Now, over a decade later the wacky sitcom has returned with its third instalment. What’s interesting about this serial is that over the three seasons, it has had four pairs of parents and children acting in it.
It was in 2001 that Khichdi was aired for the first time followed by Instant Khichdi in 2005. Now, over a decade later the wacky sitcom has returned with its third instalment. What’s interesting about this serial is that over the three seasons, it has had four pairs of parents and children acting in it. While the first one had mother-daughter Dina Pathak and Supriya Pathak along with father-daughter Arvind Vaidya and Vandana Pathak sharing screen space, the third season has JD Majethia and his daughter Misri, Aatish Kapadia and his son Agastya working together.
Interestingly, none of them have played father/mother to their children on screen. Dina essayed the role of Anang Desai (Babuji’s) mother. Arvind plays Supriya’s (Hansa) father, Supriya portrays Misri’s (Chakki) mother while Vandana is Agastya’s (Jacky) mother!
Not only that, there has been a generation leap behind the scenes too, with the fathers passing on the baton to their sons. Cinematographer Vijay Soni, who was working on the first two seasons of Khichdi, has been succeeded by his son Ganesh, who is now the DOP for the serial. Even in the music department, Uttank Vora has given way to his son Urvakh. That makes a total of six parent-child pairs working on the serial over the three seasons! Ask JD, who is also producing the show, if it’s a deliberate move and he says, “It wasn’t planned at all. It just happened. We kept casting people — Dinaji and Supriya were a natural choice.”
JD adds, “Vandana was cast first, Arvindji came in much later. Slowly, we started realising that we are a family on the sets. It’s the same with the technicians, too. I remember when Vijay was the DOP, his son used to come on the sets and he turned out to be very good. It was the same case with composer Uttank’s son. We also realised the joy of working with our family members.”
The decision to cast their children was taken after much consultation. Says co-producer Aatish, “As the writer-director, I knew that it will be tough for the kids because we have open sets and shoot under the scorching sun. Apart from Misri and Agastya being talented, there was also the fact that we couldn’t make other young ones shoot through these tough conditions. We can call our children even at the nth hour. But when I am the director, I become a monster and after it’s over, I show the warmth of a father to the kids.”
Supriya takes the credit for starting the trend of bringing family members together in the serial. “Ma (Dina Pathak) and I not only got a narration together but also agreed at the same time! We were the first mother-daughter jodi to be cast together. I had an added advantage of working with my mother. Besides spending time with each other, I used to be pampered by her, especially where food is concerned. She would order these fantastic Gujarati dishes — dal dokhli was her favourite — and I would get a big share of it,” laughs Surpiya.
Vandana feels it’s enriching working with her father. “He is so natural and at ease in front of the camera that you don’t feel he is acting. I get to learn a lot from him,” she says. JD points out that this is the only show in the world to have so many parent-child combinations working in a serial and is hoping to make it to the Limca Book Of Records.
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 "Khichdi Team")
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