That opening song is unmistakable. Between 2000 and 2008, it would play at almost every home as families sat down post-dinner to watch the latest episode of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. Will families tune in with the same enthusiasm as Ektaa R Kapoor’s show returns with a new season, 17 years after it went off air? Amar Upadhyay aka Mihir Virani hopes so. The actor began shooting for Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2 at Film City, Goregaon, on June 18. 

Being offered the reboot felt surreal, he says. “In April,  Tanusri [Dasgupta, Executive Vice President, Balaji Telefilms] called to say that Kyunki 2 was [in the works] and Ektaa wanted me to play Mihir. I said I’d love to play him again as it changed my life,” Upadhyay recalls.

(From left) Amar Upadhyay and Smriti Irani in Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi