Baa Bahoo Aur Baby
Baa Bahoo Aur Baby (colloquially known as BBB or B3) is an Indian television dramedy series that aired in prime time on Star Plus between 2005 and 2010 with a total of two seasons.[1][2][3] The series was produced by Hats Off Productions and centered around a fictitious Gujarati Thakkar family living in Parla East, Mumbai.[4]
Baa Bahoo Aur Baby | |
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Genre | Comedy-drama |
Written by | Aatish Kapadia |
Directed by |
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Creative director | Deven Bhojani |
Starring | Sarita Joshi Shakti Arora Arvind Vaidya Benaf Dadachandji Lubna Salim Paresh Ganatra Vaishali Thakkar Gautam Rode |
Opening theme | "Baa Bahoo Aur Baby" by Vinod Rathod |
Country of origin | India |
Original language | Hindi |
No. of seasons | 2 |
No. of episodes | 558 |
Production | |
Producers |
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Cinematography |
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Camera setup | Multi-camera |
Running time | 20-40 minutes |
Production company | Hats Off Productions |
Release | |
Original network | Star Plus |
Picture format | 576i |
Original release | 5 August 2005 – 22 February 2010 |
After the end of the first season, the second season was brought in August 2009 due to popular demand from viewers.[3] However, as it was not well received like the first season, it went off the air on 22 February 2010.[5]
Series
Season | Episodes | Originally broadcast (India) | |
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First aired | Last aired | ||
1 | 510 | 5 August 2005 | 5 April 2009 |
2 | 48 | 23 August 2009[6] | 22 February 2010 |
Overview
Godavari Thakkar a.k.a. Baa is the matriarch of the Thakkar family. Her husband, Labhshankar Thakkar, is an alcoholic, and she has raised six sons and two daughters on her own, through tiffin service. The family lives in Krishna villa.
Godavari has six sons: Arvind, a strict and old fashioned insurance agent; Praveen, a mischievous and stingy saree businessman; Subodh, a playful theater actor; Harshad, a successful doctor; Gopal a.k.a. Gattu, an intellectually disabled child; and Hemal, the adopted son who works at a bank. The family also includes her daughter-in-laws, Leela, Arvind's playful wife; Praveena, Praveen's wife who is naughty, athletic and a saree businesswoman (who is dead); Shilpa, Harshad's wife and a doctor; Meenakshi, the shy wife of Subodh and Gudiya, the Punjabi wife of Hemal. Godavari has two daughters, Charubala and Radhika a.k.a. Baby. Charubala is a sophisticated woman who always shows off. She is married to Tushar and lives in South Mumbai. Radhika is handicapped (affected with polio) and a very stubborn girl who is often seen talking rudely, but loves her family and understands life. Among the children are Dimple and Jigar, grown up children of Arvind and Leela; Mehul, Mitali and Chaitali, children of Praveen and Praveena; Simran and Khushi, daughters of Charubala and Tushhar; Saloni and Saumil, children of Harshad and Shilpa; Manav and Disha, children of Subodh and Meenakshi, and Lucky, the adopted child of Hemal and Gudiya. The house has a cook Rajjaa and a worker, Narsi Kaka.
Plot
Season 1
The season begins with a detailed introduction of all the members of the household and how they deal with all the issues impacting a joint family structure. They face different problems and misunderstandings, and how they circumvent them. Notable episodic stories of this season are: Radhika's unrequited love for Anish, an NRI, Anish and Dimple's love story, Harshad being turned out of the house by Godavari and his return after 5 years, Praveena's tragic demise, Radhika and Birju's love story, the calamity of Praveen selling their home to a real estate shark without letting family members know, Hemal and Gudiya's wedding, and Jigar's coming of age. The inner turmoils of a matriarch leading a 20+ members family is beautifully represented.
Season 2
The sons get Krishna villa renovated. The season focuses on the relationship of Baby - Birju and Jigar - Rimjhim. Reluctance from the family of Birju to accept Baby as their daughter-in-law creates initial hiccups, but they get married eventually. Rimjhim is daughter of a wealthy businessman and the Thakkar family helps her to elope from a forced arranged marriage as she and Jigar love each other. While Rimjhim and Jigar try to prove themselves worthy, Rekha enters the household as the unwed mother of a newborn whom she hands over to Gattu for care-giving. Gattu grows attached to the newborn girl.
The season ends with the publication of Baa's biography, Baa Bahoo Aur Baby. There is a leap of 3 years where the family members are shown in various situations - Leela and Arvind finally get to visit United States, the children of Pravin are all grown up and pursuing their careers, Harshad and Shilpa open a pediatric hospital in Baa's name, Meenakshi is expecting her third child, and Gudiya has had twin daughters, a breakthrough in polio treatment has helped Baby to recover from her polio, Rimjhim has started a family catering business, and finally, Babuji has stopped drinking. The series ends with the Thakkar family winning the 'Family of the Decade' award.
Cast
- Sarita Joshi as Godavari Labhshankar Thakkar (Baa)
- Arvind Vaidya as Labhshankar Thakkar (Babuji)
- Benaf Dadachandji as Radhika "Baby"Birju Mehta. (née Thakkar)
- Deven Bhojani as Gopal "Gattu" Labhshankar Thakkar
- Rajeev Mehta as Arvind Godavari Thakkar
- Lubna Salim as Leela Arvind Thakkar (née Raichura)
- Paresh Ganatra as Praveen Labhshankar Thakkar
- Vaishali Thakkar as Praveena Praveen Thakkar
- Nimisha Vakharia as Charubala Tusshar Bhayani (née Thakkar)
- Nitin Vakharia as Tusshar Bhayani
- Jamnadas Majethia as Dr. Harshad Godavari Thakkar
- Sonali Sachdeva as Dr. Shilpa Harshad Thakkar(née Raichura)
- Rajesh Kumar as Subodh Labhshankar Thakkar
- Suchita Trivedi as Meenakshi Subodh Thakkar
- Kamlesh Oza as Hemal Labhshankar Thakkar
- Sweta Keswani as Gurinder "Gudiya" Hemal Thakkar (née Chaddah)
- Amit Varma as Birju Mehta
- Manva Naik as Dimple Anish Kotak (née Thakkar)
- Gautam Rode as Anish Kotak
- Jay Soni as Jigar Arvind Thakkar
- Menaka Lalwani as Rim Jhim Jigar Thakkar (née Talwar)
- Devarsh Thaker as Mehul Praveen Thakkar
- Richa Bhadra as Mitali Praveen Thakkar
- Swini Khara as Chaitali Praveen Thakkar
- Khushi Dubey as Simrun Tusshar Bhayani
- Kartik Gantha as Saumil Harshad Thakkar
- Devanshi Jhaveri as Saloni Harshad Thakkar
- Smith Seth as Manav Subodh Thakkar/Mansukhlal
- Navika Kotia as Lucky Hemal Thakkar
- Siddhartha Jadhav as Rajja
- Honey Chhaya as Narsi Kaka
- Rajesh Kumar as Narrator
- Anjali Mukhi replaced Lubna Salim as Leela Arvind Thakkar in Season 2
- Shakti Arora replaced Jay Soni as Jigar Arvind Thakkar in Season 2
- Hardik Chandarana replaced Devarsh Thaker as Mehul from Season 1: Episode 327-504
- Devarsh Thaker retook his role as Mehul from Season 1: Episode 504 till end of Season 2
- Afia Tayebali replaced Khushi Dubey as Simrun Tusshar Bhayani (later in Season 1 till Season 2's end)
- Juhi Rangparia replaced Devanshi Jhaveri as Saloni Harshad Thakkar from Season 1: Episode 314 to Season 2's end
- Lily Patel as Moti Baa
- Supriya Pathak as Gunvanti Maami
- Jiten Lalwani as Malay Tijoriwala
- Girish Pardeshi as Kamlesh Kakkad
- Madhavi Juvekar as Urmila Wagle
- Atmaram Bhende as Damodar Kaka
- Ayush Mahesh Khedekar as Gullel
- Nimisha Vakharia as Prema
- Komolika Guhathakurta as Revati
- Jitendra Trehan as Ashutosh Kotak
- Aditi Pratap as Aarya Kotak
- Ali Raza Namdar as Jassu Bhai
- Pushkar Shrotri as Inspector Paranjpe
- Shubha Khote as Mangu Mausi
- Simple Kaul as Malaika
- Aatish Kapadia as Prinjal
- Arya Rawal as Amita
- Resham Tipnis as Devki
- Bhamini Oza as Ms. Jagruti
- Deepshikha Nagpal as Ichaa
- Amit Singh Thakur as Mr Kakkad
- Chetan Hansraj as Kukku
- Anupama Singh as Sumitra Mehta
- Dolly Minhas as Jaanki Mehta
- Neena Kulkarni as Asha Ben
- Amardeep Jha as Mai
- Meenal Karpe as Malti Bhayani
- Mehul Buch as Devendra Marfatia
- Mohan Bhandari as Priyavadhan Raichura: Leela's father and Arvind's father in law. A rich businessman with a generous heart (2008)
- Darshan Jariwala as Dr. Akhilesh Jha
- Swati Shah as Mayuri Ben
- Pooja Ruparel as Falguni
- Delnaaz Irani as Zenobia
- Karan Sharma as Anirudh Desai
- Harish Patel as Parshuram Talwar
- Rupali Ganguly as Rekha
- Firoz Irani as Baba Bakshi
- Sakshi Sem as Pooja
Special appearances
- Sharman Joshi (appears in Season 1, Episode 36), to promote Shaadi No. 1
- Soha Ali Khan (appears in Season 1, Episode 36), to promote Shaadi No. 1
- Ayesha Takia (appears in Season 1, Episode 37), to promote Shaadi No. 1
- Fardeen Khan (appears in Season 1, Episode 37), to promote Shaadi No. 1
- Esha Deol (appears in Season 1, Episode 38) to promote Shaadi No. 1
- Zayed Khan (appears in Season 1, Episode 38), to promote Shaadi No. 1
- Falguni Pathak (appears in Season 1, Episode 175), the Navratri special episode
- Jay Chhaniyara (appears in Season 1, Episode 187), to promote The Great Indian Laughter Challenge[7]
- Bakhtiyaar Irani (appears in season 1, Episode 187), to promote Nach Baliye 2
- Tanaaz Currim (appears in Season 1, Episode 187), to promote Nach Baliye 2
- Rakhi Sawant (appears in Season 1, Episode 326), to promote Nach Baliye 3
- Abhishek Avasthi (appears in Season 1, Episode 326), to promote Nach Baliye 3
- Juhi Chawla (appears in Season 1, Episode 402), to promote Bhoothnath[8]
- Katrina Kaif (appears in Season 1, Episode 448), to promote Singh Is Kinng[9]
Production
The series was filmed at Swathi Studio in Goregaon, Mumbai.[10]
In November 2008, the shootings and telecast of all the Hindi television series including this series and films were stalled on 8 November 2008 due to dispute by the technician workers of FWICE (Federation of Western India Cine Employees) for increasing the wages, better work conditions and more breaks between shootings.[11] FWICE first took a strike on 1 October 2008 when they addressed their problems with the producers and production was stalled.[12] A contract was signed after four days discussions, and shooting was happening only for two hours per day, after which differences increased between them while channels gave them time until 30 October 2008 to sort it out.[13] Failing to do so led to protests again from 10 November 2008 to 19 November 2008, during which channels blacked out new broadcasts and repeat telecasts were shown from 10 November 2008.[13][14] On 19 November 2008, the strike was called off after settling the disputes and the production resumed.[15] The new episodes started to telecast from 1 December 2008.[16]
In other media
Gattu's character, portrayed by Deven Bhojani, was used in the 2012 drama serial Alaxmi Ka Super Parivaar where he came as the nephew of Natwarlal and Mohandas.[17]
Legacy
The Indian Express stated, "The strength of the show is its characters that deliver a power-packed performance. The right concoction of situational humour and proper representation of characters remains the forte of the show. With an ensemble cast of seasoned stage artistes, the show manages to hold attention and evoke laughter. The show is an instant hit among the womenfolk. It's a sweet humorous tale worth a dekko."[18]
References
- "Hum Paanch, Zabaan Sambhal Ke and other evergreen sitcoms that you can binge-watch". The Times of India.
- "Baa Bahoo Aur Baby returns".
- "the-reunion-of-team-baa-bahu-aur-baby-will-make-you-nostalgic".
- "Baa Bahu Aur Baby completes 500 episodes". Times of India.
- "`Baa Bahu Aur Baby` goes off air". Zee News.
- "Baa Bahoo aur Baby returns in a new look".
- "Jai Chhaniyara's witty Jokes". Hotstar.
- "Actress Juhi Chawla with the cast members of Baa Bahoo Aur Baby". The Times of India.
- "Katrina Kaif shoots for a special episode of Baa, Bahoo aur Baby". Pinkvilla.
- "Baa, Bahu, and fake creepers". Rediff.
- "Cine technicians go on strike". The Indian Express.
- "Work hit as 1.5 lakh cine workers strike work". Outlook India.
- "Strike off, TV shooting to resume". The Indian Express.
- "No more repeat of TV soaps as TV industry strike ends". India Today.
- "No more repeat telecast of TV soaps as strike ends". Live Mint.
- "New look return". The Telegraph.
- "Deven returns to TV as Gattu". The Times of India.
- "The endearing family is back". The Indian Express.