Kasautii Zindagii Kay (2018 TV series)


Kasautii Zindagii Kay is an Indian drama television series produced by Ekta Kapoor under Balaji Telefilms. It premiered on 25 September 2018 on Star Plus. It stars Parth Samthaan, Erica Fernandes, Hina Khan, Karan Singh Grover, Aamna Sharif and Karan Patel.

Plot

Anurag Basu and Prerna Sharma are two individuals meant to fall in love yet forced to go through several trials of life to be together.
Anurag and Prerna study in the same university yet never converse. Fate keeps pulling them towards each other and as they slowly get to know each other, they form a bond of trust, understanding and friendship. Prerna starts falling for Anurag.
Meanwhile, Komolika Chaubey makes her entry. She is arrogant, evil and attracts male attention wherever she goes. While Anurag realises his feelings for Prerna, Komolika starts getting interested in him. Anurag and Prerna confess their feelings and consummate their relationship, planning to marry each other. Seeing them plan a future together, Komolika decides to create misunderstandings between them. She asks Anurag to marry her in order to save Prerna's house. Compelled, Anurag agrees. Unaware of the truth, Prerna is left shocked. Dazed and hurt, she gets hit by a car and is taken to the hospital, where she is revealed to be pregnant.
Hurt and rebellious, Prerna enters the Basu house, successfully exposes Komolika and gets her arrested. Komolika escapes prison and comes back to kill Prerna but instead falls down the terrace and goes missing. Anurag and Prerna reunite and get engaged.
Rishabh Bajaj, a ruthless and cunning businessman enters. He falsely frames Anurag and gets him jailed. Further, he asks Prerna to marry him in exchange of Anurag's freedom. Helpless, she agrees. Heartbroken and devastated, Anurag questions Prerna. She lies to him, hoping he moves on but Anurag remains adamant and refuses to give up on their love. Rishabh starts falling for Prerna. Knowing that Prerna still loves Anurag, Rishabh tries to kill him. Kukki ends up getting hurt while trying to stop Rishabh. Guilty, Rishabh steps back. Anurag and Prerna unite.
Vengeful, Komolika makes a comeback. Prerna reveals about her pregnancy to Anurag and the two rejoice as they get ready to marry. Komolika causes Anurag's accident.

One month later

Anurag loses his memory. Komolika fakes an identity and misuses the opportunity to make Anurag and the Basu's believe that they got married. Prerna discovers Komolika's identity and decides to expose her but chooses to refrain in fear of affecting Anurag's brain and memory. Komolika tries to kill Prerna and her child multiple times but fails.
Prerna gives birth to Sneha and Anurag regains his memory. Elated, they plan to marry. Komolika threatens to frame Prerna for murder by leaking footage of her pushing Viraj off the cliff. She further asks Anurag to accept her and leave Prerna. Helpless, Anurag pretends to betray Prerna and pushes her off a bridge, but she is saved by Rishabh. Prerna reaches the orphanage where Komolika abandoned Sneha and is devastated to see it on fire. Reeling from shock and heartbreak, Prerna moves to London with Rishabh.

Eight years later

Prerna is a successful businesswoman in London while Anurag's business thrives in Kolkata. Prerna maintains a formal relation with Rishabh, detesting Anurag for his betrayal. Anurag hates Komolika and lives in constant guilt. Komolika has taken over the Basu house. Nivedita and Anupam have separated. Prerna leaves for Kolkata in order to seek revenge from Anurag. Kukki and Kaushik meet and start off by disliking each other, constantly bickering.

Cast

Main

Development and premiere

Kasautii Zindagii Kay is a reboot of the 2001 series of the same name, which was also produced by Ekta Kapoor under Balaji Telefilms for Star Plus.
In February 2018, Ekta Kapoor revealed that she was creating a rebooted version of one of her old series stating,
On 4 July 2018, Kapoor had a meeting with Star Plus regarding the reboot. On 21 July 2018, she announced the Kasautii Zindagii Kay reboot by sharing the teaser of the series.
In September 2018, Shah Rukh Khan introduced Parth Samthaan and Erica Fernandes as Anurag Basu and Prerna Sharma in the first promo of the series.

Casting

was cast to portray Prerna Sharma. Later, Parth Samthaan was confirmed to play Anurag Basu.
Uday Tikekar, Shubhaavi Choksey, Kali Prasad Mukherjee, Kanupriya Pandit, Pooja Banerjee and Sahil Anand were cast to play the prominent roles of Moloy Basu, Mohini Basu, Rajesh Sharma, Veena Sharma, Nivedita Basu and Anupam Sengupta. In October 2018, Hina Khan was introduced as Komolika Chaubey.
In June 2019, Karan Singh Grover was introduced as Rishabh Bajaj. In May 2019, Hina Khan took a break from the series for a few months. However, in September 2019, Khan confirmed quiting the show and was replaced by Aamna Sharif as Komolika Chaubey in October 2019.
Namik Paul was supposed to enter the series in April 2019 as Vikrant Sinha. However, he chose the lead role in Kavach: Maha Shivratri over Kasautii. Siddharth Shivpuri was then cast to play Vikrant.
In January 2020, Paul finally joined the cast as Viraj Bhardwaj. In March 2020, Karan Singh Grover returned as Rishabh Bajaj. Post his return, the series took an eight year leap and introduced new additions.
In June 2020, when filming was about to resume after the halt owing to the COVID–19 pandemic, it was confirmed that Grover will not be returning. On 25 June 2020, Karan Patel was confirmed to be replacing Grover as Rishabh Bajaj. Soon after, Sumaiya Khan was replaced by Tasheen Khan as Sneha Basu. Kunal Thakur also stated not returning back due to the pandemic.
On 12 July 2020, Parth Samthaan was tested positive for COVID-19 and the shooting of the series was halted. When the other cast members tested negative, the shooting resumed on 17 July 2020 while the story was tweaked for Samthaan's absence until his return.

Filming

Kasautii is mainly filmed in Mumbai but certain scenes were shot in Kolkata as the show's storyline is based in West Bengal.
The promo which featured Shah Rukh Khan introducing Parth Samthaan and Erica Fernandes as Anurag and Prerna was shot at Mumbai's Kelve Railway Station.
Parth Samthaan, Erica Fernandes, Karan Singh Grover, Pooja Banerjee, Sahil Anand and Tarun Mahilani flew to Zurich in June 2019 to shoot the Switzerland track.

Broadcast

Kasautii was supposed to premiere on 10 September 2018, but was postponed to 25 September 2018.
The shoot of the series was indefinitely halted on 19 March 2020 due to the COVID–19 outbreak. After three months, the production and filming of the series resumed on 27 June 2020. New episodes started airing from 13 July 2020.

Reception

Critical response

Shweta Kesari from India Today said, "Parth Samthaan and Erica Fernandes beautifully fit into the shoes of punctual Anurag and carefree Prerna. The grandeur and magnificence of the show will make your jaw drop. The makers have tried to retain the essence of Kolkata and Bengalis. Overall the show is a complete package of entertainment for soap viewers!"
Soumya Srivastava from Hindustan Times described the show as "louder and garnish" and said, "The background score is excessive. It plays without reason and way too often. Whether the scene demands it or not, a joyful, somber or a comical tone is always there to force your brain into thinking that this is how you are supposed to feel right now."
Times Now commented that, "The reboot takes you in the lives of Anurag and Prerna that were part of our every day lives and the first episode is all about nostalgia of the epic Kasautii Zindagii Kay."

Ratings

Kasautii opened with a rating of 5.5 million impressions in its debut week occupying the tenth position in Hindi GEC urban. However, the following week it dropped to the 15th position with 4.6 million impressions and to the eighteenth position with 4.6 million impressions the next week. The following week, the viewership further dipped to 4.3 million, occupying the thirteenth position. Week 43 saw the show gaining 4.9 million impressions and occupying the fifteenth position, followed by the twelfth position with 5.2 impressions the next week. In week 51, it entered the top 10 occupying the seventh position with 6.3 million impressions while the following week it dropped to the eleventh position with 5.1 million impressions. In the first week of 2019, it further decreased to the sixteenth position with 4.8 million impressions and further to 4.5 million impressions the next week occupying the fifteenth position in urban. In week 5 it was at the fifteenth position garnering 4.6 million impressions. Soon, the ratings started to increase and it re-entered top ten at week 9 with a TRP of 1.8 and the next week it rose to the eight position garnering a TRP of 2.0. The next week it increased to 2.2, occupying the fourth position and to 2.3 the following week at the sixth position. In week 13, it garnered a TRP of 2.2 occupying the sixth position and the following week, a TRP of 2.3. The next week, it maintained the same position and TRP. It maintained its TRp of 2.2 and 2.3 in the consecutive weeks, until in week 19, when it rose to third position with TRP of 2.6 while in week 20, it topped the list for the first time with 6.5 million impressions and a TRP of 3.0. However, on week 22, after Hina Khan's exit, it dropped down to fourth position and the following week to the fifth position garnering 5.2 million impressions. On week 24, it further declined to seventh position with a TRP of 1.9. In week 28, it declined to the eighth position and to the tenth position in week 30 with a TRP of 2.1. In week 38, it was at the thirteenth position with 4.6 million impressions and dipped further to the fourteenth position with 4 million impressions in week 40. In week 42, it increased to 4.3 million impressions occupying thw thirteenth position and to 4.8 million impressions the following week. In week 46, it dipped to 3.5 million impressions occupying the nineteenth position. It increased to 5.3 million impressions days after Aamna Sharif's entry in week 48 occupying the twelfth position and dropped to 5.1 million impressions occupying the tenth position the following week.

Adaptations

In 2019, Kasautii was adapted in Kannada as Premaloka. Starring Vijay Suriya and Ankita Navya Gowda as Surya and Prerna, it airs on Star Suvarna.

Awards and nominations