Ekta Kapoor created this show in 2000. It is now nearing a thousand episodes at this point of time. Unlike others, I believe that it will end soon... after another few million episodes or so.
The
show started off with a family, called the Viranis. They live in a big house, which has around ten bedrooms - enough to accommodate all of the thirty or so. The family tree is long and confusing, so I will just tell you the main points. Ba Virani has three daughter-in-laws, Savita, Daksha and Gayatri.
Savita has one son called Mihir, who marries a poor pujari’s daughter, Tulsi. Tulsi keeps shrieking this from rooftops. So, they didn’t want Tulsi in the house. But when things were sorted out, then Mihir died. But he hadn’t died, he’d lost his memory, had an affair. These sort of things went on for aeons. If you want to catch up on those episodes, watch Star Utsav.
The show then took a twenty-year-leap. I won’t try to explain the thirty new characters, but mainly there was Tulsi, Mihir, Ba, and the kids of Tulsi and Mihir - Gautam, Shobha and Harsh. Everything was fine until Mandira, Mihir’s old flame, came back. She informed everyone of Karan, who was Mihir’s son. Shobha got married to another old flame of Mihir’s, Payal’s, son.
Then Mandira died in a car accident, and Gautam’s second wife, died with a cushion tied to her back. He had given away his first wife Ganga to his cousin.
But Mandira wasn’t dead. She came back with a different face, different height, voice, eyes, hair, weight. She sent away Tulsi, who had really gone on maternal leave. After that, Tulsi lost her memory! She lived with a man and his family. There she met Raj Bhasin.
He was supposedly an old enemy of Tulsi’s. But she didn’t remember him. After that, she went back to Virani house where she had been proclaimed dead. Then she lost her memory of living in Chandigarh! Memory musical chairs, anyone?
After, it was found out that Harsh wasn’t Mihir’s son. Tulsi was blamed, but then her sister Kesar spilled out the entire story of Raj Bhasin, who’s son was Harsh. He had - um - well - stolen her respect, as she so gracefully put it. Now, a new complication was formed - who was Tulsi’s son? Tulsi brought back Karan, to add to a growing number of sons.
Then it was discovered that a blue-eyed, blonde-haired, pony-tailed, cigar-smoking Ansh Gujral was really Ansh Virani. After some fights, Ansh came to Shantiniketan. What an ironic name. But he had a hidden point - he wanted to marry Nandini, Karan’s new girlfriend.
So he married her. He gifted her a very nice dress, with several big holes in it. Then followed a game of Tag. Nandini found out that Karan loved her. Ansh created more problems. In the background, Ganga’s baby died, and Damini, Gautam’s THIRD wife, gave one of her twins to her. (Another long family drama - Will Gautam give away the baby? Won’t he?) Ansh carted off Nandini to Switzerland, where he stole her respect. Also, Shobha’s husband Vishal fell from a cable car with pathetic effects in the background. Thank goodness - he had been playing Cat and Mouse with Ansh and Abhishek for weeks.
Back home, Nandini filed a case against Ansh. Payal filed a case against Karan, saying that he killed Vishal. Tulsi’s friend Shabana and her daughter Razia came to Shantiniketan. The court case is still going on, and soon the show will be dragged along another twenty years.
Apara Mehta .... Savita Virani
Ashlesha Savant .... Teesha Virani
Akashdeep Saigal .... Ansh Virani-Gujral
Sumeet Sachdev .... Gautam Virani
Eva Grover .... Aarti
Gauri Pradhan .... Nandini Takhar
Hiten Tejwani .... Karan Virani
Hussain .... Chirag Virani
Jaya Bhattacharya .... Payal Mehra
Jitendra Trehan .... Himmat Virani
Kamalika Guhathakurta .... Gayatri Virani
Karisma Tanna .... Indu
Ketki Dave .... Daksha Virani
Khyati Keshwani .... Sejal Gandhi
Kiran Dubey .... Karishma
Mandira Bedi .... Mandira
Muni Jha .... ’JD’ Virani
Pooja Rawal .... Suhasi Virani
Prachi Shah .... Pooja Virani
Ritu Chaudhry .... Shoba Mehra
Riva Bubber .... Damini Virani
Rohit Bakshi .... Vishal Mehra
Romanchak .... Anand Gandhi
Ronit Roy .... Mihir Virani
Shakti Anand ? Hemant Virani
Shilpa Saklani .... Ganga Sahil Virani
Smriti Malhotra-Irani .... Tulsi Mihir Virani
Sudha Shivpuri .... Amba (Baa) Govardhan Virani
Tassnim Shaikh .... Mohini Mittal
There is, of course, too many to mention. Smriti Z. Irani’s acting is excellent. Ronit Roy fails to do anything in this. Hiten Tejwani is a good actor. Gauri Pradhan acts well. I find Ba funny. Not when she is dissing Bobby Darling - that’s boring. But when she keeps repeating ’Take me up!’. I’m not a heartless creep - it’s just that it’s so cliched. Akashdeep Saigal is the best out of the lot as Ansh. His acting is really to be praised, as he carries off the role of a negative character with ease.
Now for the overall aspects of the show. There are always some annoying background tunes. Sometimes lines from Hinduism verses are repeated over and over again. Special effects are thrown in. Whenever something shocking is done - Ansh trying to slap his mother, for example - it shows it from different camera angles, with people’s faces turning grey. Grey reminds me of Grey Ganga. Have you ever seen her grey? It looks sad, but hilarious at the same time.
Same things are repeated over and over again. Ekta’s new brainstorm - Tulsi killing her son. As for Harsh, he has now met an older woman called Mohini Mittal, who is already married. Of course she will marry Harsh. But, you never know. She might turn evil - Tassnim Shaikh is renowned for that.
So, overall. If you don’t watch this show, never do. Rely on idiots like me who are glued to the screen somehow to keep you updated. You never know - you might get addicted, like some people get to Vanilla Coke. Deaths occur every other episode, and you might get depressed. Anyway, see you next time!
