorphosed into the cliched "if someone is your familial elder, you should silently endure their insults and slaps even if they are wrong." And every Virani male except Gautam (before his enrolling in Tulsi's lapdogs-coterie) has dutifully turned the other cheek for their elders' slaps. But if a woman is slapped even once, there is a major melodrama about the injustice being inflicted on her. Basically, Virani men now have non-existent self-respect and are shown as being incapable of handling crises not only at home but at work as well. It's always the women who defend the family and the business against trouble. The men may, however, lend a helping hand to their sterlingly capable women led by Tulsi.
Before the first time-leap and even well into it, all the characters had significant tracks in the story. So well, in fact, that Mihir's brothers Hemant, Kiran and Chirag are still remembered as strongly characterized individuals. But with the entry of the extremely charismatic Ansh who was to be killed by his mother Tulsi, the focus shifted onto the Tulsi-Ansh and Karan-Nandini-Ansh tracks, with other characters' tracks usually attached to either or both of those two tracks. Earlier, everyone had something to do in the story, and if someone wasn't seen for a few episodes, you wondered where that particular character was. But suddenly, characters were disappearing, sometimes with a mere mention that the character was abroad, sometimes with no mention at all. Sahil's parents are no longer on the roster, and he and his now ex-wife Ganga seem to frequently forget that Mihir and Tulsi are his elder uncle and aunt, NOT his parents. Sahil is also supposedly in near-penury after losing his share of the family-properties, and yet neither his father nor his younger brother Tarun are mentioned as having had any share at all during the division of the properties. Actually, they are not mentioned as even being dead or alive. Sahil is in better shape than his sibling. At least we know he exists!
And the most in-your-face glitch of all, after Mihir burns every photograph even partially featuring Tulsi in the house, this very wealthy corporate family's multitude of members have no way to get another photo of Tulsi, so a sketch made of Tulsi pre-plumpness (Mihir's fond memory of Tulsi sensibly prefers her slim) by a remorseful Mihir is displayed in various sizes in the house and among some of the family-members' individual personal effects. The woman was featured with various close-up headshot photographs of her in various newspaper-articles on several Virani-scandal occasions. And there were several scandals. None of the Viranis had commonsense enough to go to the newspapers' headquarters and inveigle their way into obtaining a picture of Tulsi Virani from the archives? If you've had the good or bad luck to have a family-member's face plastered in tabloids, don't presume that the tabloid in question has had the bad luck to lose their archive-contents. But wait, if there was such a photo of Tulsi in the house when Tulsi's foster-daughter walked in, the girl wouldn't have had the excuse of believing the supposedly dead woman to be a mere looklaike of her foster-mother.
Tulsi's foster-daughter. Krishnatulsi. There was a huge thing made about finding a girl who'd be Tulsi's image - charismatic, inspiring, righteous. Actually, the huge delay in finding her turned out to be a damp squib when the veil of secrecy was finally lifted. Mouni Roy is a competent actor but lacks charisma, and has been thoroughly overshadowed by her love-interest 'Lakshya' played by Pulkit Samrat who's turned into a rage. Smriti Malhotra Irani's 'Tulsi' held her own on both acting and charisma fronts from the very start of the series. 'Krishnatulsi' is not the next 'Tulsi', she's just one of the characters and far less charismatic than fellow peer 'Bhumi' played superbly by Reshmi Ghosh.
But the bottomline is that, all these shortcomings notwithstanding, 'Kyunki...' is a fictional serial, with the sole purpose of entertainment which it fulfills perfectly. Criticisms in their own place, the serial does what it has to to maintain its ratings. The performances are almost all sterling, the characters' chemistry with each other is at worst passable and at best magic, and the dialogues produce the rare gem that's worth waiting for. And perhaps the greatest proof of KSBKBT's Midas touch is that those of its actors who have gone on to do leads in serials of stupendous ('Kumkum', 'Saara Akaash') and passable ('Palkhi') success are still remembered *at least* as well for their KSBKBT roles. A series which started a trend, and even though it has jettisoned a lot of its goodsense as ballast along the way, it still leads the pack. Because its cast and crew have the combined capability to polish up the product so you keep coming back for more. And its poorest effort is better than most serials' best. Better enacted, better packaged and better presented.
Hindi TV Shows
