Articles on PKG - Page 2

Piya Ka Ghar to bid adieu


Lovers of Zee's afternoon band will have to get accustomed to a new line up of
shows.
Reth and Piya Ka Ghar, two of the channel's steady and stable shows, will be bowed out by mid February. On the cards is a reshuffle of its existing shows like Paalkhi, and the recent entry of new properties like Kasamh Se and Mamta.


Sources say the channel plans a complete revamp of the noon band shortly.

Piya Ka Ghar, launched in 2003, has the distinction of being the longest running shows on Zee, having already clocked 730 episodes. Sighs producer Sheel Kumar of Shreya Creations, "Piya Ka Ghar was my first show as a 'proper family drama', and it's done exceptionally well. It's sad letting it go, but I guess, all good things eventually come to an end!"


Narayani Shastri, who carved a niche for herself as the long suffering Rimjhim and later doubled up as her daughter Megha for a while, says, "Of course, we are all feeling very bad, but I guess, it had to end some time."

Narayani currently is toying with some offers in hand, but does not intend to take any up till she's had a short break.


By THE TELLY CHAKKAR TEAM
Posted on 19 January 2005 7:30 pm

Piya Ka Ghar readies itself for grand finale
By: Tushar Joshi
January 20, 2006
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Narayani Shastri in
Piya Ka Ghar
After a period of three-and-a-half years, Piya Ka Ghar is winding up its act on Zee.

Confirming this producer Sheel Kumar said, "Yes PKG is coming to an end. We have another 15 episodes remaining, and then it's the end. It's a difficult moment for me as well as the entire cast to say good-bye to the show. But since the channel has come to a decision we cannot overrule that."

Record number of shows

Kumar is proud of the fact that the show completed 730 successful episodes. "I don't think even Astitva has this figure to its credit." So wasn't he hoping to touch the 1000 mark? "Yes I was. But I am still happy with what I had set out to achieve with this show. It has been one of my most memorable experiences."

When asked if there will be a farewell for the cast he said, "Yes we are going to meet and plan a nice party. The last day of shoot is going to be difficult for sure," said Sheel who is also producing Ek Ladki Anjani Si along with Shrey Guleri.

Shastri's unhappy

Narayani Shastri who plays the lead role of Rimjhim on the show isn't too happy with the early end to the show. "It isn't a great feeling to wake up one day and find out that a show you have given your everything to, is coming to an end. Even though I did Kkusum in between, Piya Ka Ghar has always been closest to my heart."

But what about the issues Narayani had with the producers and she threatened to quit the show? "I don't deny that situation did deteriorate story wise in between and I wanted to leave. But all said and done, I stuck to the show because I was emotionally attachmented to it."

Bigger than Saas Bhi Kabhi…

Was she was happy with the way PKG was ending? "I don't think the show deserved to be shut down. Whenever I talk to Gaurav (Chopra) who's in South Africa right now, he keeps telling me how big the show is there. It is even bigger than what Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi is in Mumbai."

Down memory lane

Her most cherished memory working on the show? "The first two years were fabulous. I didn't feel like I was working, it was like one big family. I met my best friend Priyanka on the show, and also got to learn a lot from my co-actors and director.

Also the fact that I got to play the role of a 50-year-old woman, 20-year-old youngster and a girl of nine years speaks volumes. I don't think I would have got this opportunity on any other show."
So what's up ahead for Narayani ? "I am open to anything and everything.

But I am definitely not going to play another bahu." The actress is busy rehearsing for Sony's Aap Jaisa Koi awards night to be held tonight

Rimjhim to die

Piya Ka Ghar protagonist dies of cancer

Sapana Patil

Piya Ka Ghar, Zee TV's the afternoon daily is set to close shop. And it's leading lady Rimjhim (Narayani Shastri) will breathe her last with it.

In a never-before kind of ending, the serial makers are planning a scene that will leave the audience shocked.

Producer Sheel Kumar says, "We are ending the serial with Rimjhim's death. We are showing this because according Indian tradition it is said that a girl leaves her maternal house in a palanquin and departs only on a pyre from her marital house."

Most television serials end on a happy note. How will the audiences react to this unusual tragic end? "The end is neither tragic nor sudden," says Kumar. "Rimjhim is suffering from cancer. I feel such an end is justified. All her life, she sacrificed her happiness for her family. She did everything to keep her family united. In all these travails, she ignored her own wellbeing."

"It will be a highly emotional scene. It will be executed in a very dramatic manner. Rimjhim will also be aware that she is going to die," adds Kumar.

On the other hand Narayani Shastri says that she is clueless about how the audience will react to her death. She asserts, "I believe it is the right ending. Moreover, happy endings sound boring."

Shooting for the tragic last scene could well leave the crew on the sets of Piya ka Ghar with tears in their eyes!

• It will be a highly emotional scene. It will be executed in a very dramatic manner. Rimjhim will also be aware that she is going to die— Sheel Kumar

Sushmita Mukherjee
Resident of Link Road

"I was cast opposite Pankaj Kapoor in Kab Tak Pukaru on Doordarshan (aired around 10 years ago) where I played the role of Pyaari — a wanderer who earned her living on a daily basis. I think that was the best role I have played on screen.

Sushmita's new lingo

Sushmita Mukherjee It's 21 years since I played Kitty in Karamchand, yet people still refer to me as her," says Sushmita Mukherjee. "Not that I am complaining. I take it as a compliment that people still remember me in that character," she adds. Mukherjee, who has featured in soaps like Kahiin Kissi Roz (Star Plus), Public Hai Sab Janati Hai and Ramkhilavan CM and Family (both SAB TV) will now be seen in Balaji's Kkavyanjali (Star Plus) which stars Amrita Singh. The soap goes on air from January 25. "It's a cute character of Romila Nanda in the serial, with Kay Kay playing the role of my husband Rudrak who is totally besotted with me. We have three children in the show," she adds. Amrita Singh, who plays the character of Nitya is Rudrak's elder cousin's wife, with Vidya Sinha as the mother-in-law. "It is a saga of two families and we are from the boy, Kkavya's side," adds Mukherjee. The daily soap has her role laced with humour. "Romila is a fun woman. She is from Punjab and has a particular way of speaking English, with some hilarious pronounciations. It is not pidgin English, but Romila English," laughs Mukherjee. "There are those typical pronounciations which only Romila can do. On the personal front, Mukherjee is married to actor-director Raja Bundela and has two sons, Rudraansh and Rudraanuj. "There is only a year's difference between both of them. I treat them like twins," she says. While on the acting scene, she is content doing with whatever she has at the moment. "I don't want to push myself too much by taking on too many assignments."

STAGE SCENE Sushmita Mukherjee, who has done plenty of theatre, now plans to dramatise a collection of short stories which have been written by her. "It is called Dibaa (Box) and I am planning to stage it at the Habitat Centre, New Delhi," she says. FILM FRONT On the big screen, Sushmita Mukherjee will be seen in: • Balaji films Kitne Kool Ha Hum, which stars Tusshar Kapoor, as well as in Koi Aap Sa, which has Aftab Shivdasani and Natassha. • In TV director Inderjit's (Amanat) film, which is yet to roll

Sushmita Mukherjee

Most actors take credit for a character that has actually been fleshed out by the writer, but the essence of Romila in Kkavyanjali is Sushmita Mukherjee.

"Romila is important to the Nandas because like so many big families, she keeps the house running. But she's an emotional thing and so silly, talking all the time," says Sushmita.

While Ekta Kapoor and other creative heads have etched the character out, what adds a dash of tadka to Romila is Sushmita's own little inputs.

"They gave the skeleton and I've added my interpretation - there are scenes where I don't have lines, but they still let me ad lib. It seems as if Romila has to say something all the time."

And what touches has Sushmita brought to Romila's brand of pidgin English? "Her catchphrase is 'the he' or 'the she' and that's something I came up with," she says animatedly.