It is telling that the very first line of the much-hyped Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi reboot trailer has Smriti/Tulsi musing: “Apne woh nahi hote jo tasveeron mein saath khade hote hain, apne woh hote hain jo takleefo mein saath khade hote hain [Your dearest ones are not people who stand beside you in photographs, rather those who stand beside you in difficulties].” The copywriter in me can’t help but applaud. What a sly diss, so sweetly delivered, that, too, on soap opera primetime, probably the only slot when Smriti’s erstwhile political ‘dearest ones’ are likely to be watching, given their penchant for all things melodramatic and over the top.
So will today’s audience take to the reboot once the little rush of nostalgia has faded? Comparisons are already being made with Anupamaa—the Kyunki of this generation, if you will—which began a little like English Vinglish fan fiction but came into its own magnificently, with its bildungsroman tale of a middle-class doormat housewife rising from betrayal and divorce to self-respect, remarriage and resurgence. Interestingly, Rupali Ganguly, the star of Anupamaa, became a BJP member in 2024, and posts regularly about political issues, rather like early-era Smriti used to. The BJP clearly has their plan B in place.
Meanwhile, it remains to be seen if Smriti’s plan B will work. I’m not a fan either of her acting or of her politics (as minister, she failed to protect either students or women) but her sheer gumption and tenacity are impressive—nobody who loves an underdog could have failed to cheer when she so brutally took down Rahul Gandhi in 2019. But clearly hubris got the better of her in 2024, and the Congress dexterously got underdog lovers like me to switch our sympathies to ‘humble Congress worker’ Kishori Lal Sharma.
The makers of the new Kyunki will probably try and tap into this fire and gumption, but it has been a long time and, though the Kyunki jingle is an absolute banger, I’m not sure it is enough to get the job done. Re-releases, ‘spirit’ sequels and re-hashes are becoming a little too common nowadays—the latest ‘offering’ is rumoured to be 2013’s problematic Raanjhanaa, with a new AI-generated ending in which Dhanush’s creepy stalker protagonist doesn’t die, but survives. Ewww.
At the end of the day, there is no getting away from the fact that any firebrand, no-nonsense middle-aged Indian woman in a sari is channelling the OG—Indira Gandhi. And, if you have been watching the parliamentary debate on Operation Sindoor, the person channelling her best right now (even though it was her brother who got Modi to drink water) is Priyanka Gandhi Vadra.
Hmmm, lemme think, who does the BJP have in its ranks to counter that energy?
There was a lot of chatter on the news analysis panels about Shashi Tharoor being sorely missed at the debate and how the Congress should have been secure enough to let him speak. By that token, Smriti was sorely missed at the debate, and maybe the BJP should have ‘stood by her in her difficulties’ and let her speak as a loyal stalwart and an MP in the Rajya Sabha?
But Smriti/ Tulsi is back in Shantiniketan, looking wounded that Mihir has forgotten their anniversary. (In a spoiler to absolutely nobody, he hasn’t.)
If you’ve watched any teleserials about Gujarati matriarchs, you will know they come brimming with punchy, hard-hitting kitchen metaphors. I’ll use one to sum up the current situation—you can reheat stale food as much as you like, it will still lack both nutrition and taste.
editor@theweek.in