Kasautii Zindagii Kay (2018 TV series)
Kasautii Zindagii Kay () is an Indian drama television series produced by Ekta Kapoor under Balaji Telefilms. It was a rebooted version of Kapoor's 2001 soap opera with the same name. The show aired from 25 September 2018 to 3 October 2020 on Star Plus and starred Parth Samthaan, Erica Fernandes, Hina Khan, Karan Singh Grover, Aamna Sharif and Karan Patel. The whole series is digitally available on Disney+ Hotstar. Plot. Anurag Basu and Prerna Sharma are soulmates made for each other, yet forced to go through several trials of life to be together . Set in Kolkata, the story focuses on Anurag and Prerna who study in the same university. Fate keeps pulling them towards each other and as they get to know one another, they slowly form a bond of trust, understanding and friendship. Prerna starts falling for Anurag. Komolika Chaubey is an arrogant, selfish, evil and narcissistic woman. While Anurag realizes his feelings for Prerna, Komolika starts getting obsessed with him. Anurag and Prerna confess their feelings, consummate their relationship, and plan to marry. Seeing them plan a future together, Komolika creates misunderstandings between them. She asks Anurag to marry her in  order to save Prerna's house. Compelled and helpless, Anurag agrees. Unaware of the truth, Prerna is left shocked. Dazed, she gets hit by a car and is taken to the hospital, where she is revealed to be pregnant. Hurt and rebellious, Prerna enters the Basu house, successfully exposes Komolika and gets her arrested. Komolika escapes prison and returns to kill Prerna, but falls down the terrace and goes missing. Anurag and Prerna happily reunite and get engaged. Rishabh Bajaj is a successful, powerful and selfish businessman. He falsely frames Anurag and gets him jailed. Further, he asks Prerna to  marry him in exchange for Anurag's freedom. Helpless, she agrees. Heartbroken, Anurag questions Prerna. She lies to him, hoping he moves on but Anurag remains adamant and refuses to give up on their love. Rishabh starts falling for Prerna. Aware of the fact that Prerna loves Anurag, Rishabh tries to kill him. When his daughter Kukki ends up getting hurt while trying to stop Rishabh, he steps back. Anurag and Prerna reunite again. Vengeful, Komolika makes a comeback. Prerna reveals her pregnancy to Anurag and the two rejoice as they get ready to marry. Komolika causes Anurag's accident . One month later. Anurag loses his memory. Komolika fakes an identity and misuses the opportunity to make Anurag and the Basus believe that they got married. Prerna discovers Komolika's identity and decides to expose her but refrains in fear of affecting Anurag's memory. Komolika tries to kill Prerna and her child but fails every time. Prerna gives birth to Sneha, Anurag regains his memory. Komolika threatens Anurag to frame Prerna for murder. She asks Anurag to pretend to push her off the bridge. Rishabh, who still has feelings for Prerna, recommends Anurag to follow the plan, hoping to  keep the two away. When Anurag refuses, Komolika threatens life long jail for Prerna. Helpless, Anurag agrees and asks Rishabh to promise to save Prerna. Anurag pushes Prerna off a bridge and is saved by Rishabh. Komolika then abandons Sneha in an orphanage and bribes a worker to burn it. Reeling from heartbreak and shock, Prerna reaches the orphanage and is devastated to see it on fire. Broken beyond belief, Prerna moves to London with Rishabh. Eight years later. Prerna thrives as a successful businesswoman in London while Anurag's business does well in Kolkata. Prerna maintains a formal relation  with Rishabh, still detesting Anurag for his betrayal. Anurag hates Komolika and lives in constant guilt. Prerna leaves for Kolkata to avenge her daughter's death. Anurag and Prerna meet an orphan, and feel a powerful connection to her, unaware that she is Sneha. Anurag breaks ties with Komolika, reveals the truth to Prerna and shows her the proofs. He explains how he tried to constantly contact her, but was isolated by Rishabh. The two reunite, reminiscing the time they lost, the pain they faced and get remarried. Enraged, Komolika stabs Prerna but ends up wounding Rishabh, when he tries  to save Prerna. Rishabh stabs Komolika in return, and kills her. Before dying, Rishabh apologizes to Prerna and Anurag for being selfish and separating them and asks them to take care of Kuki. One month later. Anurag and Prerna live a happy life with their daughter Sneha in Kolkata. Production. Development. "Kasautii Zindagii Kay" is a reboot of the 2001 series of the same name, which was also produced by Ekta Kapoor under Balaji Telefilms for Star Plus. In February 2018, Ekta Kapoor revealed that she was creating a rebooted version of one of her old series stating: On 4  July 2018, Kapoor had a meeting with Star Plus regarding the reboot. On 21 July 2018, she announced the "Kasautii Zindagii Kay" reboot by sharing the teaser of the series. In September 2018, Shah Rukh Khan introduced Parth Samthaan and Erica Fernandes as Anurag Basu and Prerna Sharma in the first promo of the series. Kapoor revealed that the character Anurag was named after her director friend and the character Prerna was named after her father's friend Prem Chopra's daughter. In September 2018, twenty five feet statues of the lead characters Anurag and Prerna were unveiled across ten  cities in India by popular actors to promote the series. The storyline took an eight years leap in February 2020. Casting. Erica Fernandes was cast to portray Prerna Sharma. Later, Parth Samthaan was confirmed to play Anurag Basu. Uday Tikekar, Shubhaavi Choksey, Kali Prasad Mukherjee, Kanupriya Pandit, Pooja Banerjee and Sahil Anand were cast to play prominent roles of Moloy Basu, Mohini Basu, Rajesh Sharma, Veena Sharma, Nivedita Basu and Anupam Sengupta. In October 2018, Hina Khan was introduced as Komolika Chaubey. In June 2019, Karan Singh Grover was introduced as Rishabh Bajaj. Initially, Upasana Salunke played Tapur Basu but  was soon replaced by Priyal Mahajan, who was again replaced by Aastha Abhay in April 2019 and yet again replaced by Garima Parihar in March 2020. In May 2019, Hina Khan took a break from the series. However, in September 2019, Khan confirmed quiting the show and was replaced by Aamna Sharif as Komolika Chaubey in October 2019. Namik Paul was supposed to enter the series in April 2019 as Vikrant Sinha. However, he chose the lead role in "Kavach: Maha Shivratri" over "Kasautii". Siddharth Shivpuri was then cast to play Vikrant. In January 2020, Paul finally joined the cast , this time as Viraj Bhardwaj. In March 2020, Karan Singh Grover returned to play Rishabh Bajaj after his break. Post his return, the series took an eight-year leap. Various new additions were introduced including Parull Chaudhry, Kunal Thakur, Urfi Javed, Sumaiya Khan, Mridul Das and Minal Mogam. In June 2020, when filming was about to resume post the halt owing to the coronavirus pandemic, it was confirmed that Grover will not be returning. On 25 June 2020, Karan Patel was confirmed to be replacing Grover as Rishabh Bajaj. Soon after, Sumaiya Khan was replaced by Tasheen Shah as Sneha  Basu. Kunal Thakur, also decided to not return to shoot owing to the pandemic and was replaced by Akash Jagga as Kaushik Basu. Sahil Anand, who played Anupam Sengupta also confirmed not returning post the outbreak. But he decided to return in September 2020 to wrap up the series, which went off air on 3 October 2020. Filming. Kasautii was mainly filmed in Mumbai in Killick Nixon Studio but certain scenes were shot in Kolkata as the show's storyline was based in West Bengal. The promo which featured Shah Rukh Khan introducing Parth Samthaan and Erica Fernandes as Anurag  and Prerna was shot at Mumbai's Kelve Railway Station. Parth Samthaan, Erica Fernandes, Karan Singh Grover, Pooja Banerjee, Sahil Anand and Tarun Mahilani flew to Zurich in June 2019 to shoot the Switzerland track. On 12 July 2020, Parth Samthaan was tested positive for coronavirus and the shooting of the series was halted. The shooting was resumed on 17 July 2020 while the story was tweaked for Samthaan's absence until his return. Erica Fernandes and Aamna Sharif tested negative but were advised to shoot from their respective homes. After a week, Fernandes decided to resume shooting on the  sets. On recovering and testing negative, Samthaan quarantined himself for two weeks and returned to shoot on 6 August 2020. The shooting of the series wrapped up on 18 September 2020. Broadcast. "Kasautii Zindagii Kay" was supposed to premiere on 10 September 2018, but was postponed to 25 September 2018. On 19 March 2020, the shoot of the series was indefinitely halted due to the coronavirus outbreak the airing halted on 23 March 2020 when the remaining episodes were broadcast. After more than three months, the filming of the series was resumed on 27 June 2020. New episodes started airing  from 13 July 2020 on Star Plus. Cancellation. With a drastic decrease in ratings post the coronavirus outbreak, in September 2020 the series was confirmed to go off air in October 2020. The last episode of Kasautii aired on 3 October 2020. Reception. Critical response. Shweta Kesari from "India Today" said, "Parth Samthaan and Erica Fernandes beautifully fit into the shoes of punctual Anurag and carefree Prerna. The grandeur and magnificence of the show will make your jaw drop. The makers have tried to retain the essence of Kolkata and Bengalis. Overall the show is a complete package of entertainment  for soap viewers!" Soumya Srivastava from "Hindustan Times" described the show as "louder and garnish" and said, "The background score is excessive. It plays without reason and way too often. Whether the scene demands it or not, a joyful, somber or a comical tone is always there to force your brain into thinking that this is how you are supposed to feel right now." "Times Now" commented that, "The reboot takes you in the lives of Anurag and Prerna that were part of our every day lives and the first episode is all about nostalgia of the epic Kasautii Zindagii  Kay." Priyanka Bansal from "The Quint" stated, "Both Erica Fernandes and Parth Samthaan are new and have huge shoes to fill. More often than not, Erica looks bored and still has a long way to go with her acting skills. The chemistry between Parth and Erica too seems to be lacking. When it comes to production values, it of course shows primarily in the sets. As OTT and royal as they come, they scream money from the rooftops." "The Times of India" stated, "Kasautii Zindagii Kay 2 has a cinematic appeal. The visuals and the sets are grand. The difference  in the financial status of Anurag and Prerna is well brought-out through their homes and familial set-up. Even though the show moves at a swift pace, it is the long introduction of characters in the beginning that is bound to make you impatient. Erica and Parth look their part, yet there is more one wants to see out of them in the upcoming episodes. The first episode is a breezy watch and keeps you hooked." Ratings. Kasautii opened with a rating of 5.5 million impressions in its debut week occupying the tenth position in Hindi GEC urban. However , the following week it dropped to the 15th position with 4.6 million impressions and to the eighteenth position with 4.6 million impressions the next week. The following week, the viewership further dipped to 4.3 million, occupying the thirteenth position. Week 43 saw the show gaining 4.9 million impressions and occupying the fifteenth position, followed by the twelfth position with 5.2 impressions the next week. In week 51, it entered the top 10 occupying the seventh position with 6.3 million impressions while the following week it dropped to the eleventh position with 5.1 million impressions. In the first week of 2019 , it further decreased to the sixteenth position with 4.8 million impressions and further to 4.5 million impressions the next week occupying the fifteenth position in urban. In week 5 it was at the fifteenth position garnering 4.6 million impressions. Soon, the ratings started to increase and it re-entered top ten at week 9 with a TRP of 1.8 and the next week it rose to the eight position garnering a TRP of 2.0. The next week it increased to 2.2, occupying the fourth position and to 2.3 the following week at the sixth position. In week 13, it garnered  a TRP of 2.2 occupying the sixth position and the following week, a TRP of 2.3. The next week, it maintained the same position and TRP. It maintained its TRP of 2.2 and 2.3 in the consecutive weeks, until in week 19, when it rose to third position with TRP of 2.6 while in week 20, it topped the list for the first time with 6.5 million impressions and a trp of 3 in urban and at third position in Hindi GEC overall with 10.38 million impressions. The following week it was the second most watched in urban with 6.8  million impressions and fourth most overall with 11 million impressions. However, on week 22, after Hina Khan's exit, it dropped down to fourth position and the following week to the fifth position garnering 5.2 million impressions. On week 24, it further declined to seventh position with a TRP of 1.9. In week 28, it declined to the eighth position and to the tenth position in week 30 with a TRP of 2.1. In week 38, it was at the thirteenth position with 4.6 million impressions and dipped further to the fourteenth position with 4 million impressions in week 40 . In week 42, it increased to 4.3 million impressions occupying the thirteenth position and to 4.8 million impressions the following week. In week 46, it dipped to 3.5 million impressions occupying the nineteenth position. It increased to 5.3 million impressions days after Aamna Sharif's entry in week 48 occupying the twelfth position and dropped to 5.1 million impressions occupying the tenth position the following week. In the first week of 2020, the series was at the twelfth position with 5 million impressions and TRP of 2.0. In the third week, it was at the fourteenth position with 5.1 million  impressions while the following week it dropped to the eighteenth position with 4 million impressions. In the sixth and eighth week, it garnered a TRP of 1.9. Before the introduction of the eight year leap, the ratings increased garnering 5.2 million impressions and occupying the twelfth position, while the following week it occupied the fourteenth position with 5.1 million impressions. After a three-month break, owing to the coronavirus outbreak, the series resumed airing in June 2020, and the ratings of the series saw a drastic drop. Soundtrack. "Kasautii Zindagii Kay"s title track was sung and recreated by the composers  and singers of the original series, Babul Supriyo and Priya Bhattacharya.