Kyun Ki won 75+ Awards in 8 years

It is truly the mother of all soaps. When it was on air, no one could touch its popularity and it ruled the TRP charts for more than five years as the numero uno. Now when it has gone off air, no thanks to a tiff between Balaji Telefilms and Star Plus, the amount of newsprint that is being used to report this incident is unheard of. The severing of ties between Star Plus and Balaji over Kyun Ki… was expected to happen any moment, especially after the channel pulled Kahani Ghar Ghar Ki off air recently. But when it finally happened it disturbed the lives of everyone associated with this show. Particularly those like Sumit Sachdeva (Gautam), Mouni Roy (Krishna Tulsi), Tasneem Sheikh (Mohini), Yash Pandit (Lakshya), Suvarna Jha (Trupti) for whom this was the only show to work on. "The first time I heard this news, I was shocked. It was as if someone had dropped a bombshell. I could not believe that the show could actually come to an end," says an emotional Sumit Sachdeva who played the role of Gautam aka Gomsi. "I am very choosy about my work and it took me a couple of years to get settled in Kyun Ki. But once I did, I enjoyed my time thoroughly. It is still taking time for the feeling to sink in that Kyun Ki... will not be telecast any more and the huge family that put together the show will not work together," says Sumit. "I am going to miss the entire unit, specially the technicians on the set. Life is definitely going to change completely for me!" Tasneem Sheikh, famous for her nakhras as Mohini in Kyun Ki is equally if not more sad at the serial going off air. "I feel a serial like this should go on for at least a decade. Honestly. So when I heard the news for the first time, it was unbelievable and unnatural. I don't think a serial like Kyun Ki... deserved an unnatural death like this. At a personal level, this is a tremendous loss because I do not think there will be another role like Mohini." Tasneem has been associated with the television industry for 10 years, out of which more than five have been exclusively dedicated to Kyun Ki..., "We have worked for 15 hours every day. And now when I feel that we will not spend so much time together any more, it is like getting separated from your family. For example, Baa (Sudha Shivpuri) used to ask everyone on the sets whether they had lunch or not. It was just the way you would ask someone in your family. I don't think we will have such bonding in any other show." Agrees Yash Pandit, who started playing the role of Lakshya few months back after the exit of Pulkrit Samrat. "The way Sudha ji took care of all of us was unbelievable. We never felt we were in a work environment, it was so much like home. I have been associated with this serial for just four months and everyone made me feel so much at home..." Yash, however, was expecting this sudden death to happen and has taken it in his stride. "We had been hearing stories about the possible closure of this show for some time now and I was personally prepared for this. But since this was my first show on television, I am very upset. Wish I could work in this show for longer." Suvarna Jha, better known as Trupti, was in a way lucky to have a more phased exit. "For the last few weeks I had not been shooting for Kyun Ki, as the storyline had turned in a different direction. But that did not have any impact on my relationship with my co-stars and technicians. I have been working with this serial for more than three years and made a lot of friends here. All the women who worked for this serial had become good friends and used to have loads of fun. The entire unit was like a family!" Perhaps, it was this feeling of working as a family that made the crew and staff of Kyun Ki... survive back-breaking schedules and impossible deadlines, and produce immensely popular episodes. Now the actors are pulling up their socks and planning for life without Kyun Ki. While some are planning to take a break, others are concentrating on the new offers. "Luckily when this news came, I was very busy with a short film Rahman Saab Ko Phone Karna Hai that I am writing, producing directing and making," says Sumit who has even photographed the film and is planning for a release in the film festivals. Tasneem plans to concentrate on Kis Desh Mein Hai Mera Dil now that Kyun Ki... is over. "I am very lucky to have got this serial. Once that is done, I plan to take a break once. My husband is in the Merchant Navy but I have never sailed with him because of my work. I need to plan my personal front in the days to come. I also have an ailing mother who is suffering from cancer. I want to take care of her now," explains the pretty actress. Yash is also taking it a bit easy now. "I don't want to jump into anything right away. I want to think and carefully choose my roles." Suvarna is also planning a long break. "I am involved in a lot of social activities and want to concentrate on that in the coming months instead of taking up a new show," explains Suvarna. Kyun Ki may have earned the wrath of critics all over the country and been at the receiving end of many a joke, but there is no denying the fact that it created a huge family that, unlike the storyline of the show, did not have too many antagonists. The entire team deserves full credit for that.