Ekta Kapoor On 20 Years Of Kyunki: Remember How After Gujarat Earthquake People Put Their TV Sets Out And Watched Kyunki

It has been 20 years since Smriti Irani welcomed us into the world of the Virani family on star plus and made Ekta Kapoor the ruling queen of general entertainment channels. Marking the very special day of when the first episode of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bhi Thi hit the TV screen the producer shared the story of how she convinced the channel that a ‘saas-bahu’ saga will work.

Hitting us with major nostalgia Ekta shared a video of herself walking around a saree to the Kyunki opening track she reminisced, “I remember sitting nervously in front of Sameer Sir and Tarun pitching ‘Kyunki...’ to them. Telling them ‘saas-bahu’ drama could work...and that we were willing to do it in 1lac. Then Tarun called my mum & said ‘I’m calling to negotiate’... my mum said ‘No no, we can’t do it in under a lac...’ and he responded saying ‘Sameer Nair has said we will give you 1.40lac for it...pls spend on this show!’”

Ekta proudly says that it has never happened in the history of TV that a channel gave producers more money that they were asking for in favour of quality, She said it was also the first time a daily soap was aired on prime time on a channel.

In another post, she remembers the overwhelming moment she read about how people after the Gujarat earthquake in 2002 put out their TV sets to watch the show.

“A show that changed my life. Back then it was touted as India’s ‘soft ambassador’, owing to its popularity and reach across the globe. Thank you to the network for giving us a chance at that time. I remember reading about how when the Gujarat earthquake happened, ppl put their TV sets out and watched Kyunki. There hasn’t been a more humbling moment for me. Thank you for all the love that was sent our way,” she wrote.

Kyunki is no doubt an iconic TV show that hooked the nation for 8 years setting many records and became a showcasing platform for celebs like Smriti Irani, Mouni Roy, Akashdeep Saigal, Karishma Tanna and several others.