Was Smriti Irani's exit pre-planned?

Smriti Irani has apparently bid adieu to the mother of all soap saga's 'Kyunki saas bhi kabh bahu thi'. While the viewers mourn the death of the first 'dutiful daughter in law' of the small screen, is there more than what meets the eye?

Sources tell TIMES NOW that the sudden death of Smriti's iconic character of Tulsi as predecided and prescripted as part of the soap. Reports suggest that Smriti Irani has only made an exit to return later and the supposed fall out between the producers and Tulsi is just a gimmick to increase eyeballs. So was it all a cleverly scripted move?

The media blitzkrieg over the characters exit from the show and the supposed rift between Ekta and Smriti has been unprecedented. Smriti Irani and the producers could have reached a compromise, as Smriti is acting and producing her own show on another channel and keeping in mind her popularity as Tulsi, she could have been give time off to concentrate on her own show.

It's common knowledge that a characters death has always resulted in a TRP surge. Long running international soaps have always relied on the formula of killing characters only to bring them back later, the producers could very well be following the same.

Gautami Kapoor, the new Tulsi in 'Kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi', says, "I'm sure Ekta has certain things on her mind and if that's the way its going to be, I don't oppose that it at all." However, TV actor, Ronit Roy refused to comment on this and said, "I have no clue and I am not part of this. I don't want to talk."

Balaji might have got a new replacement to play the part of Tulsi, but the count down has already begun as to when and how will the TV's favourite actor make a comeback as Tulsi.