Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi

Infobox Television
show_name = Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi
क्योंिक सास भी कभी बहू थी

format = Soap
picture_format = 576i (SDTV),
runtime = 24 minutes
creator = Balaji Telefilms
producer = Ekta Kapoor & Shobha Kapoor
starring = see below
opentheme = "Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi" by Priya Bhattacharya
country = IND
network = STAR Plus
first_aired = July 3 , 2000
last_aired = present
num_episodes = 1811 as of 06 October, 2008
website = http://starplus.indya.com/serials/kyunki/index.html

"Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi" (क्योंिक सास भी कभी बहू थी - Because a Mother-in-law was once a Daughter-in-law too) is a popular Hindi TV soap opera produced by Balaji Telefilms, that revolves around the lives of the fictitious Virani family. The show has been airing since year 2000 on STAR Plus channel worldwide.

About The Show

The story focuses on the wealthy Virani family, which hails from Gujarat. The Viranis are quite successful and well-known in the corporate world. The story is mainly focused on Tulsi Virani, daughter of the family priest, who elopes with the family's eldest son, Mihir. The entire family except Govardhan Virani (the patriach) and Amba Virani (the matriarch) (played by Sudha Shivpuri) are against it. Due to anger, the daughters-in-law of the family, Savita (Apara Mehta), Daksha (Ketaki Dave) and Gayatri (Kamalika Guhathakurta) blame Tulsi for charming Mihir into marrying her and entering their rich household from a smaller, middle-class family. However, due to respect and belief in God Shri Shrinathji, called Thakurji, a form of Lord Krishna, Tulsi fights the injustice and battles her mother-in-law and "devranis" (wives of the younger brothers of a woman's husband). The entire serial focuses on the battle between the mothers-in-law and Tulsi and in the process teaching them a lesson and earning respect from her family members.

Return of Smriti Irani

As of April 10, 2008, Smriti Irani will once again reprise her role as Tulsi Virani and replace Gautami Kapoor. This is after a break of over 8 months. It was at the Balaji Global Indian Television Awards held a few months ago where Balaji chief Ekta Kapoor decided that she made a huge mistake and decided to patch things up with Smriti, after the latter left the show.

Hype in the media and opposition by students

The return of Smriti Irani in the soap was covered as a major news item with such B class titles as "Tulsi phir aangan mein" and the likes on the current crop of entertainment oriented Indian News Channels.

The Undergraduate Student Community of India, although not as a unit, has shown dissatisfaction in this hype up of a relatively minor issue when the same day (April 10, 2008) The honorable Supreme Court Of India ordered the Govt. of India to reserve College Seats in all faculties for students belonging to the OBC strata. The simultaneous broadcast of the two news items with each receiving a continous airtime of half an hour is overtly gratifying for the Telenovella.

Characters

Virani family 1st generation

* Govardhan 'Baapuji' Virani -- Dinesh Thakur / Sudhir Dalvi (DEAD)

* Amba 'Baa' (Govardhan) Virani -- Sudha Shivpuri

2nd generation

* Mansukh (Govardhan) Virani -- Shakti Singh (DEAD)

* Savita (Mansukh) Virani -- Apara Mehta (DEAD)

* Himmat (Govardhan) Virani -- Jitendra Trehan

* Daksha (Himmat) Virani -- Ketki Dave

* Pragya (Govardhan) Virani (Naveen) Sanghvi -- Utkarsha Naik (DEAD)

* Naveen Sanghvi -- (DEAD)

* Jamnadas 'JD' (Govardhan) Virani -- Muni Jha

* Gayatri (Jamnadas) Virani -- Kamalika Guhathakurta

3rd generation

* Tulsi (Mihir) Virani -- Smriti Zubin Irani / Gautami Kapoor

* Mihir (Mansukh) Virani -- Amar Upadhyay / Inder Kumar / Ronit Roy

* Kiran (Mansukh) Virani -- Jiten Lalwani

* Aarti Patel (Kiran) Virani -- Eva Grover / Rushali

* Hemant (Jamnadas) Virani -- Shakti Anand

* Pooja (Hemant) Virani -- Prachi Shah

* Suhasi Virani -- Pooja Ghai Rawal

* Rakesh -- Prashant Bhatt

* Chirag (Himmat) Virani -- Hussain Kuwajerwala / Amit Mistry

* Prajakta Deshmukh (Chirag) Virani -- Tuhinaa Vohra

* Sejal (Jamnadas) Virani (Anand) Gandhi -- Khyati Khandke

* Anand Gandhi -- Romanchak Arora

* Mandira Kapadia (Kiran) Virani (Aditya) Gujral -- Mandira Bedi / Achint Kaur

4th generation

* Gautam (Mihir) Virani -- Sumeet Sachdev

* Teesha Mehta (Gautam) Virani -- Ashlesha Sawant (DEAD)

* Damini Khanna (Gautam) Virani -- Riva Babbur / Ravee Gupta

* Aniket -- Shabbir Ahluwalia

* Indira 'Indu' (Anand)Gandhi -- Karishma Tanna

* Shobha (Mihir) Virani (Vishal) Mehra -- Ritu Choudhry Seth

* Vishal (Pratap) Mehra -- Rohit Bakshi (DEAD)

* Abhishek -- Vivan Bhatena / Nasir Qazi

* Karan (Mihir) Virani -- Hiten Tejwani

* Nandini Thakkar (Ansh) Virani (Karan) Virani -- Gauri Pradhan Tejwani

* Tanya Malhotra (Karan) Virani -- Rakshandha Khan

* Sahil (Hemant) Virani -- Sandeep Baswana

* Ganga Joshi (Gautam) Virani (Sahil) Virani Joshi aka Mehta -- Shilpa Sakhlani

* Ansh (Mihir) Virani aka (Aditya) Gujral -- Aakashdeep Saigal (DEAD)

* Shraddha (Ansh) Gujral {posthumously Ansh Virani} -- Moonmoon Bannerjee (DEAD)

* Tarun (Hemant) Virani -- Abhijeet Khurana / Alok Arora

* Tushar -- Manoj Bohra / Pradeep Kharab / Samir Sharma

* Karishma (Kiran) Virani (Shantanu) Dey -- Kiran Dubey

* Tripti (Sahil) Virani -- Suvarna Jha

* Harsh (Mihir) Virani -- Mehul Kajaria

* Mohini (Harsh) Virani -- Tasneem Sheikh

* Shantanu Dey -- Narendra Jha

* Vikram (Naveen) Sanghvi -- Rakesh Paul

* Savri (Chirag) Virani --

* Bavri (Chirag) Virani -- Hansika Motwani / Amita Chandekar

5th generation

* Eklavya (Gautam) Virani {born Ansh Virani aka Gujral} -- Aakashdeep Saigal

* Nakul (Sahil) Virani{born (Gautam Virani} -- Naman Shaw

* Bhoomi Joydeep Virani {nee Ansh Virani aka Gujral} -- Chinky Jaiswal / Reshmi Ghosh

* Pushkar (Vishal) Mehra --

* Laksh (Sahil) Virani -- Pulkit Samrat / Yash Pandit

* Pari (Abhishek) Mehra -- Garima Bhatnagar

* Manthan (Karan and Tanya) Virani -- Amit Tandon

* Archita (Harsh) Virani -- Gunjan

* Mayank (Gautam) Virani -- Rahul Lohani

* Saanchi -- Anita Hassanandani

* Krishna Tulsi Eklavya Virani -- Mouni Roy

* Joydeep Virani- Manav Vij

* Vaidehi Laksh Virani - Twinkle Bajpai

Non-Viranis

* Payal Parikh (Pratap) Mehra -- Jaya Bhattacharya

* Pratap Mehra --

* Anupam Kapadia -- Aman Verma

* Kesar (Anupam) Kapadia -- Narayani Shastri

* Rajeev Mehra --

* Raj Bhasin -- Vishal Puri

* Kabir -- Chaitanya Chaudhary

* Meera Singhania -- Shubhaavi K.

* Aditya Gujral -- Salim Shah (DEAD)

* Maansingh Chauhan -- Chetan Hansraj

* Vijay Saxena -- Makarand Deshpande

* Kaushalya (Kaush) Malhotra Smith -- Suhasini Mulay

* Abir -- Manoj Bidvai / Vikas Sethi
* Inspector Aryan- Sandeep Rajora

* Parvati Om Agrawal -- Sakshi Tanwar

* Shiv Singhania -- Yash Tonk

Crossover

* With Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii and Kayamath on 21st March 2007

* With Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii on 20 December 2007

Awards

The ITA Awards

Winners

In 2001

* Best Actor(Popular) - Amar Upadhyay

* Best Actress (Popular) - Smriti Irani

* Best Serial

* Best Star Cast

In 2002

* Best Actress(Popular) - Smriti Irani

* Best Serial

In 2003

* Best Serial

* Best Actor(Popular - Ronit Roy

* Best Actress(Popular) - Smriti Irani

* Best Audiography - Vikas Patil

In 2004

* Best Actor(Popular - Ronit Roy

* Best Actress(Popular) - Smriti Irani / Mona Singh

* Best Serial

In 2005

* BEST ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE - Shilpa Sakhlani

* Best Actor(Popular) - Hiten Tejwani

* Best Actress(Popular) - Smriti Irani

In 2006

* Best Teleplay - Anil Nagpal

Star Parivaar Awards

Winners

In 2003

* Favourite Maa - Savita Virani

* Favourite Pati - Mihir Virani

* Favourite Bahu - Tulsi Virani

In 2004

* Favourite Dadi - Baa

* Favourite Beta - Karan Virani

* Favourite Maa - Tulsi Virani

* Favourite Pita - Mihir Virani

* Favourite Bhai - Gautam Virani

* Favourite Devrani - Ganga Virani

* Favourite Yogya Bahu - Nandini

* Favourite Yogya Damad - Karan Virani

* Favourite Saas - Tulsi Virani

In 2005

* Favourite Chhota Bachcha - Bhumi

* Favourite Beta - Karan Virani

* Favourite Devrani - Ganga Virani

* Favourite Jethani - Damini

* Favourite Nanad - Shobha

* Favourite Saut - Tanya

* Favourite Khalyanak - Ansh

* Favourite Saas - Tulsi Virani

* Favourite Jodi - Karan & Nandani

In 2006

* Favourite Chhota Bachcha - Bhumi

* Favourite Beta - Karan Virani

* Favourite Jethani - Damini

* Favourite Nanad - Shobha

* Favourite Sasur - Mihir

* Favourite Bahu - Nandini

* Favourite Saas - Tulsi Virani

In 2007

* Favourite Naya Sadasya (Male) - Lakshya

* Favourite Bahu - Nandini

* Favourite Saas - Tulsi Virani

* Favourite Saut - Tanya

* Favourite Devrani - Ganga Virani

In 2008

* Favourite Jodi - Karan & Nandani

* Favourite Bahu - Nandini

* Favorite Khalnayak - Tripti

* Favorite Saut - Mandira

* Favourite Devrani - Ganga Virani

* Favourite Beta - Karan Virani

ansui Television Awards

Winners

In 2007
* Best Supporting Actor (Popular) - Hiten Tejwani

* Best Serial Producer - Ekta Kapoor

* Best Actor in negative role (Female) - Achint Kaur

The Indian Telly Awards

Winners

In 2002

* Best TV Actress - Smriti Irani