Sarabhai vs Sarabhai was first failure of Satish Shah’s TV career; actor had to ‘compromise on his fee’: ‘Was a big flop, was taken off air’

He added, “The irony is Sarabhai was a big flop when it was released the first time, otherwise it would have been still running. And that was one show for which I had compromised on my remuneration, too.”

Old connection with Ratna Pathak Shah

Ratna Pathak Shah and Satish Shah’s chemistry as Maya and Indravadan Sarabhai was one of the show’s biggest highlights, and it stemmed from an old personal connection between the two. Speaking about it, Satish said, “Ratnaji’s mother and my father’s younger sister were best friends. Her mother got married in my aunt’s house. At that time we were not into acting, but we knew each other. When we met professionally, we just hit it off and have a great comfort level. Her husband (Naseeruddin Shah) is my best friend and my wife is her best friend. Hum dono screen par aate the toh really husband-wife ki tarah the. That is chemistry.”

Read all coverage on Satish Shah here

Women didn’t want a husband like Satish’s Indravadan

Satish also once shared with Rajshri that Sarabhai vs Sarabhai was designed to appeal to the elite sections of society. “The reason behind making the serial was that the channel Star One, they wanted to cater to the higher set of society. So the idea was to start an elite channel that would be enjoyed by the upper crust of society.”

While Satish closely related to his character, he recalled how many women openly disliked Indravadan. “I have met girls who told me, ‘I would love to have a father-in-law like you.’ I have met guys who said, ‘I would love to have a father like you.’ I have met women who said, ‘I would hate to have a husband like you.’”

Satish had a condition to only work till 6pm for the show

In an interview with After Hours With AAE, director Deven Bhojani, who also played a role in the show, revealed that Satish had agreed to do Sarabhai vs Sarabhaia on one condition — he would only work till 6 pm. However, that quickly changed once he started enjoying himself on set. Bhojani recalled, “He is very mischievous in real life too. When he accepted the show, he didn’t want to do much work, but since he liked the show, he agreed to do it, but on a condition to only work till 6 pm. We made his schedule according to that. Initially for 2-3 days he worked till six, but after that, he started having so much fun that even if we did his pack up, he would stay till 9 pm on the set, just having fun with other cast members.”