Kyunkii har serial kuch kehta hai-Artical

Kyunkii har serial kuch kehta hai, so tune in

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent | Mumbai
A little over a year after the birth of one of Ekta Kapoor's most-popular daily soaps, 'Kyunkii Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi', the death of Mihir, the lead character (then played by Amar Upadhya) led to nation-wide protests. It was then that the country, TV channels and perhaps Ekta herself woke up to the reality that daily soaps were here to stay.

They have stayed alright, and survived nearly a decade of twists, deaths, rebirths, plastic surgeries, generation leaps, et al. So much so that the recent news from Ekta Kapoor's production house about Smriti Irani returning as Tulsi, a role she was probably born to play, has delighted K-serial fans.

"Some of these shows have been there for years," says actor Ronit Roy, who plays Mihir in Kyunkii... The characters have grown to become a part of viewers' lives. Watching these daily soaps is like a ritual, a die-hard habit."

No wonder that the most bizarre twists give the biggest push to a serial's popularity.

Baa of Kyunkii... is probably 500 years old. Almost all of these serials have undergone at least two 'bees saal baad' generation leaps, but the actors still remain young and stylish; the lead actors in serials like 'Kumkum' (Juhi Parmar-Hussain) and 'Banoo Main Teri Dulhan' (Divyanka Tripathi-Sharad Malhotra) die and are reborn as younger characters in another part of the world.

There are also villains like Mandira and Komolika, who keep appearing, disappearing and reappearing at will. "Some characters simply vanish into thin air," points out advertising executive, Sikita Seth. "It's brain-dead entertainment and more often than not, there's nothing else interesting on TV at this time. It's like picking the best of the worst," she says.

Techie Meera C, agrees, "I tried persuading my mom to watch something else. It didn't work. What did happen though, is that she managed to get me hooked on to her favourite serials on the pretext of 'keeping her company'. Now we use prime time to catch up on our daily activities and gossip, enjoy family dinners, etc."

"We even bet on the various twists in the tale and bloopers and loopholes in the plot," adds Nikita. It's quite a hot topic of discussion at parties too. "That's how I was greeted at one of the parties, recently, 'Did you know Smriti is coming back as Tulsi?' Not politics, not sports," laughs Kruneel Rao, an media professional.

No matter how much they try and hide it, daily soaps have many male fans as well. And even if the plot doesn't attract you, the designers suits and sarees, cockroach-bindis, exclusive jewellery, weird hairdos and character makeovers will.

"Parvati Agarwal (Sakshi Tanwar) looked great after she came back as Janki Devi. Manish Malhotra's styling has given a whole new edge to her character," says Mythreyi T, an entrepreneur. "The numerous twists and turns only add to the fun. It doesn't matter how many wives or husbands the characters have and how ridiculous the return-of-the-dead concept sounds. It's good time-pass after a hard day's work," she adds.