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Actor Amar Upadhyay, who rose to fame after playing Mihir Virani on the popular television show Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, spoke about the controversial decision to kill his character off, and the outrage that it inspired among fans. He said that women showed up at his house, thinking that he had actually died. Meanwhile, others pelted stones at the offices of Balaji Telefilms; the situation got so out of hand that producer Ekta Kapoor summoned Amar for a conversation, and only 10 days later, it was decided to bring the character back.
In an interview with Mirchi, Amar recalled what happened. He said, “People showed up at the office, people showed up at my house. They were everywhere. The day Mihir was killed off on the show, people thought that I had actually died. Women showed up at my house in white sarees to mourn my death, my mother had to kick them out.”
He said that the date was February 8, 2001, and in the evening, Ekta Kapoor called him to the office. “The phone was ringing off the hook. People were calling up from all over the country. They kept asking, ‘How could you kill him?’ And I would tell them that I am alive. It was front page news the next day. I couldn’t believe what was happening.”
Amar said that he was upset about his character being killed off on the show, but because of the outrage, the producers were forced to plan a comeback. “So many women showed up at Balaji, they pelted stones at the building and at the guards… The Star Plus servers crashed; they got more emails than Kaun Banega Crorepati would get. The outrage lasted for about a week or 10 days. And that’s how they decided to get him back,” he said.
Amar said that he eventually quit the show again to focus on his film career, because the workload was getting too difficult to handle. He said that he didn’t second-guess his decision, and was quite firm about it. He also revealed that the cast keeps in touch on WhatsApp, although Ronit Roy and Smriti Irani aren’t a part of the group.
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