A few days ago, the late actor Satish Shah’s old comments about the initial failure of Sarabhai vs Sarabhai went viral. Now, a throwback video of Ratna Pathak Shah, who played the iconic Maya Sarabhai in the sitcom,
has resurfaced online.
In the old clip from an interview with Brut, Ratna reflects on how one of India’s most popular sitcoms was actually a flop when it first aired. She recalls with a laugh, “When we started Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai, it was on Star One, in 4 metros, that’s it. Our TRP was 0, no, no, 0.63, not even 1!”
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Ratna Pathak Shah On Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai
Despite its cult status today, Ratna revealed that hardly anyone around her had even watched it when it was first released. “Even my family members didn’t see Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai. They didn’t even know when it aired. They used to say, ‘Where can we watch it, Where is Star 1?’” she recalled.
The actress also shared that another show airing around the same time, Comedy Challenge, had a whopping TRP of 9. Even among her own friends and colleagues, Ratna admitted that many had missed watching the show when it first aired. “Even today, my personal friends and the people I respect who work with me haven’t seen Sarabhai. There are just one or two people who watched the show,” she said.
But despite its modest beginnings, Sarabhai vs Sarabhai has become a timeless favourite for audiences who still quote its dialogues and laugh at savage one-liners. Ratna reflected on the same, saying, “For a certain audience, it’s such a huge hit. Wherever I go today, they recognise me by that name. Which is a pity, because I have done more work.”
Satish Shah’s First Failure On TV
Satish Shah, in an old interview with DNA, had also spoken candidly about how Sarabhai vs Sarabhai did not get the attention it deserved. The actor said, “Let me tell you something, we did the serial as a weekly. However, at that time, it was not publicised much. By the time people got to know that it’s a good serial and started watching it, it was taken off air due to a lack of TRPs! It was the first failure of my career on TV.”
Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, which premiered in 2004, also starred Rupali Ganguly, Sumeet Raghavan and Rajesh Kumar.
