No more 'Shanti'-niketan and Tulsi

Finally, the more-than-decade-old Kyunki Saas bhi kabhi bahu thi is going off air tomorrow - permanently, I hope! 

The serial which caused endless rifts and fights between family members, is coming to an end. I still remember the time when Kyunki Saas bhi Kabhi Bahu thi had started on Star Plus, husbands stopped getting their daily dose of news (read: dinner), children stopped watching their cartoons, and even the older generation - their daily religious discourses! Tulsi and Mihir and the Virani family had become an extended joint family for many. It did not take long when women got the remote controls in their hands and poor husbands would have to go out for dinner as their wives would be too engrossed in the Viranis' kitchen more than their own.

I admit that at times, that even I got sucked into the swirl of Kyunki... especially when vamps made their striking entries - just when two couples would get all doe-eyed and 'lovey-dovey'. Having shared a love-hate relationship with the entire 'K' series, I saw it in fits and jerks. I was definitely jerked when the then male protagonist - the eye candy Mihir Virani (then Amar Upadhyay) dies, even I shed a few tears. Following which, when Amar Upadhyay exited from Kyunki... due to a 20-year generation leap, I lost interest in the soap. Whatever little interest that I had in the K series, was lost after I saw Mihir dying once more and Tulsi going through her identity (Read: face) changes almost thrice. When Smriti Malhotra aka the loving bahu and face of Kyunki... exited, Gautami Gadgil entered, and I predicted the serial's rather unceremonious end.

Ekta's 'K' era -- as we would love calling it, has seen its ups and downs. Especially its oldest soap Kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi, has seen Mihir die and revive so many times that even ten fingers would fall short!

Kyunki...started the trend of saas-bahu fights, strikingly beutiful and wicked looking vamps, the famous bindis, lovely brocade saris, and of course our 'ageless' Ba and Tulsi Virani. Huh! the list doesn't seem to end, right?

I guess that is what all the bahus and saas of Kyunki... must be doing today: remembering their good old days of wearing their makeups to sleep, the 'innocent' bahus wearing rich brocade saris when they were kicked out of their house by the not-so-famous vamp Trupti, husbands leaving in designer suits and of course the 'ageless' Ba who never died in spite of all her sons and grandsons dying right in front of her! I am dead sure even Tulsi aka Smriti will rue the fact that her sons will no longer be fighting with each other 'on-screen'. The 'scheming' vamps will probably miss filing and sharpening their claw-like nails, everytime they thought of throwing Tulsi out of Shantiniketan.

It is the last episode of a golden run on the small screen. Most of the actors in Balaji must be quite emotional about the grand finale that will be aired tomorrow. I am almost sure that Ekta must have scripted the final act as something which will always remind 'K' fans of the episode for years.

No doubt that Ekta Kapoor - the doyen of the saas-bahu sagas, has carved a niche for herself in the history's 'Small Screen Hall of Fame'. She will go down in the memory lanes of the 21st century as the most successful 'queen' of the small screen. Ekta dared to begin a trend at a time when all directors had fallen short of scripts that would sustain the TRPs. Ekta's formula was to cash in on the housewives category, which she was extremely successful in doing so.

After Star Plus, now Ekta seems to be targeting 9X with her Kahani Mahabharat ki,which has a glam-looking Bhim, and eye-candy Pandavas and hot-looking Kauravas.

Whatever, but, one has to admit that all this may have to do with Ekta's 'K' karma that all her soaps' TRPs hit the skies!