Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2 returns to television tonight, 25 years after the original first aired. As the show returns, lead actor Amar Upadhyay, who reprises his role as Mihir Virani, spoke exclusively to SCREEN about his character, the changes in the latest installment of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, and his co-star Smriti Irani.
Amar admitted he was in complete disbelief when the team at Balaji Telefilms reached out to him once again for Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2. He shared, “I thought Tanu was joking, because there hadn’t been any buzz about Kyunki before she called. Out of the blue, she called me to block my dates, and I asked who was playing Tulsi. She said Smriti and I asked, ‘Does she have time? She is busy in politics.’ I didn’t believe her for the first five minutes, because it had been such a big show. Bringing it back is a big deal for Star Plus, Balaji, and all of us. It’s a big responsibility. The kind of TRPs the show saw was unbelievable. It had a rating of 32; we had overtaken KBC in the first three months of release.”
Talking about the excitement around Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2, the actor said, “The Gen-Z is also excited and wants to see the show first-hand. They want to know what the fuss was all about, why their parents or grandparents were so crazy about this show. The font and the name are so nostalgic, then the music plays and it takes you back.”
‘Smriti and I look superb together’
Amar Upadhyay is sharing screen space with Smriti Irani after 25 years in the Ekta Kapoor show. Reflecting on working with Smriti again, Amar said it felt as if he were meeting Tulsi all over again, just as she was 25 years ago, “We lived as Mihir-Tulsi then, and we look superb together. She is very friendly, smart, and a great actor. We started where we left. This time when we met, she looked exactly like the Smriti I met back then. There is a slight difference, but she looks really good now. We have shot about 5-6 episodes, and she looks superb.”
What has changed about Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi?
Sharing what the audience can expect from the new season of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Amar revealed, “The times have changed. So we have change accordingly. The boys and girls are different, the house is different, but the essence remains the same. The family values are intact. Smriti is just as she was with the kids, and Mihir is unchanged too. All of that will bring back the same old feeling, now with a fresh twist. The show has also been modernized.”
Talking about his character Mihir, Amar added, “Mihir is a bit changed in the way he moves around. He is a big businessman now. In season 1, he had done his MBA and returned to India to join his father’s business. Now he is a very big businessman, busy exploring new business ideas. I have an angle there also, where he has gotten success and has gotten too big. But Smriti and my relation is just the way it was. The new kids come in, and with them, we have some differences, which is a different track altogether.”
Amar Updahyay also revealed that Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2 will be a finite show this time. He said, “While the buzz is strong, so far it looks like a finite series as far as I know. Maybe the show will run for a maximum of 10 months to a year.”
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Other than Amar, Smriti Irani, Hiten Tejwani, Gauri Pradhan, Shakti Anand, Ketki Dave, and Kamalika Guha Thakurta, the new actors who have joined the show are Rohit Suchanti, Aman Gandhi, and Shagun Sharma. Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2 airs on TV from July 29 at 10:30 pm on Star Plus.
