Karamchand is back with more carrots

The 80s produced some of the most quality-oriented television programmes. Unfort-unately, we have forgotten about stories that are more real and not just about sari, sindoor, saas and bahu," says Pankaj Kapur, who is returning to the small screen as Karamchand, the popular detective of the television series that had gained immense popularity in India when it was telecast in 1984.

The 13-episode series that is being aired on Sony will offer the audience more variety and also give them a break from the usual stories that are being aired. "When I travelled to various places and interacted with people, they often asked me what more could I offer to them as an actor," says Kapur who was struck by this thought. The other reason that made him take up the role of Karamchand after 20 years was the producer and the director of the show, Pankuj Parashar.

"The show is essentially the same. What has changed in these years is only the fact that we were young then," says a witty Kapur, quickly adding, "We are still not old." What was striking about the shows of the 80s was their association with the audience. Though there was only one channel, the level of acceptance in people's lives was very high. So, while there used to be a curfew-like silence on Sunday mornings when Ramayan would go on air, Karamchand's tag line for his secretary, "Shut up Kitty," and his carrot munching became very popular.

"There are some shows that are instantly associated by their names, and Karamchand is surely one of them," says Sandeep Sickand, the creative head of Sony Entertainment. He adds, "The target audience for this show is going to be people across all genres, for those who have seen the earlier series 20 years ago, it will be a revival of the past, and for those who never got a chance to see it, this will be a brand new show." Another new feature of the show is that the bubbly role of Kitty, the slightly dumb and confused secretary of Karamchand is being played by Sucheta Khanna. Besides that, the technological changes over the years will have affected Karamchand, who works with his brains, But Kitty will be tech savvy.