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Smriti Irani, who became a household name with the hit TV show Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, recently revealed that she was told to return to work a day after having a miscarriage. She said that her co-actor even told the show’s producer, Ekta Kapoor, that she was lying about the miscarriage. At the same time, Smriti was shooting for the TV series Ramayan, and its director Ravi Chopra asked her to rest and not come to work.
The former actor spoke to Neelesh Misra on The Slow Interview recently, and shared how she learnt a lesson about ‘humanity’ when she had a miscarriage. She began her story by saying how it was easier to move the schedule around on Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi since there were 50 other characters in the show, but Sita of Ramayan could not be replaced, hence, the schedule had to revolve around her. Still, the makers of the daily soap didn’t give her time off when she needed it, but Ravi Chopra was far more considerate.
Smriti narrated in Hindi, “I was not aware that I am pregnant. I was on the set (of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi) and I told them I am not well enough to shoot and asked to be allowed to go home. But still, I worked, and by the time they let me go, it was evening already. The doctor suggested I go for a sonography. On my way, I started bleeding, and I remember it was raining. I stopped an auto and asked the driver to take me to the hospital. I reached the hospital, a nurse came running to ask for an autograph, while I was bleeding. I gave her the autograph, and asked her, ‘Admit kar loge, I think I am miscarrying.'”
Later in the day, Smriti got a call from the production team of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, and was asked to come to work the next day. “I said, ‘I told you I am not well, I just had a miscarriage’ The person replied, ‘Koi nahi, 2 baje ki shift mein aa jaiye’ (No problem, come for the 2 pm shift).” At the time, Smriti was working double shifts. In the first half of the day, she would shoot for Ravi Chopra’s Ramayan, and in the second half, for Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi.
Smriti also informed Ravi Chopra about the situation, and he strictly told her to rest. “I requested him if I can come at 8 am for the 7 am shift. I will have to go home once after getting discharged from the hospital. He told me, ‘Tumhara dimag kharab hai (Are you mad)? Do you know how it feels to lose a child, you have just gone through that. Kal aane ki zaroorat nahi (No need to come tomorrow). I pushed and said, ‘Ravi ji Sunday ka episode hai, Sita replace nahi ho sakti (It’s Sunday’s episode, you can’t shoot around me)… He said, ‘Main kar lunga (I will manage).”
The actor also informed Chopra that she would be working in the afternoon for Ekta Kapoor’s Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. She shared, “I told him I am going there at 2 pm else I will get fired. He told me, I don’t know about them, don’t bother to come to my set. If you have to go there at 2, use my shift to sleep.”
The next day, when she reached the set of Ekta’s show, she found out that a co-actor had filled the producer’s ears with gossip about her miscarriage not being real. Smriti said, “The person didn’t realise that I have returned because I needed money to pay EMIs for my house. The next day, I took all my medical papers to Ekta to tell her it is not a drama. She got uncomfortable and told me not to show the papers. I told her, ‘Foetus bacha nahi, warna woh bhi dikha deti (I would have shown you the foetus also had it been there).”
Smriti Irani essayed the role of Tulsi in Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi for seven years. She quit the show in 2007 after a rumoured fallout with Ekta Kapoor, but they later appeared to patch up.
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