“Rishton Ke bhi roop badalte hai” Everyone knows about this iconic TV serial when the clock struck 10:30 pm, people hurriedly switched on their television sets to watch this trendsetter and a successful show for almost a decade. It was also for the first time, the nation laughed and cried with the characters. The daily soap also started the trend of leaps. It was the first daily soap to complete 1000 episodes and was dubbed in multiple languages, even some international ones. It revolved around a Gujarati family, with Tulsi and Mihir at the centre of the story. Mihir Virani the grandson of business tycoon Govardhan Virani falls in love with the daughter of a priest Tulsi Virani, while he is engaged to a rich girl Payal. Tulsi and Mihir marry against the wishes of their family. Tulsi’s mother-in-law Savita is not happy with her son’s choice. A major twist in the story comes when Mihir dies in a road accident. He, however was later shown alive on public demand. In the entire span of the show, Tulsi gives birth to three children—Gautam, Shobha and Ansh, while they raise Harsh  as their own child. Mihir also has a kid with Dr Mona called Karan Virani. The characters in the serial were endless, since the daily soap was on a rollercoaster ride with ‘toofani twists’. A powepacked serial with interesting dialogues that always stayed in the fans mind.

But the real question where is the cast today? What are they doing in their real lives? To begin with I’ll tell you about the main cast

The legendary ‘bahu’ of the decade, we can all agree on that all bahu characters are inspired from her. The shy and obedient Tulsi was played by Smriti Irani. Currently, Smriti Irani is Minister of Child and Women’s Development of India. She entered into politics when she joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2003. In July 2017, she was handed the charge of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. In 2001, Smriti married a Parsi businessman, Zubin Irani.

Our Tulsi is incomplete without Mihir, Tulsi and Mihir were most loved couple of the show. But Mihir Virani’s role was played by not one but three actors. Since the viewers wanted Mihir back in the show. Amir Upadhyay played the role of Mihir first, then Indra Kumar, and then Ronit Roy played the role of Mihir Mansukh Virani. But the beauty was in the early couple, so will be talking about Amar Upadhayay. Actor Amar Upadhyay, who is currently seen in the show Molkki, says he is in a good space on the professional front right now and wishes to do more roles. His latest character Virendra Pratap Singh in Molkki is getting a lot of admiration. People message him on social media saying they like him more in his current show.

The very much loved baapuji.This character was also played by two actors , Dinesh Thakur and Sudhir Dalvi. Here I’ll be telling you about Dinesh Thakur, he died on 20 September 2012 due to kidney failure. Though he mainly appeared as character roles in Hindi films, as a screenwriter and story writer.

The baa whom we were very much fond of. This character was played by Sudha Shivpuri who passed away on 20 May 2015. The actress started her career at a very young age to support her ill mother. Her husband Om Shivpuri was an actor and a director.

The eldest son of Tulsi and Mihir, played by Sumeet Sachdev. Yeh Hai Mohabbatein was his last TV outing, and he hasn’t been very active on the medium since then. Besides being an actor, he is an architect as well, and even now works as a consultant on several projects. During the lockdown last year, he even started his own YouTube channel called ‘LockDown Studio’.

The youngest son of Tulsi and Mihir, played by Akashdeep Saigal. He was a participant of Bigg Boss 5 . He currently owns and handles a cafe named ‘Rock Hard Cafe’ in Pune and Banglore.

Daughter of Tulsi and Mihir, the heart of serial was played by Ritu Chaudhary. Ritu left the small screen to get married and now has a ten-year-old daughter. She is currently seen in Imlie in the role of Aparna.

I know I know I missed out on so many characters, but these were some characters that always stayed in heart and mind of the viewers, also including Dr Mandira Kapadia and Tulsi’s adoptive daughter Krishna Virani.