MUMBAI: Indian television goes through transformations every now and then. While the late 90s and early 2000 were occupied with shows based on saas-bahu and kitchen politics, the next phase saw young romances, and then the audience was served with supernatural thrillers. Mind you, all these had women and girls in their early or late 20s playing the lead protagonists, who as the show progressed became wives, mothers, grandmothers, and so on. But never in their wildest dream, the audience would have thought that a 40-year-old, mother of three grown-up kids, the protagonist will make them fall in love with her, the show, and will also make them think beyond entertainment. And that's what Rajan Shahi's "Anupamaa" did. 

The show with its beautiful storyline and an impressive lead pair of Rupali Ganguly and Sudhanshu Pandey made the audience realise those small things that they forget to acknowledge. It's the story of a homemaker, who gave 25 years of her life to her family, but in return, she was never acknowledged or appreciated for doing whatever she does, instead, her family never missed out a chance of taunting her, and on top of all that her husband cheated on her with his office colleague. The show, amidst all the dreary of the pandemic, managed to revolutionize Indian television and has become the new symbol of Indian TV in 2020. 

"Anupamaa" has been topping charts and many channels are taking inspiration from the show. Talking about the success of the show, Rupali said, "It makes me feel so good. But like they say that with great power comes great responsibility, so it makes me want to work harder. It makes me want to put in more than my best so that it validates the love and affection that the audience has given to the show." 

"The reason it was able to hit the right chord with the audiences is the simplicity of the show, it's a simple story told simply, no over the top look or feel and the universal emotion of motherhood that kind of got the audiences hooked and when you see different aspects to the homemaker's side, you feel truly intrigued, you feel curious to know what perhaps your mother or your wife or any woman around you go through. I am overwhelmed and humbled by the love that 'Anupamaa' is getting. It feels good when people address me as Anupamaa now," she added.

Sudhanshu feels the success is also because the story is set in a middle-class family, and said, "It was Rajan's call to take this kind of risk where he decided to make content which was completely on a tangent from what you see on the web, and television, mostly. With so much glamour, gloss, huge sets, bright clothes, and jewellery, here he decided to make a family drama which is set in a middle-class backdrop, and this family is like every middle-class family of this country. The fact is that we are a country of 1.3 billion and the largest section is the middle-class people. So every single member of the middle-class family has been able to identify with the members of the Shah family and that is why it has been the number one, and that is why it has struck the right chord with the audience because I guess everybody can relate to at least one character in the show."

Rajan Shahi also said that the show hits the right chord with the audience because it is the story of a housewife, and added, "It's a very relatable story plus the way it is performed, written and executed, there is a simplicity about it and it touches the audience. The kinds of shows which were on-air during its launch, it was a huge risk to take with a middle-aged protagonist's wife and her journey. But I think even the COVID times have taught us how the family unit is, how relationships are paramount more than any other consideration in the world, and somehow that has touched the right chord." 

"I feel a show like 'Anupamaa' which is not gimmicky, which talks about interrelationships, strong characters while retaining its simplicity, it's like coming back to the roots on Indian television where the content was supreme and there was no gimmick. It raises a lot of pertinent issues regarding family life, housewives, regarding extramarital affairs and has led to a huge debate in society. The reactions all over, internationally included, have been very encouraging and every audience member will relate to some character in the show, that relatable factor has worked well. I am overwhelmed with the kind of response which I have got. 'Anupamaa' also showcases very good performances by the stellar cast and I think the casting is also one of the big USPs of the show. In the last few years, there was an over-saturation of the kind of typical shows that we were doing and I wanted to get back to the roots, where the audience and the characters had a direct connection. It is also the first show that I am co-producing with my mother and this makes it more special," he added. 

"Anupamaa", produced by Rajan Shahi and his mother Deepa Shahi under their banner Shahi Productions Pvt Ltd, also features Madalsa Sharma, Alpana Buch, Arvind Vaidya, Shekhar Shukla, Paras Kalnawat, Muskan Bamne, Tassnim Sheikh, Aashish Mehrotra, Nidhi Shah, and Anagha Bhosale. It airs on Star Plus.