8.2 /10 3 Votes
Country of origin India First episode date 1984 Number of episodes 61 Number of seasons 2 | 8.6/10 IMDb Original language(s) Hindi Final episode date 1984 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Similar Buniyaad, Nukkad, Karamchand, Hum Log, Zabaan Sambhalke | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi (literal meaning: 'This Life As It Is') is a Sitcom that was popular on Indian television; it aired for the first time in 1984. It was written by comedy writer Sharad Joshi and directed by Kundan Shah, S. S. Oberoi and Raman Kumar.
Contents
It was one of the first sitcoms and one of the biggest hit shows on Indian television after the state-owned television, Doordarshan, started sponsoring its programs.
Overview
Each episode was 20–25 minutes long and was aired on Fridays at 9:00pm IST. Its popularity can be gauged from the fact that video stores in London would await periodically for the copy of the serial’s tape. Even the box-office openings of cinemas were affected due to the airing of the show. The character of South Indian girl is amzing.
Storyline
The episodes revolved around funny happenings in the lives of Ranjit Verma (played by actor Shafi Inamdar) and Renu Verma (played by actress Swaroop Sampat (Miss India 1979)), who play a married couple along with Renu's unmarried and unemployed younger brother Raja (Rakesh Bedi). Chachi's daughter who plays the character of Rashmi. Other characters were Ranjit's boss (Tiku Talsania), his Bengali neighbours (actors Vijay Kashyap and Sulabha Arya), etc.
A trademark of the Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi were the characters played by Satish Shah. In each episode, Shah played a different character who played a key role in the plot. These characters would be from many professions and regions of India, with some being close family friends of the Vermas and others being total strangers. During the mid-1980s Satish was anointed as "King of Comedy" by the entertainment media as a direct consequence of the multitude of characters that he played on the show. In later episodes, Anjan Srivastav joined the show, playing different characters.
Second season
After several highly successful shows, Shafi Inamdar (who played Ranjit) left. However, with the huge popularity of Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, a repackaged second attempt was made with the underlying idea that Ranjit and Renu have moved abroad because of his work, while Raja is still staying with Ranjit's aunt, played by the legendary actress Farida Jalal, and a servant, played by Javed Khan. Raja's love life and affair with Nivedita was the new center of activity. The second innings had a reasonably long run but never reached the fame of the first. Ranjit and Renu return for the final episode.
The alumni of this show went on to have chequered careers in Indian and other cinema over the years.
List of episodes
Quotes
Some quotes in the show were quite popular with teens: