Khichdi returns with its original cast comprising of Rajeev Mehta, Supriya Pathak, Anang Desai and Vandana Pathak.
From tonight, there would be a loud noise of laughter coming from every household as after 12 years, the much-loved comedy show Khichdi will make its comeback. The cult series presents the tale of a dysfunctional family, where every character has the power to make you laugh with their antics. With a new generation eyeing it with curiosity, the makers have left no stone unturned to make it a contemporary story with technology and social media adding drama in the family’s life. Indianexpress.com got the chance to meet Rajeev Mehta aka Praful from the show to talk about the return of the reloaded version of Khichdi.
Rajeev shared that he was highly thrilled and happy with the news of the comeback. “According to me, Khichdi is a benchmark, a cult and the only television show that can be stated as a ‘comedy series’. I think no other show can come close to Khichdi’s standard and so I feel blessed to be a part of it,” the actor stated in an exclusive chat with indianexpress.com.
Meet Khichdi’s dysfunctional family.
When asked if he feels the audience would once again lap up to the drama, Rajeev quipped, “100 percent, there’s just no two opinions about it. I think the USP of our show is the script. Aatish (Kapadia) has done a wonderful job and that has strengthened the entire show. Also the characters, the beauty of it being that each one has its own traits, a different charm. They all stand out and people have their own favourites among us. I really think that while the script is the body of Khichdi, all characters are its various features and together they make a successful entity.”
It’s interesting to see actors giving the credit to the writers and we wondered if they completely trusted the writers’ vision or did they work upon their characters themselves. “It’s always a teamwork. Honestly, if I have to share, the first day of the shoot, back in season one, we were canning my entry sequence. You won’t believe I gave 12-13 retakes but realised it was not happening. I could also see that Aatish was not happy and so I told him that he should find another actor. He told me that he knows it was not happening but he only wanted me to do Praful. I don’t know what went wrong after that, for everything just turned right,” Rajeev shared with a broad smile.
Check out some pictures from Khichdi launch:
Anang Desai plays Babuji in Khichdi.
Vandana Pathak at Khichdi launch.
Supriya Pathak plays Hansa in Khichdi.
Praful and Hansa as a pair are really popular and his English definition of words were a big craze back in the day. The actor, on his part, had a rather different story to share. “Not Hansa but Babuji’s lines are used to refer to my role. I have people all around telling me, ‘Praful, tu toh gadha hai gadha’. Since I look the same in real life also, I even have school kids shouting these when they meet me. I just smile at it for it’s a very special feeling.”
He added, “We took a long gap but all these years we have been telling JD (Majethia) and Aatish to get the show rolling, and if not, then make a film. You know, television is very taxing and after working for 12 hours, you get mentally and physically tired. But it never occurred to us when it comes to Khichdi. We actually feel sad if there’s no shoot, such is the magic of this show.”
Rajeev Mehta plays Praful in Khichdi.
While Rajeev is open to more work, he feels that he will never be comfortable doing buffoonery or cheap jokes. “As an actor, you want to grow and associate yourself with quality work, and that is not possible everywhere.” As for his theater work, the actor is taking slow as he shared, “Earlier, I used to manage both quite easily but now it gets tough. Leave aside health, the quality also gets affected, which is unpardonable.”
Khichdi, with its original cast comprising of Rajeev, Supriya Pathak, Anang Desai and Vandana Pathak will launch tonight 8 pm on Star Plus.