Ever wondered how ekta kapoor made a fortune producing the serials based on mindless stories... i did... and watched her serials with an open mouth...then wondered how could a some of the plots took shape...i was in my first year of college when i got introduced to Ekta kapoors world through the serial KSBKBT - Kyunki Saas bhi kabhi bahu thi...yes i admit, that my dinner was incomplete without the tadka of this serial...i timed my schedule likewise...maa had strict instructions to serve dinner at 10:30 pm......the title track of the serial was like an alarm...like a contagious addiction, the tune of the serial's opening song getting featured in my neighbour's tv screen, was enough to drag me to the living room... like a hypnotized soul i closed my books and rushed to switch the TV on...everything about the serial enchanted me...or rather awed me...things that happened in the serial were so dramatic and impossible.... it was like a modern world arabian night series... despite knowing the fact that evrything about the serial is so damn far from truth and bourne out of ekta's crazy imagination....it still took viewers like me hooked to the tv...the 200+ year old Baa, who was probably healthier, n fitter than my 70 year old grandmother...how i dont know tulsi managed to love her husband (who had 3/4 casual flings post their marriage) till the world and generation and the solar system ceased to exist....how come all the 3 generations in the serial tulsi, nandini and their daughter bhoomi were almost of the same age (between 20 to 30)...the way the actors groomed themselves..i would probably be less dressed for my sister's marriage when compared to any of the bahu's in their cooking/dusting/ sleeping attire....and in the serial, whenever they had to step out of the house, the man used to tell his wife, "aap taiyar ho jaiye, hume ghumne jaa na hai"..and i used to wonder that already the lady is so decked up...aur kya taiyar ho sakte hai? ...then there was another lady, the granddaughter of tulsi, named bhoomi in the serial...she used to go around with a loafer type guy, some aamir baap ka bigda beta... no one in the house objected to this fact...but the day Bhoomi declareed that she wants to marry the same guy...all the chachhis, and buwas and bhabis and didis, tulsi and off course the baa get the supreme shock of their lives....the chachis stood up in utter dismay, carefully displaying the heavily embroidered pallus of their sarees in the process, to express their emotions....the camera man zoomed in 3 times...close..closer..closest...(accompanied by a similar beat of background music ...dhaa...dhaaa...dhaaaaa, the intensity of the beats being directly proportional the degree of zoom)to focus on chaachis kundan earrings dangling in slow motion, her thick make up and a partially gaped lipstick rimmed mouth...the next 15 minutes of the serial went in portraying the expressions of each family member to its minutest details...
i was such a hypocrit those days....i used to watch the serial with unbatted eyelids in an almost breathless state, only to discuss with Ritwajit the next day how useless the story was... however and whatever we comment on Ekta's work, there is no denying the fact that she established a whole new cult in the domain of tele serials...the grand set ups,costumes, bright lightings, and somehow the stories which were weaved such that audience eventually got connected to them...somehow the serial generated a sense of aspiration among its viewers...it did talk of family values (donno how much people absorbed that and implemented the same in their lives) which served as a reminder for the generation...
my attachment with the serial got ruptered when i moved to bangalore after my graduation... later i got to know that after getting aired in star plus for a lengthy period of 8 years, the serial had to shut itself down to follow orders from the Supreme court...today, i dont mind confessing that i also cried somedays as i submerged myself in the story of Kyunki Saas bhi Kabhie Bahu thi....and i will watch it again if Kyunki part 2 gets featured :)
