Khichdi (2002 TV series)

Khichdi
Genre	Sitcom; Comedy drama;
Written by	Aatish Kapadia
Directed by	Aatish Kapadia
Country of origin	India
Original language	Hindi
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	98 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Ronnie Screwvala; Zarina Mehta;
Producers	Jamnadas Majethia; Aatish Kapadia;
Production companies	Hats Off Productions; UTV Software Communications;
Release
Original network	Star Plus
Original release	10 September 2002 –; 20 July 2004
Chronology
Followed by	Instant Khichdi; Khichdi Returns;

Khichdi is a Hindi language sitcom produced by UTV Software Communications in association with Hats Off Productions, which debuted on STAR Plus on 10 September 2002.[1] The series has been rerun on STAR Plus and its sister channels several times. It served as the first season of the Khichdi franchise Unlike other Hindi sitcoms, which continuously air throughout the year, Khichdi is one of the earliest shows on Indian television to adopt the Western model of appearing in seasons. The second series in the franchise was called Instant Khichdi, which aired on STAR Plus's sister channel, STAR One. The reruns have aired on several channels including STAR Utsav and Pogo. A twenty-episode third series also titled Khichdi premiered on 14 April 2018 on Star Plus.[2]

Premise

Khichdi follows the story of a Gujarati family called Parekhs, who lives in an old mansion. The joint family encounters many typically Indian situations, but they try to solve it in the most atypical fashion imaginable. This is a funny bunch of people that are firmly united in their movement to get separated. They want to sell their ancestral property and move out and form their own nuclear families. But the head of their family does not agree. He gives them the choice to walk out and survive on their own, but nobody is ready to let go of the money that is due to them. So they stay together and wait for the 'head' to change his mind or stop breathing, whichever happens first. And this is where the upwardly mobile middle-class joint family faces its trials and tribulations. Khichdi is a look at the lighter side of an Indian joint family.

Characters

Main

Character	Portrayed by	Notes
Tulsidas Parekh	Anang Desai	He is the family patriarch. He is always in a bad mood but is known to have a good heart. His wife, Damyanti who suffering a heart attack and she died, Tulsidas lives with his family in his very old ancestral house called 'Mohan Niwas'. He does not agree to sell it at any cost, in spite of repeated persuasion from his children. He appears to be fed up of his family members but, deep down, loves them. All family members call him 'Babuji'.
Praful Parekh	Rajeev Mehta	He is the eldest son of Tulsidas. He is notoriously stupid. He is often seen interpreting things at face value, leading to hilarious situations. He never does anything right, which makes people (especially Tulsidas) mad at him, who would utter the now popular dialog "Praful! Tu toh Gadhaa Hai!" (Praful! You're a Donkey!). He also translates English words for his wife, although always incorrectly.
Hansa Parekh	Supriya Pathak	She is Praful's wife. She is as stupid as Praful, or perhaps more than him. She never works in the house, while repeating, "Mein to thak Gayi bhaaishaab" ("I'm so tired"). She is always richly dressed and cannot live without wearing 'Gajre' (strings of flowers) in her hair. She doesn't speak English and hence needs to have it translated by Praful, which has great comic results.
Jayshree Parekh	Vandana Pathak	She is the widowed daughter-in-law of Tulsidas. She is the wife of Praful's brother, Bharat. She loves to cook & gossip and is often seen on the phone talking to her Ba (mother). She controls the management of the household. She aims to sell 'Mohan Niwas' and live in an independent apartment. She always irritates Tulsidas while serving tea to him. Hansa and Jayshree are childhood friends.
Himanshu Seth	Jamnadas Majethia	He is Hansa's younger brother. He also lives with the Parekhs & is as stupid as Hansa & Praful, with Babuji derisively addressing him as Moonchowaale Hansa (Mustached Hansa). He has a Catering business. His favorite line is "Kissi ko pata nahi chalega" ("No one will know about it").
Chakki Parekh	Richa Bhadra	She is the daughter of Praful and Hansa. Unlike her parents, she is intelligent. She has a catchphrase, "Bade Log Bade Log" (Oh! the elders, the elders!), which she repeats along with her cousin Jacky.
Jackky Parekh	Yash Mittal	He is the only son of Jayshree. Like Chakki, he is also intelligent and has the catchphrase "Bade Log Bade Log", which he says along with Chakki.

Character	Portrayed by	Notes
Badi Maa	Dina Pathak / Lily Patel	She is the mother of Tulsidas. Her name is Tiwariben Parekh. She is very fun-loving and very fond of pani-puri (a popular spicy snack).
Raju Parekh	Amit Varma	He is the third son of Tulsidas. He starts flirting with any young beautiful girl he meets. He is married to Melissa.
Melissa Parekh	Tina Parekh	She is Raju's wife. She is beautiful and well-educated. Jayshree is jealous of her and calls her 'Kadki'. Tulsidas regularly says of her, "Maine to pehle hi Kaha tha ki ye ladki Raju ke liye theek Nahi hai" ("I had said at the outset that this girl is not right for Raju").
Heera Parekh	Arya Rawal	She is the daughter of Tulsidas. She is very lazy and always has the urge to go to the toilet. She is older than her fraternal-twin, Meera.
Madhuri	Sweety Nayak	She is Heera's personal maid. Though she is a servant, Tulsidas is scared of her because she always gets angry with him.
Meera Parekh	Ami Trivedi	She is the youngest daughter of Tulsidas. She always holds a stick & behaves like a teacher. She is married to Bhavesh Kumar.
Bhavesh Kumar	Kamlesh Oza	He is Meera's husband. He lives with the Parekhs instead of in his own house. He is always hungry and keeps eating all the time, without doing any work.
Mr. Mehta	Dinyar Contractor	He is the boss of Praful in office. He always gets mad at Praful's mistakes.
Parminder Singh (I)	Gireesh Sahedev	He becomes the neighbor of Parekhs when they start living in 'Jagdamba Niwas'. In his entire family, everybody else is also named Parminder. He always argues with Tulsidas. He & his family imitate all the happenings in Chandigarh in their lifestyle.
Bhabhi Parminder	Seema Pandey	She is Parminder's wife. Whenever she speaks, she makes a weird face which confuses everyone whether she meant good or bad.
Bhai Parminder	Damandeep Singh Baggan	He is Parminder's younger brother. He is equally stupid as Praful.
Behen Parminder	Anokhi Srivastava	She is Parminder's younger sister. She marries Himanshu.
Jignesh	Aatish Kapadia	He is Jayshree's younger brother, also living with the Parekhs. He has a habit of repeating a sentence three times before finally speaking. His frequently used phrase is "Mujhe lagta hai ki..."

Guest appearances

Amit Bhatt
Amit Singh Thakur
Anurag Prapanna
Apara Mehta
Arvind Vaidya
Disha Vakani
Ghanashyam Nayak
Kabir Sadanand
Kalpana Diwan
Kishwer Merchant
Mayank Tandon
Nimisha Vakharia
Pratima T.
Rajesh Kumar
Rita Bhaduri
Sharad Sharma
Shweta Tiwari
Simple Kaul
Suchita Trivedi
Sushmita Mukherjee
Sweta Keswani

Awards and nominations

Khichdi has been almost continuously awarded television awards ever since its debut

Nominated

2004: Favorite Chota Bachcha - Yash Mittal as Jacky[3]
2004: Favorite Beta - Rajeev Mehta as Praful
2004: Favorite Bhai - Jamnadas Majethia as Himanshu
2004: Favorite Bhabhi - Supriya Pathak as Hansa
2004: Favorite Devar - Amit Varma as Raju
2004: Favorite Devraani - Vandana Pathak as Jayshree
2004: Favorite Sasur - Anang Desai as Tulsidas Parekh (Babuji)
2004: Favorite Jodi - Rajeev Mehta as Praful & Supriya Pathak as Hansa
2007: Favorite Bhabhi - Supriya Pathak as Hansa

Indian Television Academy Awards

Winner

2004: Best Actress-Comedy - Supriya Pathak as Hansa[4]

Indian Telly Awards