‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’, the most iconic show of the 90’s is back on Star TV. The year 2000 was a first for many shows on Star TV. At 10.30 pm families gathered around their TV sets to see the Virani family, and every emotion of the series became a part of Indians watching the show.
The show ran from July 3, 2000 to November 6, 2008, there were 1933 episodes and the show did see many twists and turns and generations. As there were ardent fans there were a section of viewers who thought the show to be regressive. The year 2000 changed the Indian TV landscape and such television soaps were the flavour then and it has continued till date.
Star TV has started re telecasting the iconic soap at 5 pm daily. During the pandemic and the ensuing lockdown when GEC’s had no fresh content channels brought back the old shows. DD National also brought back their iconic shows like Ramayan, Mahabharat, Circus,and Byomkesh Bakshi. As per the ratings 7.7 crore people watched these shows and DD National was the No1 channel.
The question now is will this show work now with today’s audiences? The Next Gen viewing habits are totally different from what audiences watched then. Probably the 40+ audience will watch it and rekindle those emotions.
Medianews4U spoke to Sameer Nair – CEO – Applause Entertainment who in 2000 was the Programming Head then and revamped Star TV network with some memorable shows. He said, “I think it’s a wonderful idea. Kyunki is an iconic show and will be nostalgic viewing for older audiences and introduce the show to a new generation who haven’t seen it at all. Since daily soap operas remain the most popular fiction format on GECs, a re-telecast of India’s most popular soap ever is a no-brainer.”
As per Sukesh Motwani, Founder & Director Bodhi Tree, “I personally feel that the generation who are now 40+ or early 50’s saw the show then, there are two elements here which are very interesting to analyse, one is it going to help the nostalgia viewer who wants to relive those moments again? What is really interesting is for me is the dynamics of the story was or the plot. The said plot has been repeated often in various dimensions but what might be interesting for many viewers will be the ensemble cast because the kind of chemistry one saw has some kind of intangible magic. I don’t know if that magic is still relevant for the new or younger viewer that nobody can judge. I personally know of people who watch K3G a movie with superior legends of Indian cinema starring in it, you can watch it again and again because it is not jaded but in a television context will the same intangible magic work?”
