Kasautii Zindagii Kay

Kasautii Zindagii Kay (2001-2008) was telecast on Star Plus. It was the story about Anurag and Prerna and the challenges they had to face because of their love. Kasautii made Shweta Tiwari a household name. She gave Prerna soul and depth. In fact, I cannot imagine anyone else as Prerna. Apart from Shweta, Kasautii also introduced its audience to the talented Urvashi Dholakia. Urvashi's Komolika is perhaps the best known character from Kasautii other than Prerna, of course. As for Anurag, he was first played by the handsome Cezanne Khan. Later on after Cezanne quit the show, Anurag was played by the talented Hiten Tejwani.

Kasautii started out as a love story between a rich boy and a poor girl. Anurag was the heir to the illustrious Basu fortune. The Basu family was a very famous media company and Anurag was to inherit it from his father. Prerna on the other hand was from a middle-class family. It so happened that Prerna's father and Anurag's father were best friends. They arrange for Prerna and Anurag to spend time with each other. Just when things go as planned, Komolika makes an entrance. The best friends are in terrible car crash, which results in Anurag's father being in a coma and Prerna's father passing away. Komolika uses the situation in her favor and ends up marrying Anurag. What started out as a love story turns into a revenge story. Prerna find out that she is pregnant with Anurag's son. Just when is about to tell him, she find out that he is marrying Komolika. She is heartbroken and torn. She makes the decision to give up her son to her brother and his wife who are unable to have children. She later vows to destroy Anurag. She competes with him every step of the way and emerges victorious. She later finds out that Anurag deliberately loses just because he wants to see Prerna happy. When she confronts him, he tells her that he was forced to marry Komolika. She understands his dilemma and forgives him.

Anurag tries to move forward with his life but is unable to forget Prerna. His heart belongs only to Prerna so no matter how hard Komolika tries to make a place for herself, she does not succeed. Komolika marries Anurag only because she has her eyes set on the Basu fortune. When making her place for herself in Anurag's hear does not work, she finds another way to gain access to the fortune.  When the family finds out Komolika's true intentions, they are shocked. Anurag divorces Komolika and manages to get her out of their lives. With Komolika's exit, Anurag and Prerna are finally able to come together and rekindle their relationship. Anurag finds out about his son and marries Prerna. They are happy together until tragedy strikes. Komolika's exit was not permanent. She returns with a vengeance. She takes over the Basu assets and leaves the family to fend for themselves. She is aided in her efforts by Mr. Bajaj, a shrewd businessman. When Prerna finds out about Mr. Bajaj's involvement, she goes to him to ask him to back out. He tells her that he will back out on one condition - she will have to marry him. Prerna is shocked but she decides to marry Mr. Bajaj to save Anurag and the family.

It is later revealed that Mr. Bajaj wanted to marry Prerna because he wanted her to be a good influence on his children. After his divorce, his children did not have a nurturing figure in their lives. Slowly, Prerna forms a bond with the children. When Mr. Bajaj's first wife, Menaka, finds out his remarriage, she tries to take away the children. But by then they have already formed a bond with Prerna and choose to stay with her. Anurag tells Prerna that she should move forward with her life. He tells her that she should develop a relationship with her husband. She agrees. But once again fate has other plans, Prerna finds out that Mr. Bajaj has passed away in a car accident. The widowed Prerna decides to fulfill all of her late husband's duties. She takes over his business and his household. She does her best to keep her family strong during tough times. Mr. Bajaj's children find out the circumstances behind his marriage to Prerna. They are shocked that he forced her to marry him. They make plans to re-unite Prerna with Anurag. Just when things are going as planned, it is revealed that Mr. Bajaj is not dead. He survived the accident but went into a coma. Menaka hid the news of him being in a coma to separate him from Prerna. Prerna and Anurag get married once again. While they marry, Mr. Bajaj regains consciousness. He manages to reveal Menaka's plan and she is promptly sent to jail.

Needless to say the arrival of Mr. Bajaj puts a damper on Anurag and Prerna's wedding plans. Mr. Bajaj's kids convince him to let Prerna be with Anurag, the one she truly loves. He agrees but he is unable to forget her. Once again Prerna and Anurag are together. They are happy and cherish the time they have together. Just when things are getting back to normal, Komolika reappears. She tries to create problems for Anurag and Prerna. On the other hand, Bajaj too creates misunderstandings between Prerna and Anurag. With so much miscommunication, a strain develops in Anurag and Prerna's relationship. Anurag is weary of Bajaj while Prerna has to tackle Komolika. What finally breaks their relationship is the kidnapping of their son, Prem. Anurag and the police search for Prem but to no avail. When the finally find him, he is in a very serious state. Anurag and Prerna are devastated when he dies in the hospital. It is later revealed that the kidnapping was planned by Anurag's cousin so that he could gain access to the family fortune. Anurag and Prerna struggle to come to terms with the death of Prem. They're already strained relationship reaches a breaking point and Prerna ends up leaving the Basu house.

After she leaves the Basu house, Prerna find out that she is pregnant again. When Anurag find out about the good news, he is elated. But Komolika poisons his mind and he starts doubting Prerna. Prerna is shocked to see that Anurag does not trust her anymore. She is hurt all the more when she find out that Anurag thinks she may be carrying Bajaj's child. This leads to them getting a divorce. After the divorce, Prerna starts living with the Bajaj family. They become her support system. Meanwhile, Aparna enters Anurag's life. At first she befriends him. One thing leads to another and Anurag is once again pressured to marry a woman he does not love. When Prerna finds out about Anurag's marriage to Aparna, she is shattered. Soon she gives birth to her daughter and names her Sneha. After the birth of Sneha, Anurag has doubts her paternity and decides to have a DNA test. Komolika finds out about this and switches the results making it look like Prerna was unfaithful. Torn and bitter, Anurag accepts that Prerna was his past and Aparna is his future. He refuses to acknowledge Sneha as his daughter. This hurts Prerna and she decides to live her life else where. She moves away with Sneha. Mr. Bajaj and his children also join her.

At this point the story takes a leap forward. After the leap, I feel like the story just became more complicated. Let's keep track of how many times people have married - Anurag marries Komolika, Anurag marries Prerna, Prerna Marries Bajaj, Bajaj was married to Menaka, Prerna marries Anurag again, Komolika marries Subroto (Anurag's cousin), Anurag marries Aparna, Prerna marries Bajaj again, Anurag marries Sampada. So Anurag has been married a total of 5 times while Prerna has been married a total of 4 times. Apart from the marriages and divorces, there were a lot of children floating around. There was Prem, Anurag and Prerna's love child. Then came Sneha, Kasak and the second Prem. Kasautii tried following the KSBKBT formula of leaps and subsequent generations taking over but it didn't quite work and show came to an end. Regardless of all the twists and turns, the marrying and remarrying, old and new villains disappearing and re-emerging, Kasautii was the most popular show of its time. The unfortunate love story of Prerna and Anurag captivated and enthralled. The bitter-sweet story of eternal lovers who found union only in death captured the hearts of the audience. Kasautii was another feather in the cap of Balaji Telefilms. Needless to say, it contributed to Ekta Kapoor becoming the Queen of Indian Television.


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