Sarabhai vs Sarabhai

Sarabhai vs Sarabhai
Sarabhai vs Sarabhai title card of Season 1.
Created by	Hats Off Productions
Written by	Aatish Kapadia
Directed by	Deven Bhojani Aatish Kapadia
Starring	Satish Shah Ratna Pathak Sumeet Raghavan Rupali Ganguly Rajesh Kumar
Country of origin	India
Original language(s)	Hindi
No. of episodes	Season 1: 70 Season 2: 10 (list of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	Jamnadas Majethia and Aatish Kapadia
Release
Original network	Season 1: Star One Season 2 (web series): Hotstar
Original release	November 1, 2004 (2004-11-01) – July 17, 2017 (2017-07-17)
External links
Website	www.hotstar.com/tv/sarabhai-vs-sarabhai/523

Sarabhai vs Sarabhai is an Indian sitcom created by Jamnadas Majethia and Aatish Kapadia. It was directed by Deven Bhojani. With an ensemble cast starring Satish Shah, Ratna Pathak, Sumeet Raghavan, Rupali Ganguly and Rajesh Kumar, the show revolves around a quintessential upper-class family living in South Mumbai. The series was produced by Hats Off Productions.

The show, broadcast from 2004 to 2006, on STAR One, received low viewership and closed. The series gained a cult following after reruns. Due to persistent demand of fans, the show returned as a web series on Hotstar in May 2017.

Premise

The show revolves around the life of an upper class Gujarati family, the Sarabhais, who live in a luxury apartment building and later in penthouses in the upmarket Cuffe Parade area of South Mumbai.

The family consists of Indravadan Sarabhai and his wife Maya , who live in an apartment with their unmarried younger son Rosesh. Their older son Sahil and his wife Manisha live in the apartment across the hallway. Maya considers the name Manisha middle class and renames her Monisha before their marriage. Monisha's middle-class habits irk Maya. Monisha, on the other hand, does not appreciate Maya's snooty and snobbish behaviour. Indravadan constantly derides Rosesh for being tied to his mother's apron strings and for writing bad poetry. Maya and Rosesh consider Indravadan's attitude towards Rosesh and his gregarious nature boorish. This all ensues conflict and comedy. Much of the humor is derived from the fake, artificial and shallow interactions among the city's elite and their perceived notions of the shortcomings and failings of middle-class society.

Characters

The series featured five principal characters throughout its run:

• Indravadan Sarabhai: Satish Shah portrays Indravadan Sarabhai aka Indu; a rich, ex-director of a multinational company, he constantly amuses himself by making fun of his wife and picking on his younger son, Rosesh. He always sides with his daughter-in-law Monisha in case of a brawl between her and his wife Maya, which always turn out to be very funny. He often brings Dushyant into the fights and also makes fun of Rosesh with him, accusing the latter of being a "Momma's boy" and many times imitating him. He also never listens to his wife and does what he wants. He is mischievous and still a child at heart. He likes playing pranks at Rosesh's expense that annoy Maya to no end. He can't keep a secret and usually instigates or pits two people against each other. These traits of his earn him the moniker Nārad Muni.
• Maya Sarabhai: Ratna Pathak Shah portrays Maya Sarabhai née Majumdar is Indravadan's wife and likes only the creme de la creme in every aspect of her life and her family. Her bone of contention is her daughter-in-law, Monisha, who is from a middle class Punjabi family. The confrontations with Monisha are always very suave and sugar-coated. She is also very talented, she wants to be very sure that her second son, Rosesh doesn't do a Sahil and marry someone who is middle class. As a result, has trouble finding a girl his "Momma' will like. She also tries to "save" Sahil from the "middle class" acts of his wife, Monisha. Her constant refrain is "It's so middle class!"
• Sahil Sarabhai: Sumeet Raghavan portrays Sahil Sarabhai, the cosmetic surgeon, Maya's elder son and Monisha's husband. He is soft, noble, wise and very attached to both his mom and wife. He dislikes hurting anyone. He is the quintessential 'Indian male sandwiched between his wife and family'. He is perhaps wiser than his father Indu when it comes to matters between his wife and mother and always tries to make them get along with each other. But in case of his younger brother, Rosesh, he has a funny bone and like his father, likes to tease him.
• Monisha Sarabhai: Rupali Ganguly portrays Monisha Sarabhai née Manisha Singh, the middle class girl and now the daughter-in-law of the Sarabhais. Her father was a detective and she seems to have got the same inquisitive genes in her. Committed to her husband, she hates the fact that Maya constantly belittles her, though she respects her, but she never lets an opportunity to get back at Maya go. She is most careless, sometimes idiotic in the whole Sarabhai family. Also, she never tidies her house, which is always in a mess. She was earlier known as Manisha, but Maya made her change her name insisting that Manisha was "too middle class". She consistently sides with her father-in-law Indu.
• Rosesh Sarabhai: Rajesh Kumar portrays Rosesh Sarabhai, the second son of Maya and Indravadan. He is a theatre artist, aspiring actor and a poet. He is the favorite of his mom Maya. He disapproves of his father and is very loyal to Maya. He is very stupid and his poems are always bad, but funny.

Other recurring characters include Ilaben, Indravadan's sister portrayed by Rita Bhaduri; Madhufufa, a hearing impaired brother-in-law of Indravadan Sarabhai portrayed by Arvind Vaidya; Dushyant, son-in-law of Sarabhais portrayed by Deven Bhojani; Sonya Sarabhai, daughter of Indravadan and Maya portrayed by Kshitee Jog / Shital Thakkar in Season 1 and Aishwarya Sakhuja in season 2.

The season 2 introduced some new characters; Arnab Sarabhai aka Guddu, son of Monisha and Sahil as well as Jasmine Mavani, love interest of Rosesh portrayed by Vaibhavi Upadhyay.^[1]

Episodes

Season 1

In the final episode, the principal characters are seen stating that there would be another season of the series.

Season 2 (Sarabhai vs Sarabhai: Take 2)

After seven years, the life of the Sarabhai family has not changed much. Now Monisha and Sahil have a seven years old son Aurnob aka Guddu and finally Rosesh has found his love interest also gaining the main role in a tv serial which he eventually loses. The family has moved to new penthouses.The season ended with Monisha taking Aurnob to Noida and indicating for a new season .

Production

Conception

Season 1

The show was produced by Jamnadas Majethia under banner of Hatsoff Production. The show was directed by Deven Bhojani and the story and screenplay was written by Atish Kapadia.

Season 2 (Sarabhai vs Sarabhai: Take 2)

In 2012, Deven Bhojani denied that the series would return.^[2] The cast reunited in June 2016 over a belated 65th birthday party of Satish Shah when the future of the show was discussed.^[3] The producer Jamnadas Majethia promised some good news for the fans.^[4][5] Later, the actors of the show confirmed the return of the new season as a web series entitled Sarabhai vs Sarabhai: Take 2.^{[6][7][8][9][10]} The series was picked up by Hotstar with the same cast, and the story is set after seven years of the last season's conclusion.^[11][12]

Casting

Deven Bhojani, a popular TV actor, made a debut as a director of the first season. He also played recurring character of Dushyant in the series.^[13]

Filming

The first season was shot on the sets located at Kanjur Marg in suburban Mumbai. The cast was provided with their own rooms backstage with nameplates with each character's name for rehearsals and preparations.^[13]

Release

The Season 1 was broadcast from 2004 to 2006 on STAR One. Due to the copyright issue with STAR One, replaced by Life OK in 2011, the producers agreed to release the Season 2 as a web series on the Star network's digital platform Hotstar starting May 2017.^[14][15]

Reception

Viewer reception

Season 1

The season 1 was a weekly show and was closed after two years due to low TRPs. The newly introduced stand-up comedy shows on the same network garnered TRPs as high as 9 while the Sarabhai received TRPs of as low as 0.63. The series started re-run of episodes as a daily show and it became popular.^[16][14] The series gained a cult following.^[17]

Season 2

The season 2 opened with positive critical as well as viewer reception.^[1][18]

Accolades

Season 1

The Show won 5 Indian Telly Awards & Indian Television Academy Awards in 2005.

Indian Television Academy Awards 2005

• Best Serial, Comedy (Jury)^[19]
• Best Director, Comedy (Jury) - Deven Bhojani
• Best Actor, Comedy (Jury) - Satish Shah
• Best Actress, Comedy (Jury) - Ratna Pathak Shah
• Best Dialogues (Jury) - Aatish Kapadia

Indian Telly Awards 2005

• Best Serial (Comedy) ^[20]
• Best Director (Comedy) - Deven Bhojani
• Best Actor (Comedy) - Satish Shah
• Best Actress (Comedy) - Ratna Pathak Shah
• Art Direction (Fiction) - Omung Kumar Bhandula

References

External links

• Sarabhai vs Sarabhai on IMDb
• Hats Off Productions
• Sarabhai vs Sarabhai on Hotstar