Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi

Plot

Set in Mumbai, the series focuses on the wealthy Gujarati Virani family, who live in their lavish house, Shantiniketan, where the three daughters-in-law, Savita, Daksha and Gayatri, control the entire family and create trouble for their wise and kind-hearted mother-in-law, Amba, called Baa by everyone. Savita arranges her son Mihir's marriage to the arrogant Payal, but he falls in love with and marries the family priest's kind-hearted and caring daughter, Tulsi. Savita despises Tulsi and wants to make her life a misery. The Viranis eventually accept Tulsi as their daughter-in-law, and she ultimately wins over Savita after many hardships, resolves various issues within the family, and has a son, Gautam. Mihir is involved in an accident and is presumed dead by his family.

Alive, Mihir suffers from memory loss and his caretaker, Dr Mandira, falls in love with him. Her brother Anupam proposes marriage to Tulsi, who agrees for Gautam. The wedding is canceled when Mihir is discovered to be alive. He gradually regains his memory. Obsessed with Mihir, Mandira plots against Tulsi, but she is unsuccessful. She is presumed dead in a plane crash. Payal also plots against the Viranis in order to avenge Mihir's rejection, but is ultimately exposed as well. Tulsi gives birth to a daughter, Shobha and gives Gautam to Mihir's brother, Kiran, and his wife, Aarti, who are childless. Aarti and Kiran leave India with Gautam fearing that Tulsi might reclaim him.

Tulsi and Mihir have another son, Harsh, who was raised along with Shobha. Gautam returns to India with Kiran and Aarti, who now have a daughter, Karishma. He learns about his birth parents and, after some initial hesitation, accepts them. Tulsi wants Gautam to marry Ganga, but he marries his love, Teesha, instead. Gautam's cousin, Sahil, marries Ganga to save her honour, while Shobha marries Payal's son, Vishal. Tulsi is shocked to discover that Mihir has been cheating on her for many years with an alive Mandira, with whom he has an illegitimate son, Karan. Mandira and Karan try to trouble the Viranis and take over their industries, but fail. Payal tries to use Shobha as a pawn against the Viranis to seek her old revenge but she and Vishal reform later on because of Shobha. Teesha and her unborn child die in an accident planned by Mandira that was intended for Tulsi. Tulsi accepts Karan as her own son, who comes to love her more than Mandira, after learning the truth.

Harsh marries the greedy Mohini, who frequently causes trouble for the family. Gautam remarries Damini, who later becomes pregnant at the same time as Ganga. Ganga miscarries, while Damini gives birth to twins, Mayank and Nakul. Damini and Gautam give Nakul to Sahil and Ganga. Vishal dies, leaving Shobha widowed. Harsh is revealed to be the son of Tulsi's cousin, Kesar. Kesar had switched Harsh with Tulsi's real son, Ansh, who was then raised by Aditya Gujral. Ansh is spoilt and ruthless, and becomes obsessed with Karan's lover, Nandini. Shobha marries Vishal's friend, Abhishek after his demise. Although Karan and Nandini are in love, he marries her to Ansh, who sexually abuses her within the marriage. The lawyer handling the rape case and Tulsi's friend, Meera Singhania, becomes fond of Mihir. Tulsi fights against her own son to secure justice for Nandini and ultimately shoots Ansh dead when he attempts to kill Nandini, who gives birth to their daughter, Bhoomi, before lapsing into a coma. Karan marries his friend Tanya to help take care for Bhoomi.

Cast

Main

Dinesh Thakur / Sudhir Dalvi as Govardhan Virani: Amba's husband (2000) / (2000-2002; 2008)

Sudha Shivpuri as Amba Virani: Govardhan's widow; Mihir, Kiran, Chirag, Suhasi, Hemant and Sejal's grandmother (2000-2008)

Shakti Singh as Mansukh Virani – Govardhan and Amba's eldest son; Mihir and Kiran's father (2000-2004)

Apara Mehta as Savita Virani – Mansukh's wife; Mihir and Kiran's mother (2000-2006)

Amar Upadhyay / Inder Kumar / Ronit Roy as Mihir Virani: Savita and Mansukh's son; Tulsi's husband (2000-2002) / (2002) / (2002-2008)

Smriti Irani as Tulsi Virani: Virani priest's daughter; Mihir's wife (2000-2007; 2008)

Mandira Bedi / Achint Kaur as Dr. Mandira Gujral / Priyanka Dutta: Anupam's sister; Karan's mother (2001-2003) / (2003–2008)

Jaya Bhattacharya as Payal Mehra – Mihir and Hemant's ex-fiancée; Vishal and Urvashi's mother (2000-2007)

Sumeet Sachdev as Gautam "Gomzy" Virani – Tulsi and Mihir's eldest son; Tisha's widower; Damini's husband (2002-2008)

Ashlesha Sawant as Teesha Mehta Virani – Gautam's second wife (2002–2003)

Riva Bubber / Ravee Gupta as Damini Khanna Virani – Gautam's third wife (2003; 2004–2008) / (2003–2004)

Rahul Lohani as Mayank Virani – Gautam and Damini's elder son (2006–2007)

Naman Shaw as Nakul Virani – Gautam and Damini's younger son (2006–2008)

Production

Directors

The show was directed by many directors starting with Kaushik Ghatak who initially directed the series for 150 episodes. As it progressed, it was directed by Ashish Patil, Nivedita Basu, Suraj Rao, Santosh Badal, Dharmesh Shah, Santram Varma, Santosh Bhatt, Garry Bhinder, Deepak Chavan, Sanotsh Bhatt, Fahad Kashmiri, Avhiroop Mazzumdar, Jeetu Arora, Santosh Kolhe, Vicky Chauhan, Rohit Dwivedi, Deepak Sharma, Shyam Maheshwari, Talat Jani, Hitesh Tejwani, Anoop Chaudhary and V.G Roy.

Development

The shooting of the serial began on 7 April 2000. On 13 April 2005, the serial completed 1000 episodes which aired for 45 minutes rather than usual 30 minutes where producer Ekta Kapoor herself was seen in the episode. Aksahdeep Saigal's entry scene in 2004 as Ansh Gujral was the serial's costliest scene shot which cost about Rs. 5 Lakhs.

The show took a leap in story three times including 20 years leap on 18 February 2002, followed by a 3 years leap and again a 20 years leap on 7 June 2006.

Before its premiere, the serial's name was Amma, but actor and director Sachin Pilgaonkar gave it the name Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi to Balaji Telefilms. Kyunki was added to the beginning of the name by Ekta Kapoor.

Besides shooting in India, the series was filmed in foreign locations including Sydney, Australia in 2003 and Switzerland. In India the series was filmed at Mumbai's Powai, Kandivali, Film City at Goregaon.

In 2007 and 2008, the series had a crossover with Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii.

Casting

The character Mihir was named after Ekta Kapoor's school friend Mihir Shah. The character Tulsi was adopted from Harkishan Mehta's work, Jad Chetan.

Earlier, Jignesh Gandhi was cast as Mihir. However, later the role's contenders were Amar Upadhyay and Cezzane Khan. Upadhyay was chosen while Khan went for Kasautii Zindagii Kay. Smiti Irani, auditioning among many girls, was initially rejected by the production house casting team stating her as 'not fit for TV'. But, producer Ekta Kapoor overruled them and cast her as Tulsi having great faith in her.

After Amar Upadhyay quit in 2001, after the death of his character, nationwide protests made him return. In 2002, on a generation leap, Upadhyay quit to venture into Bollywood and was replaced by Inder Kumar. After Kumar quit later that year, he was replaced by Ronit Roy as Mihir who played the role until the end.

In June 2007, Smriti Irani playing Tulsi quit the serial as she was busy producing her serials and was replaced by Gautami Kapoor. However, in April 2008, Irani returned and Kapoor's character was revealed as Tulsi's imposter.

Cancellation

On 10 October 2008, a notice was sent to the production house by the channel to terminate the serial by 10 November 2008 stating the declining ratings since July 2008.

To save the series from cancellation, the production house took Star TV to Bombay High Court seeking for the stay order asserting that they had a contract through March 2009 and that the channel had not provided appropriate promotion while the channel pointed out the cancellation due to declining ratings as per agreement. The court refused the stay order and the claims were dismissed on 3 November 2008. The series went off air on 6 November 2008.

Reception

Critics

Shailaja Bajpai from The Indian Express said, "Kyunki...'s success was due to the fact that it was a universal story that appealed to everyone. It was a winning combination of piety and family. The show celebrated all the big festivals, it was all packaged very well, there was drama and melodrama."

Another report from The Indian Express praising on the ratings delivered during its airing time slot said, "While prime-time television viewing is between 8 to 11 pm, the 9 to 10 pm block was considered safe because it delivered better ratings during the days of the weeklies. But the rule of game changed with Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kahanii Ghar Ghar Kii which made the late prime-time (10 to 11 pm) extremely popular." The ratings delivered by this series in its slot was not achieved by any other shows launched after its off airing.

The Tribune, comparing women's depiction in the series with some of the Star World English series stated, "The women in Ally McBeal or Friends are nothing like those in Kyunki... or Kahaani Ghar.... Professionally competent, in control of their lives they are not to be held back by any stereotypical demands made on them. Perhaps one of the reasons for its (Kyunki...) success is the strong element of empathy it evokes.... what it depicts is probably kahaani ghar ghar ki (The story of every house)."

Ratings

Produced with the backdrop of Mumbai and the concept of an ideal Gujarati joint family, the show made Producer Ekta Kapoor and Star Plus achieve lots of success, by not only being the number 1 show on Indian Television which ran for eight constant long years, but also receiving great TRPs.

It was the consistently most watched Hindi GEC (general entertainment channel) overall until 2005 and the following years saw its position consistently in top five television programs.

Until five weeks after its premiere, the ratings did not languish. After that, it started to rise gradually and also became the second most watched Hindi show of 2000 after Kaun Banega Crorepati with an average TRP of 6.4. In 2001, it averaged 12.04 TVR. In 2002 and 2003, it had an average of 12.50 and 12.30 TVR while in 2004 it was 11.42 TVR with a peak of 19.41 TVR maintaining its top position mostly with its higher ratings.

In March 2001, the series garnered its all-time high ratings of 22.4 TVR when the lead character Mihir returned to life on popular demand and protests. In week during 7 May to 13 May 2001, it was at first position with 16.6 TVR. On 24 May 2001, it garnered 14.7 TVR. On the week ending 26 September 2001, it topped the TRP list with 18.8 TVR. From 14 October to 20 October 2001 it garnered 12.74 TVR while during the same time in the next year 2002, it garnered 9.84 TVR.

In third week of August 2002, it maintained its top position garnering 15.9 TVR.

On week ending 22 November 2003, it was the most watched with 10.1 TVR.

In 2005, it remained the most watched Hindi show however with about 10 TVR garnered lesser than previous years. As months passed, the TVR of the series decreased from double digits to single digit after 2006 due to fragmentation in viewership, however mostly maintaining its top position until months before its end. In week ending 1 March 2006, it maintained its top position garnering 9 TVR. It achieved its highest ratings of 14.17, 14.31 and 13 TVR on 31 July 2006, 29 August 2006 and 4 September 2006 during the year.

Accolades

The show also went on to receive several awards, most of which were won by Smriti Irani for her portrayal of the ideal character Tulsi. It also won Best Continuing Series at Indian Telly Awards for six consecutive years (2002–2007) and won Best Serial (Popular) for five consecutive years (2001–2005) at Indian Television Academy Awards.

The show is the longest ran daily soap on Indian television during the 2000s, running from 2000 to 2008 and completing 1833 episodes and was first Indian soap opera to cross 1000 episodes in the history of Indian Television and also entered the Limca Book of Records.

Impact

The death of the lead character Mihir Virani in early 2001 lead to fan protest marches to bring the character back. The return of Mihir Virani in March 2001 brought an all-time high rating of 22.4 TVR, despite airing at late night slot of 10:30 pm (IST), which has been one of the highest ratings ever achieved by an Indian serial.

In January 2001, despite the earthquake in Gujarat, people switched on their television sets for watching this series.

In February 2003, The Times of India reported that people started recreating the grand sets of the series in their homes in Kolkata.

In 2001, a conflict arose between Star India and the production house over the Tamil series titled Kelunga Mamiyare Neengalum Marumagal Than (trans. Listen mother-in- law, you were also a daughter-in-law) which began airing from April 2001 on Sun TV. While Star stated it as an exact copy of this series violating the copyright without their knowledge, Balaji Telefilms pointed only little similarities with the title meaning and the lead character name being similar. CEO of Balaji Telefilms Sanjay Doshi stated that the script of the Tamil series was already changed after episode 15.

In September 2001, the series was blacked out in Saurashtra when Rajputs protested for naming a dog in the series as Saint Jalamsinh Jadeja. Soon, it was sorted out when Balaji Telefilms apologized for it stating it unintentional.

In January 2002, the company Procter & Gamble, for advertising their detergent brand Tide, aired a spoof of the series consisting of the cast Smriti Irani, Aparna Mehta and Muni Jha of the series which was telecast on a rival channel. Both Star and Balaji Telefilms reported it as a copyright violation considering the advertisement which uses the same sets, backdrop, announcement fonts and music along with the cast of the series. Star filed a case against Leo Burnett (Star India v Leo Burnett) and the case was heard before Bombay court in 2003.

In February 2002, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation lodged a FIR at Andheri police station against Star TV and Balaji Telefilms when the episode aired on 5 February 2002 showed the character Puja undergoing sex determination test of her unborn child and also the doctor encouraging her for the child being a son. As per Pre-natal Diagnostic Technology (Regulation & Prevention of Misuse) Act of 1994, the test is illegal in India. Many NGOs and state women's organisations also protested against the episode's sequence. However, both Kapoor and Star were asked for an apology for portraying it to which Kapoor said, "It was not intentional. There was a slight lapse on the part of the writer of the script." while Star stated it as a genuine mistake and apologised in a subsequent episode.

Adaptations

It was remade during 2007 in Tamil language in Sri Lanka.

Awards

Sequel

A sequel of the show titled "Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2" was announced on 7 July 2025, in honor of the show completing 25 years. Smriti Irani returned as Tulsi and the season two premiered on 29 July 2025 on StarPlus.