It?s curtains for Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, one of the longest and most popular soaps on Indian television. On Monday, the Bombay High Court declined to grant relief to Balaji Telefilms, the serial?s production house, which had contested Star India?s decision to take Kyunki off the air from November 10. Star Plus will now replace the show with a new programme Aapki Kachayri, a legal talk show hosted by Kiran Bedi, India?s first and highest ranking woman officer who joined the Indian Police Service and retired in 2007. When contacted, Star officials declined to comment. Balaji will get three days more to come up with an appeal.
Industry sources reveal that the new show is on the lines of Aap Ki Adalat hosted by Rajat Sharma and running for more than 14 years. The only difference is that Aapki Kachayri will have common people on the show and will showcase their real-life, day-to-day challenges and problems.
This half an hour show is produced by Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani?s (ADAG) Synergy Adlabs and will run from Monday through Thursday at 10.30 pm. Recently, Star Plus has also replaced another long running show from Balaji, Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki, by another Balaji show called Tujh Sang Preet Lagayi Sajna.
Balaji Telefilms has been Star?s longest content partner. Kyunki was once a rage with Indian viewers, similar to the popularity of shows like Chitrahar, Hum Log, Ramayan and Mahabharat, which ran on DD National, the only pan-India broadcaster at one point in time.
However, the decision to terminate Kyunki didn?t go down well with the Balaji camp, which accused the Star Group of ?breach of contract?. In an official communiqu? on the Bombay Stock Exchange, Balaji said, ?The company is of the view that the termination is in breach of contractual obligations owed by the Star Group to the company and is pursuing all legal remedies available to it in relation to the same.?
Star had sent a termination notice to Balaji on October 10 saying that Balaji will have time till November 10 to change the storyline of Kyunki and stop the show from being telecast.
Star said it took this step because of the falling television ratings. On the other hand, Balaji Telefilms today argued that their show wasn?t promoted adequately. But the bench refused to accept this argument.