Baa Bahoo Aur Baby


Baa Bahoo Aur Baby is an Indian television dramedy series that aired in prime time on Star Plus between 2005 and 2010 with a total of two seasons. The series was produced by Hats Off Productions and centered around a fictitious Gujarati Thakkar family living in Parla East, Mumbai.
After the end of the first season, the second season was brought in August 2009 due to popular demand from viewers. However, as it was not well received like the first season, it went off the air on 22 February 2010.

Series

Overview

Godavari Thakkar a.k.a. Baa is the matriarch of the Thakkar family. Her husband, Labhshankar Thakkar, is an alcoholic and theatre actor, but a loving husband and father although he drinks alcohol but Godavari has a belief that one day he will change himself and that too because of their children.She has raised six sons and two daughters on her own, through tiffin service. The family lives in Krishna villa.
Godavari has six sons: Arvind, a strict and old fashioned insurance agent; Praveen, a mischievous and stingy saree businessman; Subodh, a playful theater actor; Harshad, a successful doctor; Gopal a.k.a. Gattu, an intellectually disabled child; and Hemal, the adopted son who works at a bank. The family also includes her daughter-in-laws, Leela, Arvind's playful wife; Praveena, Praveen's wife who is naughty, athletic and a saree businesswoman ; Shilpa, Harshad's wife and a doctor; Meenakshi, the shy wife of Subodh and Gudiya, the Punjabi wife of Hemal. Godavari has two daughters, Charubala and Radhika a.k.a. Baby. Charubala is a sophisticated woman who always shows off. She is married to Tushar and lives in South Mumbai. Radhika is handicapped and a very stubborn girl who is often seen talking rudely, but loves her family and understands life. Among the children are Dimple and Jigar, grown up children of Arvind and Leela; Mehul, Mitali and Chaitali, children of Praveen and Praveena; Simran and Khushi, daughters of Charubala and Tushhar; Saloni and Saumil, children of Harshad and Shilpa; Manav and Disha, children of Subodh and Meenakshi, and Lucky, the adopted child of Hemal and Gudiya. The house has a cook Rajjaa and a worker, Narsi Kaka.

Plot

Season 1

The season begins with a detailed introduction of all the members of the household and how they deal with all the issues impacting a joint family structure. They face different problems and misunderstandings, and how they circumvent them. Notable episodic stories of this season are: Radhika's unrequited love for Anish, an NRI, Anish and Dimple's love story, Arvind not talking to Babuji due to his drinking alcohol habit that has caused severe issues to him and other members of the family from childhood to till date. Harshad being turned out of the house by Godavari and his return after 5 years, Babuji's excessive drinking causes problems and hence trying to remove his habit of drinking alcohol, Praveena's tragic demise, Radhika and Birju's love story, the calamity of Praveen selling their home to a real estate shark without letting family members know, Hemal and Gudiya's wedding, and Jigar's coming of age. The inner turmoils of a matriarch leading a 20+ members family is beautifully represented.

Season 2

The sons get Krishna villa renovated. The season focuses on the relationship of Baby - Birju and Jigar - Rimjhim. Reluctance from the family of Birju to accept Baby as their daughter-in-law creates initial hiccups, but they get married eventually. Rimjhim is daughter of a wealthy businessman and the Thakkar family helps her to elope from a forced arranged marriage as she and Jigar love each other. While Rimjhim and Jigar try to prove themselves worthy, Rekha enters the household as the unwed mother of a newborn whom she hands over to Gattu for care-giving. Gattu grows attached to the newborn girl.
The season ends with the publication of Baa's biography, Baa Bahoo Aur Baby. There is a leap of 3 years where the family members are shown in various situations - Leela and Arvind finally get to visit United States, the children of Pravin are all grown up and pursuing their careers, Harshad and Shilpa open a pediatric hospital in Baa's name, Meenakshi is expecting her third child, and Gudiya has had twin daughters, a breakthrough in polio treatment has helped Baby to recover from her polio, Rimjhim has started a family catering business known as'Thakkar Caterers'and finally Babuji has stopped drinking and is helping Rimjhim in her catering services by handling the accounts and deliveries of the catering services.Gattu is taking care of babies in his Playhouse built on the name of his foster daughter 'Gatuki Palna Ghar'. The series ends with the Thakkar family winning the 'Family of the Decade' award and all the family members are taking a family picture together.

Cast

The series was filmed at Swathi Studio in Goregaon, Mumbai.
In November 2008, the shootings and telecast of all the Hindi television series including this series and films were stalled on 8 November 2008 due to dispute by the technician workers of FWICE for increasing the wages, better work conditions and more breaks between shootings. FWICE first took a strike on 1 October 2008 when they addressed their problems with the producers and production was stalled. A contract was signed after four days discussions, and shooting was happening only for two hours per day, after which differences increased between them while channels gave them time until 30 October 2008 to sort it out. Failing to do so led to protests again from 10 November 2008 to 19 November 2008, during which channels blacked out new broadcasts and repeat telecasts were shown from 10 November 2008. On 19 November 2008, the strike was called off after settling the disputes and the production resumed. The new episodes started to telecast from 1 December 2008.

In other media

Gattu's character, portrayed by Deven Bhojani, was used in the 2012 drama serial Alaxmi Ka Super Parivaar where he came as the nephew of Natwarlal and Mohandas.

Reception

The Indian Express stated, "The strength of the show is its characters that deliver a power-packed performance. The right concoction of situational humour and proper representation of characters remains the forte of the show. With an ensemble cast of seasoned stage artistes, the show manages to hold attention and evoke laughter. The show is an instant hit among the womenfolk. It's a sweet humorous tale worth a dekko."