Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi

Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi (literal meaning: 'This Thing Called Life') was a popular comedy sitcom on Indian television, aired for the first time in 1984. It was written by comedy writer Sharad Joshi and directed by S. S. Oberoi and Raman Kumar [ [http://www.indiantelevision.com/interviews/director/raman.htm Raman Kumar interview] ] .

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 of the serial was 30 minutes long and was aired on Friday nights at 8:30pm. 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 in cinemas were affected due to the airing of the show. After a couple of successful seasons, the show took a hiatus (due to the departure of Shafi [ [http://www.inamdars.com Inamdar] ] , one of the primary characters, from the show) and returned for a second innings with some additional cast.

Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi is available on VCD. [ [http://amitabhjotwani.com/2007/07/20/the-wait-is-over-ye-jo-hai-zindagi-arrives-on-vcd VCD] ]

The DVD is widely available as of July 2008 and available from NetFlix as well as iTalkies [ [http://www.netflix.com/Movie/Yeh_Jo_Hai_Zindagi_Vol._1/70085473?lnkctr=srchrd-sr&strkid=1910403550_0_0 Netflix Online Movie Rentals - Rent DVDs, Classic Films to DVD New Releases ] ]

The Story Line

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, a former Miss India 1979), who play a married couple along with Renu's unmarried and unemployed younger brother Raja (Rakesh Bedi). Other characters were Ranjit's boss (actor Tikku Talsania), his Bengali neighbours (actors Vijay Kashyap and Sulabha Arya), etc.

A trademark of the show were the characters played by comedy actor Satish Shah. In each episode, Shah played a different character who come into contact with Ranjit and Renu's world. These characters would be regular people like a plumber or repair guy, a prospective servant, someone from the street who wants to use their bathroom, etc. Shah played these characters exceedingly well using unique mannerisms and accents from all over India and had other affectations which kept the audience enraptured. During the mid-1980s Satish Shah was anointed as "King of Comedy" by the entertainment media as a direct consequence of the multitude characters that he effortlessly played on the show.

The Second Innings

After a couple of seasons, Shafi Inamdar (who played Ranjit) decided not to come back to the show and it was cancelled. However, with the huge popularity of the show, a repackaged second attempt was made with the underlying idea that Ranjit is on an extended business trip to a foreign country and Renu and Raja are at home. Renu's aunt (played by Farida Jalal) and Raja's love life and affair with Nivedita was the new center of activity. However, the magic of the first few seasons was missing and the show shut down in mid 1980s.

The alumni of this show went on to have checkered careers in Indian movies and other films over the coming years [ [http://www.indiantelevision.com/headlines/y2k1/aug/aug65.htm India television] ] .

List of Episodes

* Season 1

Quotes

Some quotes in the show were quite popular with the teens:
# "Oh, what a relief!!", exclaimed repeatedly by one of the characters played by Satish Shah (the character had a constant desire to use the bathroom)
# "Yeh kya ho rahaa hai!!??" - literally "What's going on!!??", repeatedly used by Ranjit's haranged boss played by Tiku Talsania.
# "Thirty years ka experience hai!" - literally "I have 30 years experience", exclaimed by a lottery seller(dealer) played by Satish Shah.

Actors

* Shafi Inamdar played Ranjit, the husband (in the first few seasons)
* Swaroop Sampat played Renu, his wife
* Rakesh Bedi played Raja, Renu's brother
* Tikku Talsania played Ranjit's boss (and later Raja's father in law)
* Satish Shah played a different character in each episode.
* Farida Jalal played Renu's aunt in the second innings.
* Javed Khan played Farida Jalal's servant in the second innings

Interesting facts

* Singer Kishore Kumar sang the title track ‘Yeh Jo Hai, Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi’.
* Farida Jalal made her comeback in television with the serial.
* The entire serial was shot on a single camera set up.
* Raman Kumar (of Tara fame) joined the director duo of Kundan Shah and Manjul Sinha in the latter part of the serial.
* The line ‘30 years ka experience hai’ was actually written by Satish Shah himself.
* The first episode that was shot of the serial was actually the first episode on air as well. The serial had no pilot episodes.

References

ee also

* List of programs broadcast by DD National

External links

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