Sarabhai vs Sarabhai

The show revolves around the life of an upper-class Gujarati family, the Sarabhais, who live in a luxury apartment building, and later in penthouses, in the upmarket neighbourhood of Cuffe Parade in South Mumbai. The family consists of Maya and Indravadhan Sarabhai, who have three children. Sahil, the eldest, lives in the apartment opposite them with his middle class wife Monisha. Sahil is a cosmetologist and is very composed as compared to the other characters. Monisha's middle-class habits irk Maya, a snooty and snobbish socialite. She constantly insults her with "light-hearted jokes" and attempts to correct her ways but in vain. Maya and Indravadhan's second child, Sonya, is a psychic, married to a technician Dushyant, who irritates the family by explaining everything about machines. His catchphrase is "I'll explain". The youngest child, Rosesh, is a poet and actor, whose poems are a constant source of comedy for the show. Indravadan loves to torture Rosesh and taunts his poetry, and him, for being his momma's puppet. He is unmarried and lives with his parents.

Supporting characters in the family include Indravadhan's sister Ila, and her deaf husband Madhusudan, whose catchphrase is "Hain?". Comedy and conflict ensue in the daily events happening in the Sarabhais' lives. Much of the humour in the show is derived from the shallow interactions among the city's elite and their perceived notions of the shortcomings and failings of middle-class society. It has a cult-like status among all the Indian sitcoms.[1]

Sarabhai vs Sarabhai employs an ensemble cast. The show primarily focuses on the members of the Sarabhai family.

• Indravadhan Sarabhai: Satish Shah portrays Indravadhan Sarabhai a.k.a. Indu, who is an ex-director of a multinational company. He retired early to take care of the children and help Maya work as a social worker. He is always in conflict with his youngest son, Rosesh, he also jokes with Maya, pretending to hate her but actually loving her dearly as portrayed in various episodes. He constantly picks on Maya and Rosesh, always siding with Monisha in case of a tiff between her and Maya, and constantly tries to create conflicts between them. He notoriously ignites most of the quarrels in the family and then takes the seat in the audience, enjoying himself. He is irritated by his brother-in-law Madhusudan Bhai and his "hain?", as well as Dushyant, his son-in-law. He is the jester in the family.
• Maya Mazumdar Sarabhai: Ratna Pathak Shah portrays Maya Sarabhai, the female head of the Sarabhai family and runs the family like a pro. Being a snooty upper-class socialite, her daughter-in-law Monisha's middle-class money-saving techniques and unkempt behavior are constant pet peeves for Maya. Her catchphrase is "It's catastrophically middle class!", and she continually uses sarcasm to taunt Monisha and make her see the error of her ways. Whenever she taunts Monisha, depending on the intensity of the taunts, one to three bullet shots are heard in the background, increasing the humor in these situations and portraying her as a verbal bullet. She is constantly after Indravadhan to fix his dietary and cleanliness habits, not much unlike Monisha, and pampers her younger son Rosesh, also making sure he doesn't take a middle-class wife like Sahil. Her son-in-law Dushyant also irritates her by dropping in every time an appliance is damaged.
• Dr. Sahil Sarabhai: Sumeet Raghavan portrays Sahil Sarabhai, a cosmetologist. He is the eldest child, and arguably the most normal one in his otherwise eccentric family. He is soft, calm, wise and noble, and is constantly trying to resolve conflicts in his family, between Maya and Monisha, Maya and Indravadhan and Rosesh. He often gets sandwiched between his mother and his wife and tries not to hurt anyone. He avoids conflicts but loves making fun of his younger brother Rosesh, similar to Indravadhan.
• Manisha "Monisha" Singh Sarabhai: Rupali Ganguly portrays Monisha Sarabhai, a middle class, Punjabi girl from Noida and now the daughter-in-law of the Sarabhai’s. She rarely cleans the house and is always lazing around watching daily soaps on television. She develops a dramatic nature from these shows and always ends up saying threatening Sahil with leaving the house after every argument with Maya. Her passion is to save money, come what may. She is always at loggerheads with Maya for her thrifty ways. Her father-in-law always supports her, while Sahil is torn between the two. Despite being careless, Monisha is an honest, innocent, and loving woman. Manisha was named 'Monisha' by Maya as she found the name Manisha 'too middle-class'.
• Rosesh Sarabhai: Rajesh Kumar portrays Rosesh Sarabhai, the youngest child of Maya and Indravadhan. He is a theatre artist, an aspiring actor, and a so-called poet. He is Maya's favorite and she pampers him a lot. He wants to become an actor and his mother Maya supports him the most. Maya is the only member of the Sarabhai family who approves of and appreciates his absurd poetry and acting skills. He has a love-hate relationship with Indravadhan as he is always the target of his jokes and pranks. He always seconds his momma even if he doesn't feel like it. He has a peculiar and amusing voice, and his poems are always bad but funny.
• Sonia Sarabhai Painter : Kshitee Jog/Sheetal Thakkar portrays Sonia Sarabhai Painter. She is Dushyant's wife, Maya and Indravardhan's daughter, Sahil's younger and Rosesh's elder sister. She is a psychic.
• Dushyant Painter: Deven Bhojani portrays Dushyant Painter. He is Maya and Indravardhan's son-in-law. He is Maya and Indravardhan's daughter, Sonia's husband. He is an electrical engineer. He always explains about how gadgets work and always appears when a gadget isn’t working. His catchphrase is "I'll explain". He does not understand sarcasm which leads to humorous situations.
• Madhusudan: Arvind Vaidya portrays Madhusudan, Indravardhan's brother-in-law, his elder sister Ila's husband. He is deaf and his catchphrase is "hain?"
• Ila: Rita Bhaduri portrays Ila. She is Madhusudan's wife, and Indravardhan's elder sister. She helps other family members to communicate with Madhusudan.

Many of the characters in the Marathi series produced by Hats Off production as Madhuri Middle Class in 2014 on Star Pravah were inspired from Sarabhai, despite being a different story and character backgrounds.[12][13][14] The show was unofficially adapted in Pakistan as Chana Jor Garam.[15]

Season 1 was broadcast from 2004 to 2006 on STAR One. Reruns of the series also aired on sister channel Star Utsav.[16] Season 2 was released on digital platform Hotstar from 15 May 2017 to 17 July 2017.[17][18]

The show was telecast from 6 April 2020 on Star Bharat, as the production of the ongoing series had to be stopped by the channel due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[19]

• Sarabhai vs Sarabhai at IMDb 
• "Sarabhai VS Sarabhai production website". hatsoffproduction.com. Archived from the original on 5 July 2017.
• Sarabhai vs Sarabhai on Hotstar