Gloves Off! Smriti vs Rajan Shahi, Anupamaa crew war intensifies. - Page 18

Originally posted by: BangBang_Shilpa

And Sara bhai 1 is not comparable to kyunki 1 at all and sara bhai 2 was a flop.

This Sarabhai comparison is hilarious. Sarabhai 1 was a flop in its OG TV run. Sarabhai 2 didn't release on TV as far as I recall, it came directly on OTT and majority didn't find it upto the mark. Roshesh and his poems were most popular, anyways. Monisha doesn't have the recall value as Tulsi.

Kyunki 1 was released on TV and Kyunki 2 was released on TV too.

In fact, Khichdi (another comedy show like Sarabhai) moved from TV to movie.

Dragging Sarabhai into the dirt like this when it has nothing to do with Anupamaa or Kyunki is

Originally posted by: Snowfally

This Sarabhai comparison is hilarious. Sarabhai 1 was a flop in its OG TV run. Sarabhai 2 didn't release on TV as far as I recall, it came directly on OTT and majority didn't find it upto the mark. Roshesh and his poems were most popular, anyways. Monisha doesn't have the recall value as Tulsi.

Kyunki 1 was released on TV and Kyunki 2 was released on TV too.

In fact, Khichdi (another comedy show like Sarabhai) moved from TV to movie.

Dragging Sarabhai into the dirt like this when it has nothing to do with Anupamaa or Kyunki is

Originally posted by: BangBang_Shilpa

Yeah, I have seen this comment by Zalak before. And I found this comparison by her hilarious. In terms of popularity, Tulsi > Monisha. In fact to my understanding, Roshesh was more popular than Monisha too.

Originally posted by: sweet_tania

Uski acting itni bhi acchi nahi hai. I think famous show ka part banne ke liye she compromised unreasonably.

Kyunki mai actors extremely powerful and evergreen hai like smriti , Barkha , Amar , Hiten , Gauri . Anupama mai ek bhi actor itna manjha hua and evergreen nahi hai.

Sorry to butt in, but how could Anupama have any veteran actors when the leading lady is so full of herself and calls the shots both on and offscreen with the blessings of her producer?

She chased away her colleagues who had been instrumental in making the show a hit too, so why would any new person worth their salt step in?

She and her producer may think she’s the sole reason for the show’s success and popularity but no matter how good a heroine is portrayed and how well an actress performs, unless she’s got a good cast and storyline nothing works.

Unimaginable as it may be for her to accept, if Sudhanshu had not managed to pull off the asshole husband character with such aplomb this show would’ve failed from the beginning. Because he was so good at invoking anger, people sympathised with Anupama.

IIRC, Gaurav stepped in much later, when the show was already a success; but she made Sudhanshu who was there from day one quit too. Tells you everything.

Smriti worked with a much bigger ensemble cast and not one person in 8 years complained about her toxic behaviour towards them.

Originally posted by: ShahH8er

This may or may not be a meme but Anupamaa is certainly a joke. The so-called great scene that they're hyping up, was literally a farce where Anupamaa pretended to berate her criminal son and made tall claims about disowning him. Asked her weak doormat DIL to do so as well. Her son didn't even bother to look for work or housing by himself. Just stole some jewelry from their house to settle his debts from gambling and food to sustain himself. Two days later, she took him back in and everyone forgot about it because they had to move on to the next ridiculous idea.

These are the kind of storylines that they are proud of. It's utterly jarring that this shabby scarecrow is portrayed as anything close to women empowerment. She has failed at everything in her life. Not just every professional venture she undertook but failed at giving good upbringing to her children and grandchildren. Yet, she shamelessly wants to lecture the whole world and wants her non-existent virtues to be extolled. A paragon of hypocrisy at it's best and she certainly can't be compared to much better characters like Tulsi or Parvati, who had a moral compass and a spine that Anupamaa never did.

And she is always either shouting and screaming or crying to elicit sympathy in every other scene. Even when the situation isn't heated. Zero dignity, grace or poise in her behaviour whatsoever.

I lost it at Shabby Scarecrow! That’s truly inspired!

@bold - I think this is where the difference truly is. She keeps on hammering about years of abuse ending a marriage after 26 years. To make herself feel better and look tall, she points out how she divorced her husband once he crossed the line and cheated on her. But did a formal divorce on paper really change anything? From what I understand, she never practically left her in-laws and their house to fend for themselves. I understand being unable to cut off her children but why would you still care for the rest? You can be cordial and respectful but if you choose to move on and then even married someone else, why the fixation with your ex in-laws and their home?

Tulsi and Parvati are in comparison shown as women who are now married for nearly 4 decades with their husbands and despite their share of challenges and hurdles, those couples have stuck together with each other regardless. Neither of them ever looked down upon their role as homemakers and when they faced a difficult time in their marriage and ended up being even humiliated by their husbands or hurt by their words they didn’t start blaming their lack of financial independence and a career, didn’t think it would automatically solve their problems.

She can’t manage her own children but Tulsi and Parvati are seen as parenting even their nieces and nephews as a mother would and neither resorts to the kind of behaviour that Anupama shows when it comes to being a mother. One with passive aggressiveness, taunts, public humiliation, repeated beating and berating of their children or making them feel unloved as well as unwanted as is the case with her adopted daughter from what I understand.


It’s utterly baffling and bizarre how this woman is being paraded as a model of women empowerment when onscreen her only wins are shown via ludicrous competitions that she inevitably has to compete in and win regardless of age, format or skill set, but her personal as well as professional lives are in shambles. Honestly, at this point it wouldn’t surprise me if she competes in a sasta version of Khatron Ke Khiladi as a part of some Nayi Udaan she’s undertaking to prove women can participate in competitions that can break your bones at best and nearly kill you at worst at 60 plus years of age and still win.

While in 8 years of Kyunki, Kahani and Kasauti, I don’t remember Tulsi, Parvati and Prerna so much as competing in their neighbourhood’s rangoli making competition and winning 101 rupees as a prize!

I genuinely have to wonder which bizarre dictionary did makers of Anupama stumble upon to understand the term “women empowerment”.

Originally posted by: EkPaheli

Sorry to butt in, but how could Anupama have any veteran actors when the leading lady is so full of herself and calls the shots both on and offscreen with the blessings of her producer?

She chased away her colleagues who had been instrumental in making the show a hit too, so why would any new person worth their salt step in?

She and her producer may think she’s the sole reason for the show’s success and popularity but no matter how good a heroine is portrayed and how well an actress performs, unless she’s got a good cast and storyline nothing works.

Unimaginable as it may be for her to accept, if Sudhanshu had not managed to pull off the asshole husband character with such aplomb this show would’ve failed from the beginning. Because he was so good at invoking anger, people sympathised with Anupama.

IIRC, Gaurav stepped in much later, when the show was already a success; but she made Sudhanshu who was there from day one quit too. Tells you everything.

Smriti worked with a much bigger ensemble cast and not one person in 8 years complained about her toxic behaviour towards them.

When they had a generation leap, they got a relatively new actress for the role of Anupamaa's adopted daughter. Considering the character's background of an adopted child who was neglected by her mother and then grew up by herself in difficult circumstances; she was portraying the angst and emotional turmoil quite decently and holding her own in the conflict scenes with the insecure, conceited lead (who apparently has more experience than anyone in the industry, as per her bird-brained followers).

It didn't take long for the producers to sack her without even giving an opportunity to improve, by giving a flimsy reason that the chemistry between her and the male character opposite her isn't working out. Though the actor playing the male character wasn't fired (coincidentally, he keeps buttering the lead to no end). The new actress brought in to play the character doesn't forget to praise the lead and subsequently, the character became inconsistent, remembering her past grievances only on momentous occasions and almost seeming like an ingrate to the mother (who never cared much for her). And they flipped the narrative this way.

Such shenanigans are a constant on the sets of Anupamaa. Both with newcomers and veteran actors. Most of the original actors who left, have attested to it in interviews. The conceited and egoistic lead is so insecure and jealous that she can't share the spotlight at all and everyone has to kowtow before her. The fact that most of the cast rushing to defend her are those who joined the cast recently, is telling. While the character and actor keeps getting glorified, nothing masks the reality where pettiness and lack of grace are the norm and toxic behaviour is normalised by the head honcho at the production. (even in their other show, actors are pit against each other and the bullying leads keep taking shots on social media at other actors portraying characters in the same show)

Originally posted by: EkPaheli

I lost it at Shabby Scarecrow! That’s truly inspired!

@bold - I think this is where the difference truly is. She keeps on hammering about years of abuse ending a marriage after 26 years. To make herself feel better and look tall, she points out how she divorced her husband once he crossed the line and cheated on her. But did a formal divorce on paper really change anything? From what I understand, she never practically left her in-laws and their house to fend for themselves. I understand being unable to cut off her children but why would you still care for the rest? You can be cordial and respectful but if you choose to move on and then even married someone else, why the fixation with your ex in-laws and their home?

Tulsi and Parvati are in comparison shown as women who are now married for nearly 4 decades with their husbands and despite their share of challenges and hurdles, those couples have stuck together with each other regardless. Neither of them ever looked down upon their role as homemakers and when they faced a difficult time in their marriage and ended up being even humiliated by their husbands or hurt by their words they didn’t start blaming their lack of financial independence and a career, didn’t think it would automatically solve their problems.

She can’t manage her own children but Tulsi and Parvati are seen as parenting even their nieces and nephews as a mother would and neither resorts to the kind of behaviour that Anupama shows when it comes to being a mother. One with passive aggressiveness, taunts, public humiliation, repeated beating and berating of their children or making them feel unloved as well as unwanted as is the case with her adopted daughter from what I understand.


It’s utterly baffling and bizarre how this woman is being paraded as a model of women empowerment when onscreen her only wins are shown via ludicrous competitions that she inevitably has to compete in and win regardless of age, format or skill set, but her personal as well as professional lives are in shambles. Honestly, at this point it wouldn’t surprise me if she competes in a sasta version of Khatron Ke Khiladi as a part of some Nayi Udaan she’s undertaking to prove women can participate in competitions that can break your bones at best and nearly kill you at worst at 60 plus years of age and still win.

While in 8 years of Kyunki, Kahani and Kasauti, I don’t remember Tulsi, Parvati and Prerna so much as competing in their neighbourhood’s rangoli making competition and winning 101 rupees as a prize!

I genuinely have to wonder which bizarre dictionary did makers of Anupama stumble upon to understand the term “women empowerment”.

I love how you have summed it up. Have you been a frequent viewer of the show? What I have seen is that she has a penchant for being the victim in every scenario and then also wanting to be an enlightened, omniscient being who lectures everyone at the same time.

She hops from one cause to the other and abandons her precious dreams in a jiffy to slave for her ex-husband's manipulative parents. She consistently condones the misdeeds of her children and her pathetic upbringing has spurred them to get away with absolutely anything. She never took a stand against her abusive ex-mother-in-law, who still actively curses her at times, instead choosing to deify her as some goddess and brainwash other women into doing so. At one point, she was supposedly caring for an orphaned child (who her fans pit against the adoptive daughter they hated for wanting her mother's attention). And then this child was made to work like a servant by her godly ex-mother-in-law while she just watched. Subsequently, this child disappeared and no one cared.

So, the list of her histrionics is too long that it'll take the whole day. And this is not even getting into the whole mess of a second marriage where she actively ignored her husband to run back to her ex-in-laws every moment.

A character like this cannot be a protagonist under any scenario and is more fitting as an antagonist. She can be compared to a Tripti and not Tulsi.

Originally posted by: ShahH8er

When they had a generation leap, they got a relatively new actress for the role of Anupamaa's adopted daughter. Considering the character's background of an adopted child who was neglected by her mother and then grew up by herself in difficult circumstances; she was portraying the angst and emotional turmoil quite decently and holding her own in the conflict scenes with the insecure, conceited lead (who apparently has more experience than anyone in the industry, as per her bird-brained followers).

It didn't take long for the producers to sack her without even giving an opportunity to improve, by giving a flimsy reason that the chemistry between her and the male character opposite her isn't working out. Though the actor playing the male character wasn't fired (coincidentally, he keeps buttering the lead to no end). The new actress brought in to play the character doesn't forget to praise the lead and subsequently, the character became inconsistent, remembering her past grievances only on momentous occasions and almost seeming like an ingrate to the mother (who never cared much for her). And they flipped the narrative this way.

Such shenanigans are a constant on the sets of Anupamaa. Both with newcomers and veteran actors. Most of the original actors who left, have attested to it in interviews. The conceited and egoistic lead is so insecure and jealous that she can't share the spotlight at all and everyone has to kowtow before her. The fact that most of the cast rushing to defend her are those who joined the cast recently, is telling. While the character and actor keeps getting glorified, nothing masks the reality where pettiness and lack of grace are the norm and toxic behaviour is normalised by the head honcho at the production. (even in their other show, actors are pit against each other and the bullying leads keep taking shots on social media at other actors portraying characters in the same show)

Yeah, it’s sad what happened to that girl. From what I understand she’s even under a contract with Shahi for the next couple of years which includes an exclusivity clause.

Shahi’s behaving like the Yashraj of TV, unfortunately he doesn’t have half the money, prolific shows and fame they do as a PH and yet he gets away with it.

Also regarding the male lead not being replaced, I think it’s a pattern with Shahi, his female leads often end up being at odds with him and quit the show while he never seems to ever have any issues with a single male actor. Seems like a misogynistic to me, ironic given his show promotes so-called women empowerment. The cherry on top of this cake is that perhaps Anupama is the only show where the reverse has happened and it tells you everything when the actors and actresses who quit all point out how toxic RG is as a colleague. Probably the only heroine he has never had an issue with as well - like recognises like I suppose and sticks together.

Originally posted by: ShahH8er

I love how you have summed it up. Have you been a frequent viewer of the show? What I have seen is that she has a penchant for being the victim in every scenario and then also wanting to be an enlightened, omniscient being who lectures everyone at the same time.

She hops from one cause to the other and abandons her precious dreams in a jiffy to slave for her ex-husband's manipulative parents. She consistently condones the misdeeds of her children and her pathetic upbringing has spurred them to get away with absolutely anything. She never took a stand against her abusive ex-mother-in-law, who still actively curses her at times, instead choosing to deify her as some goddess and brainwash other women into doing so. At one point, she was supposedly caring for an orphaned child (who her fans pit against the adoptive daughter they hated for wanting her mother's attention). And then this child was made to work like a servant by her godly ex-mother-in-law while she just watched. Subsequently, this child disappeared and no one cared.

So, the list of her histrionics is too long that it'll take the whole day. And this is not even getting into the whole mess of a second marriage where she actively ignored her husband to run back to her ex-in-laws every moment.

A character like this cannot be a protagonist under any scenario and is more fitting as an antagonist. She can be compared to a Tripti and not Tulsi.

My goodness, I do know a lot about the show and I understand why you’d think I’m a disgruntled viewer and a disappointed fan but no, ALL my knowledge comes from being the venting board of one of my closest friends of IF for over a decade whom I met on the YHM forum and who got into Anupama later.

We have still maintained our friendship and chat, so ends up venting to me and I absorbed everything like a sponge, perhaps because one day I was meant to post stuff here

Yeah, my friend has mentioned everything you said and she was initially so angry at her ex, then fell in love with Gaurav’s character and his chemistry with RG. But gradually she’s become so angry with the show and with the actress that she’s often mentioned if it would have been better for Gaurav’s character to simply adopt a child on his own and be a single dad than for him to marry this woman who ruined him. She kinda started hoping for Anupama to end up with her ex all over again at some point too I think, just because she was so angry and frustrated. Stating how Anuj deserves better, a Nayi Udaan of his too, far away from Anupama even if it took him to the far end of the galaxy

Frankly she’s made me respect Tripti, Mandira, Payal etc. as characters because at the end of the day, evil as they were, these women never claimed to be perfect role models or wives or anything and never made any secret regarding their intentions, goals or even their traits as a person and a character. This one here is a chameleon masquerading as an ideal woman who is a heroine that can be an inspiration to others and teach them everything from cooking, dancing to raising children to everything and anything under the sun; only for her to have nothing concrete to show for her so-called accomplishments.

At least the likes of Tripti never played a victim card, never proclaimed themselves as some virtuous role model who despite doing everything right ends up howling woe is me.

They’re not wolf in sheep’s clothing for sure as this one surely is - both on and offscreen from whatever is known now.

Originally posted by: Snowfally

This Sarabhai comparison is hilarious. Sarabhai 1 was a flop in its OG TV run. Sarabhai 2 didn't release on TV as far as I recall, it came directly on OTT and majority didn't find it upto the mark. Roshesh and his poems were most popular, anyways. Monisha doesn't have the recall value as Tulsi.

Kyunki 1 was released on TV and Kyunki 2 was released on TV too.

In fact, Khichdi (another comedy show like Sarabhai) moved from TV to movie.

Dragging Sarabhai into the dirt like this when it has nothing to do with Anupamaa or Kyunki is

Sarabhai was a flop but still it became iconic like kyunki.Crediting the whole success of Sarabhai to RG is hilarious.