Sasural Genda Phool

Sasural Genda Phool
File:Sasural Genda Phool.jpg Sasural Gandha Phool
Written by	Mitali & Zama Habib
Directed by	Ravi Ojha
Country of origin	India
Original language	Hindi
No. of episodes	200+
Production
Producer	Ravi Ojha
Running time	24 minutes
Production company	Ravi Ojha Productions
Original release
Network	STAR Plus
Release	March 1, 2010 – Present

Sasural Genda Phool (Hindi: ससुराल गेंदा फूल translation: In-Laws House is like a marigold) is an Indian soap opera that is currently aired on STAR Plus. The show premiered on STAR Plus on March 1, 2010 in India. It is the remake of the popular Star Jalsha show Ogo Bodhu Shundori.

Plot

Set in the beautiful alleys of Old Delhi, Sasural Genda Phool is a heart rendering story of two unlikely characters – Suhana and Ishaan. It is a love story of two strangers who fall in love after marriage.

Suhana is the lovely, spirited daughter of Kamal Kishore Bajpai. She hails from a palatial house with a plethora of servants to service her cravings. Having lost her mother at a very young age, she grows up as a very lonely person. Despite his best efforts, Kamal Kumar Bajpai is not able to give his daughter enough time. Denied a mother’s love and a father’s attention, Suhana has grown up to have a legendary temper. But equally legendary is her kindness. Everyone who has seen her grow up – her family, her servants and her friends – know her to be an honest, upright person, never shying away from calling a spade a spade. Unfortunately, Suhana loses in that most complicated game of all, love. In a flick of instinctive defiance, she agrees to marry whoever her father decides for her.

Ishaan on the other hand is a gentle, good natured IT professional. Surprisingly, for a person whose career is on the rise, he does not have a girlfriend...he asks his family members to look for a bride for him. As one girl after another rejects him, he gives up and decides that he will marry whosoever they decide is a proper match for him. They decide on Suhana. Thus, Suhana and Ishaan are wed.

But the marriage starts on a disastrous note. Suhana, who is raw from a recent break up, makes it clear to Ishaan that she is not in love with him. Epitomising the nice guy that he is, he decides to give her time for her wounds to heal. And then, something happens to Suhana. Whether it is the power of the marriage mantras or the ritual of living under the same roof, a magic happens. It starts with inconsequential things - choosing a shirt for him; packing his tiffin; or personally picking the flowers Ishaan likes best. Suhana slowly begins to discover her husband. Each new day, she discovers a new facet of her husband. Each new day makes Ishaan more endearing to Suhana. And before she knows it, she has fallen in love with him – a love which is deep and solid; a love that will truly stand the test of time.

But Sasural Genda Phool is not only about Suhana’s discovery of love; it is also about her discovery of a family. Unlike Suhana, Ishaan comes from a large joint family. Individuals in this family subordinate their selfish desires for needs of the common good. It is in this family that Suhana discovers the true wealth of living – she gains the love of a mother, of a Dadima, of Chachas and Chachis and of Brothers and Sisters she never had. She learns to never make a distinction between rich and poor, between the intelligent and the not-so-intelligent – to be equal to all and never to be judgmental.

The family Suhana weds into is where the major drama and emotion of Sasural Genda Phool will take place. This affable family is located in the heart of Old Delhi, a place where the mohalla is one for all and all for one; a place, where the women of the household bond, not just with themselves, but with the entire neighbourhood. For a girl who has spent all her life closeted in privacy, Suhana will evolve from her initial culture shock to understand the importance of the smaller things in life. The audience of the soap will revel in the aesthetic portrayal of Purani Dilli.

The story itself will unfold in the style of a Hrishikesh Mukherjee film – laced with warmth, kindness and humour – where the human soul comes out shining brightly as a true winner.

It is in the angans and gallis of this beautiful city that Suhana will discover family, love and life.Now Suhana has decided to stay with Ishaan's family as she understood that she can't never leave them.

The current plot is that bauji and badi maa have called Ishaan's childhood best friend Sonali (whom Ishaan lovingly calls Sona) to stay with them. Bauji and badi maa have told Sona that they are calling her because they want to make Suhana jealous and make her realize her love for Ishaan. No one else knows about this plan other than Bauji, badi maa and Sonali.

When Sonali first comes, Ishaan carries her in to the house because she sprained her ankle. Suhana is astonished because Ishaan is usually really shy about such things. And then the family starts talking about how Ishaan used to be sooo mischevious and naughty and he and Sona used to pull so many pranks on each other and on the people of the locality. Suhana get surprised to hear all that. She gets jealous seeing Sonali and Ishaan's closeness and then wonders why she cares. "Agar Ishaan Sona ko pyaar karta hai to mujhe bura kyon lagraha hai?" (which means) "Why am I angry if Ishaan loves Sonali?"

When all of the family goes on a picnic Suhana gets even more jealous when Ishaan says that Sona belongs to him (when they are picking teams for cricket). During the cricket game Suhana has the opportunity to bat on the other hand Sona is the bowler, after bowling Suhana hits it but unfortunately Sona manages to catch the ball thus making Suhana out.loads of other things have happned to, suhanna is invited to her friends party n she wants to take ishaan with him but insted he goes with shonali (sona), suhanna tries to ring ishaan quite a few times but he doesnt answer, suhanna goes home and is really upset, when ishaan and sona come back home , sona sees suhanna really upset and askes her that why is she getting soo upset and tells her that she suspects that are suhanna and ishaan proper husband and wife and suhanna slaps sona across the face.And after that she leaves to her dads place at night and the next morning everyone is heartbroken and then suhanna comes back and tells her dad to talk to the family until that she will go tho her room and get her stuff.On the other side the family was happy that suhanna came back but sad that shes planning to leave again.

Her dad comes into the room, tells Suhana to pack everything as she won't be coming back again, she asks why and he tells her that she can't exactly live under the same roof as Ishaan and apply for divorce, and that he made a major mistake of getting her married into a middle class family who will never be able to fulfil her needs. After hearing this Suhana becomes quite and starts thinking of all the good times that she has shared with the Kashyap family. Meanwhile Ishaan is upstairs crying when Elesh and Inder come to talk to him, they ask him why he never told anyone about their situation and he replies that if he had told everyone than they wouldn't have given Suhana the same love that they had. Suhana then gets up and locks her self in the room and starts breaking stuff, hearing this everyone comes outside her room and ask her to open the door as they are scared that she might hurt herself. Eventually when she does open the door, her dad tells Inder, Elesh and Sanjana to get her stuff but Suhana says that she's not going back and that this is her home and the only person that should leave is Basanti (Sonali). Everyone then starts to question Suhana about why she wants to live here even though she's unhappy.

She looks at Ishaan, but says that she's going to miss Badi maa, Ranjini's chicken and Disha's Pakoray and she's going miss dadiji and meena who finally knows what kind of coffee that she likes. After hearing this everyone knows the real reason, but decide to annoy Suhana. They tell her that there's no husband-wife relationship between them and it's better if she leaves now than a few months later on. Suhana still wants to stay and everyone mockingly tries to convince her to leave. When Sanjana says that she doesn't love Ishaan so what's the point of staying, Suhana says that Sanjana doesn't know anything. When everyone is still trying to convince her to leave Suhana says that she can't leave because she can't live without Ishaan, as she loves him. Hearing this everyone gets excited and Ishaan falls over the railings. Everyone starts looking for Ishaan and when they do he's stuck on the railing. Everyone thinks that he's trying to commit suicide as Suhana's leaving! He says that he'll only come down if Suhana promises never to leave him and this house and promises to go on a drive with him on his scooter. Suhana agrees.

Later, the family members plan their suhaag raat. But Ishaan was quite nervous and was practicing what he should say to Suhana before unveiling her face but when he unveils Suhana was asleep. The family then plans for their honeymoon. Ishaan's father finances half of the expenditures of their honeymoon. Back at Mr. Vajpayee's house, his aunty (Suhana & Sanjana's dadi) has arrived. She is an orthodox and causes a lot of annoyance to Sanjana and the servants. Ishaan and Suhana set off for Goa by train. This happens to be Suhana's first railways experience. On a station, Ishaan gets down to get coffee for Suhana and the train went away. Suhana gets into a quarrel with the TTE and asks him to find her husband. She is brought down on a station for being without ticket. Ishaan comes and finds her there. Then they proceed their journey in a fish truck and reaches Goa.

Characters

Suhana Bajpai Kashyap (Ragini Khanna)

A Rich Spoilt Girl? Probably Not! It’s just her dad who’s showered her with love and riches. She loves getting her own way. After her marriage to Ishaan, she discovers a wholly new life – the middle class life. Her idea of life , however , is completely different from Ishaan. She lives for herself and doesn't adapt to her environment easily. Living a high-class life before getting married, she finds it extremely difficult to adjust to the traditional Indian joint family system. After seeing the 'conditions' she has to live in, she decides to leave and return to her own home. Eventually though she realizes that she had already developed a bond with them and has started to love them as well. A clear instance of this can be seen when her Badi Maa (Ishaan's father's elder brother's wife) falls ill. She goes to the extent foregoing her plans of leaving the house so that she can be by her side and take care of her. Though rather surprised at her behavior at first, everyone is rather touched by her concern. After this incident, Suhana decides not to leave her house. As of the recent episodes, it can be seen clearly that Suhana has warmed up to all the members of (what she considers to be) 'her' family. She is very lovely and friendly also very funny! Currently, she is getting very jealous of Ishaan and Sonali's closeness but she doesn't know why it matters to her what Ishaan does or who he hangs out with sona

Ishaan Kashyap (Jay Soni)

Ishaan is Suhana's husband who is very simple, calm, and sweet. He is Rano and Alok's son. He loves his family a lot although sometimes Inder and Elesh (whom he calls Bhaiiyya) can get on his nerves with their pranks. Suhana says he is a simpleton and calls him "Amol Palekar" (a Hindi actor who usually portrays a simpleton character in his films) season 2. He is very calm, intelligent, sweet and extremely cute. He knows what Suhana likes and he knows how to handle her anger. He loves his wife immensely but he doesn't think she reciprocates his feelings. He often troubles Suhana for fun. Now his best friend Sonali (he calls her Sona) has come to stay with the family. He is so close with her and he sees that Suhana doesn't like this. He begins to think that maybe Suhana does love him after all.

Badi Maa - Shailja Kashyap (Supriya Pilgaonkar)

She is called Bhabi or Badi Maa and manages the entire family. She is Ishaan’s badi maa (thaie), Eeshwar’s wife and the eldest daughter-in-law of the house. She is kind, loving and sweet. Everyone loves her dearly and respects her a lot. No one in the house talks about her husband, who left her and his family for a woman, named Sunita, and settled in America. Eeshwar not only had cut all ties with Shailja but also got re-married there. But Shailja didn’t leave his house or his family. Gayatri (Dadi) has always supported Shailja & stood by her. Shailja has handled the responsibility of the house with aplomb and she runs entire the family with perfection. Strict and a disciplinarian in nature, she controls everyone. She is respected and obeyed by all in the house. Even Aalok (Ishaan’s father) depends on her opinion for any decision. Shailja has a son Inder and daughter Panna. Both are married now. Inder is married to Rajni and they have a daughter called Meethi. Panna is married to Raunak.

KK (Kamal Kishore) Bajpai (Mahesh Thakur)

Suhana and Sanjana’s father.He is a very kind and loving father who raised his daughters after his wife’s death.He couldn’t afford to see his children sad and to make them happy he did every possible thing.But today he knows his daughters need to get settled and he desperately wants to marry Suhana off. But Suhana is not in mood to marry.In spite of her resistance KK keeps his search for suitable groom.And with the help of his younger daughter Sanjana who is little more sensible he keeps arranging boys so that Suhana agrees to marry.And when he meets Ishaan and his family he foresee his daughter would get so much affection that she will definitely change herself.

Sanjana Bajpai (Tapeshwari Sharma)

Suhana’s younger sister who is a little more caring and softhearted than her sister. She believes that Suhana is stubborn and she needs to change but like her father she knows that no one can easily convince Suhana; so she aids her father in the quest to get Suhana married. She loves her sister and she strongly feels that Suhana needs a right man in her life. In Ishaan she also sees the man who will give all the attention and genuine love to Suhana that her sister deserves. She feels that her mother and father give Suhana more love and more attention than her, but rarely complains about this fact.

(Khushboo Purohit played this character for some initial episodes and still appears in the title song.)

Dadaji - Ambarnath Kashyap (Sudhir Pandey)

At the age of 75 he has become a little forgetful but he is full of life. Has set pattern of living but he keeps himself updated as far as knowledge is concerned. As the household responsibilities are being taken care of his elder bahu Shailja and younger son Alok, Dadu is enjoying his life with least tension. He loves his wife Gayatri but the relationship between Gayatri and him is really funny and lovable. Often referred as "Shah Jahan" by his wife, both of them keep fighting for something or the other. And at the same time they remain caring for each other. The duo provides comic relief. They are respected by the family. In crisis, the last word is always dadi and dadaji’s.

Dadi-Gayatri Kashyap (Anita Kanwal )

Or as Known as Mumtaz from Dadaji's point of view. As funny as Dadu, she is sharp and outspoken. Always fights with her husband but deep down she loves her husband and does everything for him. They have two sons (Eeshwar and Alok) and a married daughter Usha, who is no more alive, but Usha’s son Elesh stays in the house with them. Dada and Dadaji are live characters and the only time they turn sad when the topic of Eeshwar (their elder son) is raised.

Alok Kashyap (Sooraj Thapar)

He is Ishaan’s father. He is like the Laxman of the house. He works in a bank and earns for the family and with the help of his bhabhi Shailja, he takes care of the household matters. He respects his bhabhi Shailja and discusses everything with her. He loves his wife Rano, 48, who is really a kind woman and both are very happy with their children Ishaan, 25 (our hero) and the younger daughter, 21 Ishika.

Rano Alok Kashyap (Shruti Ulfat)

She is Ishaan’s mother [Alok’s wife]. She is a very simple woman who is happy to have no bigger responsibility since Shailja handles all. She always looks up to Shailja like her sister. Everybody takes the advantage of her simplicity not in a shrewd way though. Shailja takes care of her. The only thing that is worrying her is Ishaan’s marriage.

Radha (Sadiya Siddique)

She is the lifeline of the family. Not a blood relative but everybody treats her as family. Everybody calls her "Radha Bua". She executes what Shailja plans. Be it milk wala, paper wala, kirana wala everybody has to deal with Radha. She is caring and her favourite in this house is Ishaan. She is a caring person. But there is something mysterious about her. She has a strange relationship with her son Deepak, who lives in a hostel. Nobody talks about it but everyone is aware that there is some intriguing element. Her husband sold her to a goon on her wedding night and the goon raped her. Deepak's face looks just like him, but after Deepak's suicide attempt, their relationship is much better

Inder Kashyap (Jiten Lalwani)

He is Eeshwar and Shailja’s son. He is a very bright young professional who wants to excel in life and earn more and more to make his family live with more comforts. Elder cousin of Ishaan who like other members loves his family. He is happy with his wife Rajni and they have a beautiful daughter in Meethi who is 6 years old.

Rajni Inder Kashyap (Bhairavi Raichura)

She is Inder’s wife. She has come from a rich family. She is very generous. She doesn’t have much dream or desire. All she wants to have is the family she is living with and she is happy with the household things. She knows the family rules and respects them. She has a cute daughter named Meethi.

Elesh Bhardwaj (Shyam Mashalkar)

Elesh Bhardwaj is the son of Usha (married daughter of Dada and Dadi who is no more alive)but he stays with Dada and Dadi in their house. Elder to Ishaan, he is always seen cracking jokes in the house especially about Ishaan. He doesn't like to do job due to which the whole family is upset especially his wife Disha. But he's a very pure hearted person who cares for his family.but a very jolly and happy person.But now he has got a job where his boss is taking wrong advantage of him & is doing bad things using him.

Disha Elesh Bhardwaj(Pooja Kanwal)

She is Elesh’s wife. She is a school teacher but at the same time good at all house hold works.She has as a special bonding with rajni. She has self respect, but she can have a nasty temper when someone pushes her buttons. She contributes some money for the family’s daily needs. Aalok doesn’t want to take but Badi maa understands the reason & says take the money. Though she loves her husband Elesh she wants him to take up a job and earn his own money.

Ishika Kashyap(Neha Narang)

She is Ishaan’s sister who Studies in college. A bholi bhaali ladki who hasn’t seen the other side of the world as yet.She's too aggressive and has many wishes and dreams for her future..

Panna Raunak Sharma (Moon Banerjee)

She is Shailja’s daughter (Married and stays with her husband). Frequent visitors to her maayeka(her parents' house) and she is proud of her husband who works for a multinational company and earns much more than the members of her maayeka. After Raunak lost his job, she worked as a school teacher to help make money. She is frustrated that Raunak has been sitting at home so long without job because he doesn't want to take anything "beneath" him. Her Mother-in-law doesn't accept her as a bahu and is always insulting her and the Kashyaps as low-class. Her father-in-law supports her.

Raunak Sharma (Shailesh Gulabani)

He is Panna’s husband who lives with his glory of success. But when he loses his job he goes very depressed all the time and has so many expenses to pay for.

Meethi Kashyap(Muskaan Uppal)

She is Inder and Rajni daughter. She is a very sweet girl who loves her family.

Raunak's parents (Saurabh Dubey and Kanika Dang)

The Sharma family basically belongs to the middle class stature, but the sudden rise in Raunak's professional status has changed his mother. She is the dominating personality in the house, and hates Panna for the fact that she comes from a middle class family. The two ladies always have clashes related to the lifestyle. Raunak's father on the other hand, is a very simple and quiet person who has a soft corner for his bahu, yet is helpless. Raunak even though loves Panna, does not get into the finer details of the fights between his wife and mother. He is into his own world.But now Raunak's job has gone & he is refusing all the jobs in offices with less salary.

The irony is that, while in the Kashyap family the elder ladies treat their bahus with so much care and affection, their own daughter Panna is subjected to taunts at her sasuraal. This will in a way show that everything depends on how the woman manages a house; she can either makes it or break it .

Deepak (Akshay Sethi)

Deepak is Radha's son. He is the perfect son, but doesn't understand why his mother can't look at him and doesn't love him. He attempts suicide and Radha finally shows him love and tells him about her past. She was sold after her marriage and raped by a man who is Deepak's father. She can't look at Deepak because his face is the same. He kidnaps this man after he is release from jail and calls Radha to shoot him, but she doesn't because she loves Deepak and the man looks like him. She says her love for him is more than her hate.

Suhanna gets along with Deepak well and was only one to talk with him when he came home

Sid (Mohit Malhotra)

Sid was Suhana's first and last boyfriend.

Manju Aunty(Jayati Bhatia)

Kashyap parivaar's hilarious neighbour who has a daughter who she refers to as Beautiful Babli.

Sumitra Bua(Shagufta Ali)

Relative of Kashyap's. Sister of Ambernath (Dadaji)

Sonali/Sona(Hunar Hali)

Childhood friend of Ishaan. Landed after 15 years in Kashyap parivaar to make Suhana realise her love for Ishaan afterwhich she went back to hostel in US