Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi

Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi
Screenshot with the title Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi in Hindi
Genre	Sitcom
Written by	Sharad Joshi
Directed by	Manjul Sinha, Kundan Shah, (later) Raman Kumar
Opening theme	"Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi" by Kishore Kumar
Country of origin	India
Original language(s)	Hindi
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	61
Production
Camera setup	Single camera
Running time	Approx. 25 minutes
Release
Original network	DD National
Picture format	SDTV: 480i
Original release	1984 (August)
External links
Website

Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi (literal meaning: 'This Life As It Is') is a sitcom that was popular on Indian television; it aired for the first time in 1984. It was written by comedy writer Sharad Joshi and directed by Kundan Shah, S. S. Oberoi and Raman Kumar.

It was one of the first sitcoms and one of the biggest hit shows on Indian television after the state-owned television, Doordarshan, started sponsoring its programs.

Each episode was 20–25 minutes long and was aired on Fridays at 9:00pm IST. Its popularity can be gauged from the fact that video stores in London would await periodically for the copy of the serial’s tape. Even the box-office openings of cinemas were affected due to the airing of the show.

The episodes revolved around funny happenings in the lives of Ranjit Verma (played by actor Shafi Inamdar) and Renu Verma (played by actress Swaroop Sampat (Miss India 1979)), who play a married couple along with Renu's unmarried and unemployed younger brother Raja (Rakesh Bedi). Chachi's daughter who plays the character of Rashmi. Other characters were Ranjit's boss (Tiku Talsania), his Bengali neighbours (actors Vijay Kashyap and Sulabha Arya), etc.

A trademark of the Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi were the characters played by Satish Shah. In each episode, Shah played a different character who played a key role in the plot. These characters would be from many professions and regions of India, with some being close family friends of the Vermas and others being total strangers. During the mid-1980s Satish was anointed as "King of Comedy" by the entertainment media as a direct consequence of the multitude of characters that he played on the show. In later episodes, Anjan Srivastav joined the show, playing different characters.

After several highly successful shows, Shafi Inamdar (who played Ranjit) left. However, with the huge popularity of Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, a repackaged second attempt was made with the underlying idea that Ranjit and Renu have moved abroad because of his work, while Raja is still staying with Ranjit's aunt, played by the legendary actress Farida Jalal, and a servant, played by Javed Khan. Raja's love life and affair with Nivedita was the new center of activity. The second innings had a reasonably long run but never reached the fame of the first. Ranjit and Renu return for the final episode.