‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’ was one of the popular TV soaps in India which started in 2000 and ran for eight long years! And it had huge following in Pakistan during that period as well.
Made in the backdrop of Gujarat, the show was about an ideal daughter in-law Tulsi who was married to Mihir Virani, the grandson of a rich businessman, and the up and downs in their life. The soap had premiered on 3 July 2000.
The role of the protagonist Tulsi Virani was played by Smriti Irani. The show was co-produced by Shobha Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor under their banner Balaji Telefilms.
The show is one of the longest running daily soap on Indian television, running from 2000-2008 and completing 1833 episodes. The show set a benchmark by maintaining double digit TRPs for over five years in succession and its position among the Indian television shows throughout its run.
According to reports, the death of the character of Mihir Virani in 2001 lead to fan protests seeking to bring back the character back to life.
Now more than one and a half decade later here’s a glimpse of how some of the characters of the show, who aged along with it, look!
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Smriti Irani as Tulsi
She’s left her acting career behind and is now the Minister of Human Resource Development.
Sudha Shivpuri as Baa
– Lovingly known as ‘Baa’ and everyone’s favorite. Unfortunately, she passed away in Mumbai last year due to prolonged illness.
Amar Upadhyay as Mihir
He was recently seen playing the role of Dharam Suryavanshi in TV show ‘Saath Nibhaana Saathiya’.
Karishma Tanna as Indu
She started her TV career with this show and was most recently seen as a contestant in celebrity reality TV show, Bigg Boss 8.
Gauri Pradhan
She played daughter-in-law of the house.
Pulkit Samrat as Lakshya
Mouni Roy
Mouni-Royalso featured in the show in a small role.
Shilpa Saklani as Ganga
She is now married to actor Apurva Agnihotri and was last seen in Big Boss season 7.
Mandira Bedi as Mandira
She is a well known actress, fashion designer and TV presenter, who hosted ICC Cricket World Cup in the year 2003 and 2007 and then Champions Trophy in the year 2004 and 2006.
Hiten Tejwani
He played the role of Karan Virani, Mihir’s illicit son with Mandira. He played a negative role in the show, where he was married to Nandini played by Gauri Pradhan. Later when Nandini went to jail, Karan married Bhumi played by Reshmi Ghosh. Co-incidently, Hiten and Gauri fell in love and are a real life couple! They are married and are blessed with twin sons.
Karishma Tanna
Karishma Tanna played the role of Indu in the show. It was the debut show for the actress who is now popular for her sting in Bigg Boss season 8 where she fell in love with Upen Patel. Karishma was last seen in dance based reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 9.
Hussain Kuwajerwala as Chirag
Kuwajerwala was last seen hosting reality shows like Indian Idol Junior and Dance Premier League.
Ronit Roy
Ronit Roy started his career in acting through films which were getting a lukewarm response at the box office. It was then that he was offered a role by Ekta Kapoor’s production for the shows ‘Kammal’ and ‘Kasauti Zindagi Kay’; with his performance being appreciated in the latter show, Roy was then offered the role of Mihir Virani in ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’. Post a successful stint on the small screen, Roy has been getting offers for side roles in movies too. Interestingly, apart from having an acting career, he also owns a security and protection agency which caters to Bollywood actors.
Akashdeep Sehgal
Sehgal played Ansh in the show.
Aman Verma
Aman Verma played Anupam Kapadia in the show, who was a mysterious business associate Mihir had never met. Anupam finally met the Viranis for the first time after Mihir’s supposed death where he falls in love with Tulsi. This was a major turn in the show, as on the day when Anupam and Tulsi were supposed to get married, Mihir reappeared directly at the venue of their wedding! Later Anupam married Kesar, Tulsi’s sister. The show gave Aman Verma the much needed fame and he was seen in various shows, even as a host. In 2005, the actor was a target of a casting couch sting operation after which he was on a long break from the small screen.
Sumeet Sachdev as Gautam
He played the character of Gautam Virani, fondly called ‘Gomzi’, the first son of Tulsi and Mmihir Virani. Since then he has made several TV appearances. He made his directorial debut in his short film ‘Rehman Saheb Ko Phone Karna Hai’.
Rakhshanda Khan
She was also seen in the negative role in the play.
Hansika Motwani
Last, but not the least. You may be shocked…
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Daksha
Think of Ketki Dave the first thing that comes to our mind is her famous ‘Aara ra ra ra’ in the perfect Gujarati accent which she frequently said while playing the role of Daksha ben in the show. It’s noted that the actress had left the show in between due to her differences with the creative team, only to return after a few years as Daksha ben back from America! Ketki is also an accomplished theatre actress; she has done about 75 Gujarati plays, made appearances in few films and is a regular in TV shows.
