Khichdi (TV series)

Khichdi
Genre Sitcom
Comedy drama
Created by Hats Off Productions
UTV Software Communications
Written by Aatish Kapadia
Directed by Aatish Kapadia
Country of origin India
Original language(s) Hindi
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes Total 98
Production
Executive producer(s) Ronnie Screwvala
Zarina Mehta
Producer(s) Aatish Kapadia
Release
Original network STAR Plus
Original release 10 September 2002

Khichdi is a Hindi language sitcom produced by UTV Software Communications, which debuted on STAR Plus on 10 September 2002.[1] The series has been rerun on STAR Plus and its sister channels several times. Unlike other Hindi sitcoms, which continuously air throughout the year, Khichdi is one of the earliest shows on Indian television to adopt the Western model of appearing in seasons. The second season was called Instant Khichdi, which made its debut on STAR Plus's sister channel, STAR One.

Khichdi is widely considered by audiences and television critics to be one of the finest examples of true situation comedy in India. It does not use a laugh track like many Indian comedy shows, but instead relies on its deadpan humour (à la The Simpsons) and its witty lines to become its unique selling point. The well etched out characters have become almost icons of Indian television, which is otherwise obsessed with family soaps. The reruns have aired on several channels including STAR Utsav and Pogo.

Premise

Khichdi follows the story of a Gujarati family called Parekhs, who live in an old mansion. The joint family encounters many typically Indian situations, but they try to solve it in the most atypical fashion imaginable. This is a funny bunch of people that is firmly united in their movement to get separated. They want to sell their ancestral property and move out and form their own nuclear families. But the head of their family does not agree. He gives them the choice to walk out and survive on their own; but nobody is ready to let go of the money that is due to them. So they stay together and wait for the 'head' to change his mind or stop breathing, whichever happens first. And this is where the upwardly mobile middle class joint family faces its trials and tribulations. Khichdi is a look at the lighter side of an Indian joint family.

Characters

Main characters

Character Portrayed by Notes
Tulsidas Parekh Anang Desai He is the family patriarch. He is always in a bad mood but is known to have a good heart. His wife, Damyanti, Tulsidas lives with his family in his very old ancestral house called 'Mohan Niwas'. He does not agree to sell it at any cost, in spite of repeated persuasion from his children. He appears to be fed up of his family members but, deep down, loves them. All family members call him 'Babuji'.
Praful Parekh Rajeev Mehta He is the eldest son of Tulsidas. He is notoriously stupid. He is often seen interpreting things at face value, leading to hilarious situations. He never does anything right, which makes people (especially Tulsidas) mad at him. He also translates English words for his wife, although always incorrectly.
Hansa Parekh Supriya Pathak She is Praful's wife. She is as stupid as Praful, or perhaps more than him. She never works in the house, while repeating, "Mein to thak gayi bhaaishaab" ("I'm so tired"). She is always richly dressed and cannot live without wearing 'Gajre' (strings of flowers) in her hair. She doesn't speak English and hence needs to have it translated by Praful, which has great comic results.
Jayshree Parekh Vandana Pathak She is the widowed daughter-in-law of Tulsidas. She is the wife of Praful's brother, Bharat. She loves to cook & gossip and is often seen on the phone talking to her Ba (mother). She controls the management of the household. She aims to sell 'Mohan Niwas' and live in an independent apartment. She always irritates Tulsidas while serving tea to him. Hansa and Jayshree are childhood friends.
Chakki Parekh Richa Bhadra She is the daughter of Praful and Hansa. Unlike her parents, she is intelligent. She has a catchphrase, "Bade Log Bade Log" (Oh! the elders, the elders!), which she repeats along with her cousin Jacky.
Jackky Parekh Yash Mittal He is the only son of Jayshree. Like Chakki, he is also intelligent and has the catchphrase "Bade Log Bade Log", which he says along with Chakki.

Supporting characters

Character Portrayed by Notes
Badi Maa Dina Pathak /
Lily Patel		 She is the mother of Tulsidas. Her name is Tiwariben Parekh. She is very funloving and very fond of pani-puri (a popular spicy snack).
Raju Parekh Amit Varma He is the third son of Tulsidas. He starts flirting with any young beautiful girl he meets. He is married to Melissa.
Melissa Parekh Tina Parekh She is Raju's wife. She is beautiful and well-educated. Jayshree is jealous of her and calls her 'Kadki'. Tulsidas regularly says of her, "Maine to pehle hi kaha tha ki ye ladki Raju ke liye theek nahi hai" ("I had said at the outset that this girl is not right for Raju").
Heera Parekh Arya Rawal She is the daughter of Tulsidas. She is very lazy and always has the urge to go to toilet. She is older than her fraternal-twin, Meera.
Madhuri Sweety Nayak She is Heera's personal maid. Though she is a servant, Tulsidas is scared of her because she always gets angry with him.
Meera Parekh Ami Trivedi She is the youngest daughter of Tulsidas. She always holds a stick & behaves like a teacher. She is married to Bhavesh Kumar.
Bhavesh Kumar Kamlesh Oza He is Meera's husband. He lives with the Parekhs instead of in his own house. He is always hungry and keeps eating all the time, without doing any work.
Mr. Mehta Dinyar Contractor He is the boss of Praful in office. He always gets mad at Praful's mistakes.
Himanshu Seth Jamnadas Majethia He is Hansa's younger brother. He also lives with the Parekhs & is as stupid as Hansa & Praful. He has a Catering business. His favorite line is "Kissi ko pata nahi chalega" ("No one will know about it").
Parminder Singh (I) Gireesh Sahedev He becomes the neighbor of Parekhs when they start living in 'Jagdamba Niwas'. In his entire family, everybody else is also named Parminder. He always argues with Tulsidas. He & his family imitate all the happenings in Chandigarh in their lifestyle.
Bhabhi Parminder Seema Pandey She is Parminder's wife. Whenever she speaks, she makes a weird face which confuses everyone whether she meant good or bad.
Bhai Parminder Damandeep Singh Baggan He is Parminder's younger brother. He is equally stupid like Praful.
Behen Parminder Anokhi Srivastava She is Parminder's younger sister. She gets married to Himanshu.
Jignesh Aatish Kapadia He is Jayshree's younger brother, also living with the Parekhs. He has a habit of repeating a sentence 3 times before finally speaking. His frequently used phrase is "mujhe lagta hai ki..."

Guest appearances

Awards and nominations

Khichdi has been almost continuously awarded television awards ever since its debut, including the in-house Star Parivaar Awards.

STAR Parivaar Awards

Winner

Nominated

Indian Television Academy Awards

Winner

Indian Telly Awards

Winner

Nominated

Film adaptation

A film based on the series, titled Khichdi: The Movie, was released on 1 October 2010 and starred the same principal cast. It became the first Indian television series to be adapted into a film.[11] The film faced stiff competition from big-budget movies like Priyanka Chopra - Ranbir Kapoor starrer Anjaana Anjaani and dubbed Hindi version of Aishwarya Rai - Rajinikanth starrer Enthiran (Robot) and in the end its performance at the box office was termed below average.[12]

DVD release

In May 2012, "The Best of Khichdi & Instant Khichdi" was released on a 10 disc DVD set.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Star to launch new weekly comedy in September". Indiantelevision.com. 22 August 2002.
  2. ↑ "Star Plus family celebrates another winning year".
  3. ↑ "Star Parivaar Awards Winners 2004".
  4. ↑ "Star Parivaar Awards Nominees 2004".
  5. ↑ "ITA Awards 2004 Winners".
  6. ↑ "Husband-wife duo Pankaj Kapoor, Supriya Pathak take the comedy cake".
  7. ↑ "Winners list of the Sangini Indian Telly Awards 2004- Popular".
  8. ↑ "Winners list of the Sangini Indian Telly Awards 2004- Technical".
  9. ↑ "Nominees for the Popular Awards Indian Telly Awards 2003".
  10. ↑ "Nominees for the Popular Awards Indian Telly Awards 2004".
  11. ↑ "Taste Khichdi's magic on the big screen". Boxofficeindia.com. 1 October 2010. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  12. ↑ "Boxofficeindia.com". Boxofficeindia.com. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/1/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.