Sasural Genda Phool


Sasural Genda Phool is an Indian television drama series that aired on StarPlus starring Ragini Khanna and Jay Soni It aired during weekday evenings from 1 March 2010 to 21 April 2012. It was the remake of the Star Jalsha series Ogo Bodhu Sundori. It is based on the backdrop of Old Delhi.

Plot

This story is about two very different people, Ishaan and Suhana, living in Delhi, India and how they fall in love with each other and realize their mutual love.
Suhana is the lovely, spirited daughter of Kamal Kumar Bajpai. She hails from a palatial house with a plethora of servants to service her cravings. Having lost her mother at a very young age, she grows up as a very lonely person. Despite his best efforts, Kamal Kishore Bajpai is not able to give his daughter enough time. Denied a mother's love and a father's attention, Suhana has grown up to have a legendary temper and materialistic nature. But equally legendary is her kindness. Everyone who has seen her grow up – her family, her servants and her friends – know her to be an honest, upright person, never shying away from calling a spade a spade. Unfortunately, Suhana loses in that most complicated game of all, love. In a flick of instinctive defiance, she agrees to marry whoever her father decides for her.
Ishaan Kashyap, on the other hand is a gentle, shy and good-natured IT professional, brought up in a joint family. Surprisingly, for a person whose career is on the rise, he does not have a girlfriend because of his shy and awkward nature around girls. He asks his family members to look for a bride for him. As one girl after another rejects him, he gives up and decides that he will marry whosoever they decide is a proper match for him.
A chance meeting between Kamal Kishore Bajpai and Ishaan, brings the former to Kashyap house. After seeing the love and the warmth amongst the family member, Kamal Kishore Bajpai realises that this is the home that Suhana needs in her life. He asks for Ishaan's hand in marriage for Suhana and the Kashyaps accept. Thus, Suhana and Ishaan are wed.
But the marriage starts on a disastrous note. Suhana, who is raw from a recent breakup, makes it clear to Ishaan that she is not in love with him. Epitomising the nice guy that he is, he decides to give her time for her wounds to heal. And then, Suhana starts gelling with the family, most importantly she gets attached to Badi Maa, Ishaan's aunt, whom she idolises as the mother figure she was missing in her life. Gradually, by the virtue of living together, Suhana unwittingly starts with caring for her partner and starts doing things like choosing a shirt for him, packing his tiffin. or personally picking the flowers Ishaan likes best. Suhana slowly begins to discover the family she lives in - not just the joys, but also their dark pasts.
The Kashyap family is not all giggles and laughter all the time. They have hidden pains and dark pasts. the darkest secret of the whole family is Bade Papa, Ishwar Kashyap, the ambitious husband of Badi Maa who deserted her and her children - Inder and Panna - for supposedly bright future in the US. To make up for whose absence, his younger brother Alok whole-heartedly sacrificed all this dreams and ambitions to look after his family and cater to their needs. Another dark secret is related to Radha Bua, foster daughter to the head of the family, Ambernath Kashyap, who is still suffering from the pain of being a rape victim on her wedding night. What doesn't let her heal from her pain is that the child born out of that incident, Deepak, has an uncanny resemblance to the man who raped her. Ilesh, Ishan and Inder's cousin is perpetually unemployed and not interested in working. His wife Disha is struggling to conceive. So these are the sorrows make Suhana realise that life is much more than cars and shopping and money. It is accepting these sorrows and moving on with a smile.
Still Suhana doesn't find herself consciously in love with Ishaan, which is when she decides to leave the Kashyap house after dropping a note. When Badi Maa reads the note, she is shocked and falls ill. No one knows what has her so troubled, but Suhana takes up caring for her and Suhana finds herself wanting to live in the Kashyap house. Each time she mentions leaving the house, she doesn't realise she is hurting Ishaan very terribly. Finally, Badi Maa panics and expresses her fear to Dadaji that Suhana and Ishaan may be living an unwanted relationship.
Ishaan's childhood friend, Sonali, is invited over to make Suhana jealous and realize that she loves Ishaan. After many disasters, the plan works and Suhana confesses her love for Ishaan in front of everyone, and Sonali goes home. Ishaan and Suhana go to Goa for their honeymoon where they bare their souls to one another and come closer. Meanwhile, depressed after losing his job, Panna's husband Raunak leaves her and his family. He does this so that he can become stable and get a high paying job again. At this time, Deepak also comes to stay with his family, having settled things with his mother. As time passes in Raunak's absence, the fractured relationship between Panna and her mother-in-law is repaired, leading to the repair in relationship between the Kashyaps and the Sharmas. Ilesh gets job with a construction company and earns a lot of money, which raises suspicion in the minds of Ishaan and Inder.
When Holi comes up, Suhana faints. She starts getting head aches, and gets dizzy. The family begins to think she is pregnant. Badi Maa, Ishaan, Alok, and Inder go to the doctor, and Suhana is asked to run a few tests. After a week, they find out Suhana is not pregnant. She has a brain tumor. They are heartbroken, but don't tell anyone. Then, Ishaan tells Suhana and everyone else and they are completely shattered. After they get the biopsy results, they find it to be benign. The family is overjoyed. Suhana has her surgery and is completely healed. Mysterious love letters to an I. Kashyap arrive to Suhana and Rajni. They doubt Ishaan and Inder. They find that their neighbor, Jassi, was having an affair with a girl and was using I. Kashyap as his name, and when their mailbox broke, his game was ruined.
When the problem is solved, Suhana apologizes to Ishaan, and he wants to spend some time with her so he begs Suhana to let him stay home. When she refuses and says he should go to work, Ishaan goes and on his way back, he meets with an accident and hits his head. When he wakes up at the hospital, everyone realizes that he has forgotten the past 2 years of his life meaning he has forgotten his marital life and wedding with Suhana, so he doesn't remember Suhana at all. The doctor working on Ishaan's case tells the family that they can't remind Ishaan of his past and asks them to let him regain his memory naturally with the passage of time for his good health. Just so Suhana can be around Ishaan, she stays in the Kashyap house as Shashikala, Disha's friend. After being around "Shashikala", Ishaan starts feeling confused about his feelings for her because he is attracted to her and feels connected to her but cannot pursue her because she is married. After a few hilarious turns, Ishaan decides to marry Shashikala, come what may. At the wedding altar, he reveals that he has regained his memory, thanks to tripping over a bench that Suhana had overturned in a fit of anger.
During Ishaan's birthday celebrations, Dadi and Badi Maa are secretly aware of Ishwar Kashyap's return in their lives. Disha receives a report from the gynaecologist's declaring her inability to conceive. This depresses her and she lashes out at Suhana during Ishan's birthday celebrations. Rajni too adds fuel to the fire because of irritation at the constant attention being paid to Suhana. Suhana leaves the house to be alone with her thoughts and finds a baby in the park. She brings home the baby and tells Disha to adopt her. Everyone is surprised and touched with this gesture. Sanjana and Deepak come to know that they are related through Suhana and end their constant conflict. As the baby named Khushi by the family makes an impact on them, it starts affecting Suhana and Ishaan's married life as Suhana ignores Ishaan to attend to Khushi. But as fate could have it, troubles attack the Kashyap family, twofold - Ilesh is found guilty of bribery and money laundering. His company refuses to recognize him as an employee. Also, Khushi's birth parents turn up and the family tearfully hands over the baby to her parents.
Ishaan's expresses his happiness over his promotion and his transfer to Mumbai. Everyone is devastated over this news. But Badi Maa and Alok allow him to go to Mumbai. Ishaan is happy because this is his chance for him to prove himself, as he has been battling for his identity within the family. He is fed up of being treated as the baby and kept away from serious decisions of the family. The Kashyap family hosts a wedding of Dadi's sister's granddaughter. However, Suhana inadvertently overhears a conversation where the groom's parents hike up their dowry demands. Suhana confronts the groom and his parents and finally the wedding takes place without any dowry. Ishaan and Suhana move to Mumbai and get to know the Mumbai life. Ilesh is acquitted and found not guilty.
At Mumbai, Ishaan meets up with his old friend, Sona. Ishaan and Suhana find out that Sona has married to Abhishek, who is obsessive about her. Ishaan finds out that Sona is suffering an abuse because of this. Meanwhile, Ishwar has returned to the Kashyaps although no-one wants to accept him, but he is trying to be forceful on them to accept and forgive him. Panna is pregnant, but Ishwar ruins this joy as usual. Suhana accidentally finds out about Ishwar's return and feels the desperate need to connect to Badi Maa. She rushes to Delhi and finds out that Ishwar has conspired against the family to gain ownership of the house, because he wants to sell it. She exposes this to the entire family and they are shocked to the core. Finally Dadaji disowns Ishwar and the family gets closure. Ishaan is furious that everyone knew about Ishwar's return and his conspiracy, but is too busy hiding the truth about Sonali from Suhana.
Suhana then sees Sonali with Ishaan and starts to doubt him on having an affair with her. Then she leaves him and comes back to Delhi later. She brings Badi Maa and Alok to Mumbai who help her find out the truth that Abhishek was hitting Sona and apologises her and is back with Ishaan. Upon return to Delhi, Suhana declares to the family that she wishes to start working. And coincidentally receives an offer to star in a television show as the lead. Rano, her mother in law, is against it, but everyone else supports her. Ilesh accompanies Suhana to the shoot and later enjoys handling and managing her career as her agent. This leads to a disturbance in the family as Rano feels that Suhana is ignoring her wifely duties towards Ishaan, Disha feels that Ilesh is not getting his due respect from Suhana as her older brother-in-law because of being employed by her. At times Ishaan also gets egoistic over the fact that Suhana earns more than him and is a star. However, his father shatters those illusions for him and he realizes his mistake.
In midst of all this, Deepak and Sanjana fall in love with each other. Deepak tells the truth to Sanjana that he is a rape child and Sanjana accepts it. She assures him and Radha Bua of her acceptance. But she is reluctant to tell the truth to her father. Radha's husband, who sold her to the man who insulted her, makes a mockery of the engagement ceremony by revealing the truth in front of everyone. Kamal Kishore Bajpai rejects the alliance between Deepak and Sanjana, due to the fact that Deepak is illegitimate. The young generation of the Kashyaps decides to help Deepak and Sanjana elope, but Radha Bua stops the marriage. Everyone convinces Kamal Kishore Bajpai and he agrees and the two get married. Everyone lives happily ever after.

Cast

Main Cast

Critics

The Hindu stated, "Sasural Genda Phool on Star Plus has proved to be a breath of fresh air from the stereotyped image of ‘saas-bahu serials. The performances of seasoned actors like Sudhir Pandey, Anita Kanwal, Supriya Pilgaonkar, Sooraj Thapar and Sadia Siddiqui provide the flavour of a real Indian joint family where, as Gaurav insists, there is a mix of all light-hearted emotions that will redefine the way viewers perceive our society through television."
The Indian Express quoted the series as 'slice-of-life, light-hearted'. It also stated: "It not only defied the formula of fiction but also proved that viewers are open to watching good stories where serious issues are tackled in a positive way with the right mix of emotions, drama, fun and humour."

Ratings

Initially, it was the slot leader ranging between 2.5 to 3 TVR. Soon, it also featured in top 10 Hindi GEC with its peak of 5+ TVR. However, after May 2011, the ratings of the series started to decrease.
On first week of January 2011, it was the second most watched Hindi GEC after Saath Nibhana Saathiya, garnering 5.8 TVR. In the third week of January 2011, it occupied third position with 5.49 TVR.

Awards

YearAwardCategoryRecipientResultRef
2010Indian Telly AwardsMost Popular Actor in a Supporting Role Supriya Pilgaonkarrowspan="12"
2010Indian Telly AwardsMost Popular Actor Ragini Khanna-
2010Indian Television Academy AwardsBest SerialSasural Genda Phool-
2010Indian Television Academy AwardsBest Actor Drama Jay Soni-
2010Indian Television Academy AwardsBest Actress in a Supporting RoleSupriya Pilgaonkar-
2010BIG Star Entertainment AwardsBest TV EntertainerRagini Khanna-
2011Zee Gold AwardsBest ActorJay Soni-
2011Zee Gold AwardsFind of the yearRagini Khanna-
2011BIG Television AwardsGarma Garam JodiJay Soni and Ragini Khanna-
2011BIG Television AwardsLaadla ParivaarSasural Genda Phool-
2011BIG Television AwardsDulara Jay Soni-
2011Indian Television Academy AwardsBest Actress In a Supporting RoleBhairavi Raichura-