On the Sets OF Sarabhai vs sarabhai-

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Monika

@monika.goel

Sparkler

Posted: 19 years ago

Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, a rollicking comedy on Star One, is gearing up to celebrate its 52nd week of continuous run. Featuring Satish Shah, Ratna Pathak Shah (in the picture), Sumeet Raghavan, Rupali Ganguly and Rajesh Kumar, the show is about a la-di-da mother-in-law, who constantly cribs about her daughter-in-law. The sets of the family's rich-looking apartment are located in Kanjur Marg, in suburban Mumbai.

The show airs on Monday, 9 pm, with a repeat show at 11.30 pm. You can also catch it on Tuesdays at 12 noon and Sundays, at 6.30 pm

Lights! Camera! Roll! Satish Shah talks frantically on the phone, as his hassled wife looks on. Thing is, their son has been kidnapped, and Shah is on the phone with the kidnappers trying to haggle over the ransom. Cut! Time for lunch!

But not before heading to Satish Shah's room to rehearse the next shot for a couple of minutes. The cast have their own rooms backstage, nameplates giving each character's name.

The menu for the day was chapati, rice, dal, two vegetable dishes, papad, raita and rasgolla.

The serial held a contest a while ago, and the winner, Sunil Dave (standing), won a cameo on the show. Dave, who makes plays the stock market, is an avid viewer of the serial. Glowing with happiness, Dave seems clueless about his part. He hails from Ahmedabad, and will be in Mumbai for three days. Scriptwriter Aatish Kapadia hints that Dave's character will be 'a part of the solution to a crisis'.

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Monika

@monika.goel

Sparkler

Posted: 19 years ago

Deven Bhojani (extreme right), a very popular face on television, makes his debut as director with this serial. He says, "I am happy before as well as behind the camera." His mantra for a successful serial is script, performance, direction, good production values and a lot of hard work.

Though the core cast -- the Sarabhai family -- remains the same, new characters are introduced in the serial from time to time.

After lunch, it's back to work. But the unit is enjoying itself, and it's soon teatime. Satish Shah goes to sleep. No, not an afternoon siesta, but the actor was not keeping well. Of course, you would not have guessed it from his brilliant performance. Of the rest of the cast, Ratna says, "Maya (her character) is someone I would love to be in real life but am not. So I enjoy being Maya!" Ratna Pathak Shah has acted in only four serials in 20 years. Her first was the big hit, Idhar Udhar.

Rupali, daughter of director Anil Ganguly (Kora Kagaz), says, "Crying comes very easy to me. I've acted in six serials before this. I enjoy my role as the daughter-in-law. I am not acting, I'm just playing myself!"

Fans claim the youngest son in the family, Roshesh (Rajesh Kumar), is the funniest. "This is my big break," he says, and promises not to let his new-found success go to his head. About acting with veterans like Satish Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah, he says, "In the first schedule, they went out of the way to make us feel comfortable. They treat me like their son. It's fun working with them but I still respect them. They treat me like a person and not as an actor."

He claims that even if you have talent, luck is very important for success. Is he interested in films? Pat comes the answer, "It's better to be a king on TV than a beggar in films." Sumeet Raghavan, the older son, claims that TV is enhanced when theatre artists join the medium because they are more disciplined than others.

"Ours is a no-nonsense team," he says. "You cannot say anything can happen here."

https://specials.rediff.com/movies/2005/jun/29sld1.htm

Edited by monika.goel - 19 years ago