TV actor Apara Mehta, who played Smriti Irani’s Tulsi’s mother-in-law during the original run of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, returned in the sequel in July as a guardian spirit to Smriti’s character. Talking about getting back on the Kyunki… set the actor said they both had tears in their eyes as it was reunion of not just two cast members but of old friends.
Apara, who began as a strict mother-in-law Savita to Tulsi but eventually came around to accepting her wisdom, died in the first season of the show, which ran from 2000 to 2008 and created history as one of the most loved shows on Indian television. Savita is now a picture on the wall alongside Baa but she is very much alive in the memories of her daughter-in-law, who has now replaced her as the matriarch of the Virani family. "My daughter asked me, 'Will you feel bad if you are not there?' I said, 'I'll be disappointed. Many days passed and then I got a call from Balaji saying that they were coming back and wanted me to do this. I said, 'I will just come. You don't even have to ask me'.
"We (she and Irani) did not even have to tell each other anything. It was just that we had tears in our eyes. We had all the emotions. It was done in such a nice way," Apara told PTI in an interview.
Savita's death tackled the controversial topic of euthanasia in the 2000s as she requests her daughter-in-law to switch off the ventilator and she complies.
Apara is hopeful that she will remain a part of the Kyunki... family like that as she has a special bond with the show that made her a household name.
"I've done some very nice work after Kyunki…, but I'm still known because of it. All of us are known because of Kyunki…," she said.
The 64-year-old has had a notable career in both television and film with shows like Ek Mahal Ho Sapno Ka, Saat Phere and Jamai Raja and films like Devdas and Tees Maar Khan.
But she credits Kyunki…for being a turning point in her career.
"I don't have to do auditions because people know me. The show made us do it all as actors. We did comedy, banter, lots of different emotions and different situations, all the things an actor could want,” she said.
The actor explained that Irani and her still share the same dynamic. In the show, the two went through a journey of becoming mother and daughter instead of in-laws and that helped build their friendship too.
"Tulsi and Savita had become friends. They had become mother-daughter. They were no more saas-bahu... She's the same as she was before. And we are the same for her," she said about Smriti, who went on to have a political career after Kyunki... concluded in 2008.
"She's very, very smart, intelligent and focused in life. She can do everything. She's a multitasker, like all of us, how we are, you know, but she has really, really proved herself as a politician and as an actor," she added.
She credited the show and its producer Ekta Kapoor for changing the trajectory of Indian television.
"What Ekta (Kapoor) did to television is give it a lot of glamour. It was the best camera work, the best lighting and the best story. It was about three generations: Baa, Savita and Tulsi," she said.
She called Ekta Kapoor a talented individual who "hit's the bull's eye" with each story that she tells on television, ranging from shows like Kasauti Zindagi Kii to Hum Paanch.
The actor said there is a Kyunki... Whatsapp group though the members use only to wish each other on special occasions. They, however, make an attempt to celebrate the show's premiere anniversary every July 3.
"In any show that I go to, they'll say, we are like family but it doesn't work that way. First we were colleagues, then we became close friends and now we are friends for life. We are not in touch with each other every day, but we are always going to miss that very organic friendship that happened at Kyunki…," she added.
The show's success, Apara said, was unprecedented, "We made a show, and it became so big. It's a legacy and it remains an iconic show to this day." She believes the second season of the show will be successful due to the strong bond between its cast members. "Ekta, Shobha (Kapoor), the writers and the actors are so good, so I'm sure it is going to have a very good run." Apara also remembered Sudha Shivpuri, who played the popular character of Baa on the show. She passed in 2015.
