Kasautii Zindagii Kay (2001 TV series)


Kasautii Zindagii Kay is an Indian television series created by Ekta Kapoor's Balaji Telefilms on Star Plus. The show starred Shweta Tiwari, Cezzane Khan later replaced by Hiten Tejwani, Urvashi Dholakia and Ronit Roy, who portrayed Prerna Basu, Anurag Basu, Komolika Majumdar and Rishabh Bajaj.
The show explored the story of Anurag and Prerna who were meant to fall in love yet separated throughout their lives and achieved union only after death.

Plot

Star crossed lovers Anurag and Prerna fall in love with each other, only for fate to time and again separate them. Komolika and Rishabh Bajaj are vital catalysts in the story. Over a span of eighty years in the show, the story revolves around Anurag and Prerna their children Prem and Sneha and eventually their granddaughters.

Chapters

Kasautii Zindagii Kay was based on following chapters in its storyline. Below are the highlights.

Production

Development

Kapoor stated that Anurag was named after her director friend and Prerna was named after her father's friend Prem Chopra's daughter.
The series was filmed at sets in Killick Nixon studio in Mumbai. In early 2003, a sequence was filmed at Australia.
In October 2003, the series had a crossover with Des Mein Niklla Hoga Chand.
In 2007, Khan was replaced by Hiten Tejwani in the series.

Cancellation

In November 2007, Kasautii was confirmed going off air on January 2008. However it ended on 28 February 2008 for which Kapoor stated, "I won't deny that the TRPs of Kasautii… had gone down quite a bit and moreover, I didn't have a story to tell."

Reboot series

A reboot of the show, also titled Kasautii Zindagii Kay, is currently on air in Star Plus from September 25 2018. This reboot has been remade in Kannada language titled Premloka.

Adaptations

Kasautii was dubbed in the local languages of Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Mauritius and was telecast there.

Reception

Critics

Rediff.com stated, "One nice thing about Kasauti... is that all characters in the serial are very strong. Be it the protagonists or antagonists, every character stands on firm ground."

Ratings

Kasautii Zindagii Kay became the third-longest running Indian television series after Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi and Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii— all three of which were produced by Balaji Telefilms. The show recorded one of the highest TRPs.
The crossover episode between Des Mein Niklla Hoga Chand and Kasautii during October 2003 garnered 14+ TVR.
Being one of the top rated Indian television series maintaining its position in top 10 programs untill 2006, it dropped down to eleventh position in 2008 after which it was off aired soon.

Soundtrack

The Kasautii Zindagii Kay soundtrack is from the Indian soap opera that has recorded more than fifty tracks during its airing from 2001 to 2008 and won several awards.
The show had recorded more than a hundred tracks including some versions of Bollywood hit songs Kya Pyaar Karoge Mujhse, Ajeeb Dastan Hai Yeh, Hum Bewafa Hargiz Na Thay, Kal Ho Naa Ho, Jiyen To Jiyen Kaisy and Do Ajnabi Kidar Ja Rahy Hain.

Original serial versions

Awards