As we enter the Mira Road studio where the iconic show is being filmed, we notice that the matriarch of TV's most loved family is at the end of her tether. An incident has pushed her to consider leaving home. But as she barges out, bag and baggage in tow, she stumbles upon the clutter her bahu has left on the floor. “Monisha, tum iss ghar ko jaise rakhti ho, iss ghar ko tumhe chodke chale jaana chahiye,“ she notes sarcastically. The director interrupts, “Can you turn once after you complete the line?“ As she obliges and berates her daughter-in-law with renewed enthusiasm, you're reminded that this isn't the usual saas bahu fare. Sarabhai VS Sarabhai, Indian television's classiest comedy, is back after a hiatus of 12 years and Mumbai Mirror dropped in on the sets to catch them as they prepare for a new season which premieres on May 16.

The show's producer, J D Majethia ushers us to 'Maya's bedroom' - a tastefully furnished space. “We scoped through 20 shooting floors and changed three set designers to ensure we got the look right,“ says Majethia. Since Omung Kumar, who designed the previous set, was busy directing Sanjay Dutt's comeback, they had to contend with Varsha Jain, credited for designing the set for the musical Beauty and the Beast. The decision to return, Majethia tells us, germinated on June 29, 2016, when the team met at actor Satish Shah's house for a party. Discussing their popular sitcom was routine. But on this occasion, when Majethia suggested a comeback, the team agreed. A group photo was tweeted with the announcement that the “Sarabhai family is planning something“ and it broke the internet. “It was amongst the 50 best shows on IMDB, surpassing even Friends once,“ prides Majethia.

At this point, the show's writer, co-director and co-producer Aatish Kapadia joins us. That the show features a sharp-witted father (Indravadhan), a society doyenne of a mother (Maya), a son who strives to please everyone (Sahil), his dysfunctional brother (Roshesh) and a “middle class“ daughter-in-law (Monisha) is all Kapadia's doing. “Actually, they are all based on my extended family,“ he says with a smile. “When I was asked to come up with an urban comedy, I wanted to lampoon this cultural milieu that I was familiar with as I have relatives living in South Bombay,“ shares Kapadia, who also wanted to break stereotypes. “People have this notion that women in South Bombay can't be good homemakers but those with a modest upbringing would surely be nipurnn (multi-talented). I've had SoBo cousins who come to Goregaon and ask if this is Madh Island,“ laughs Kapadia, who remembers his show as the lowest rated one on the network. “Laughter Challenge used to get a TRP of 7 then, while we were at 1,“ he remembers. Two years after the show went off air and the channel began airing reruns is when it became popular.“The Kyunkis, the Kusums and the Kahanis were ruling the roost then, so the initial reaction we received was 'saas bahu comedy kar rahe hain'. We didn't know the outcome of the show and eventually, were asked to shut shop,“ remembers Sumeet Raghvan, who plays the dutiful son Sahil, even while he identifies more with Indravadhan's character in real life.

While their last season was dominated by the classist exchange between Maya and her bahu Monisha, played by Ratna Pathak Shah and Rupali Ganguly respectively, Kapadia scripts a new spin in the upcoming season. “The bone of contention cannot be Sahil anymore, as he has now become a father. So the new conflict is about the upbringing of the child,“ he explains, elaborating how Maya feels that Monisha is ill-equipped to take on the responsibility. Pathak Shah still identifies with her sardonic Maya Sarabhai. “I don't say everything I think of but the world gives you enough opportunities to be sharp and sarcastic as you are constantly confronted with stupidity,“ she says, hopeful that the digital medium (in which her show will be launched) won't be a letdown like television today. “When TV began with shows such as Idhar Udhar and Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi, I believed that TV would be a game changer and will explore ideas films didn't have the space for. But we've only resolutely marched backwards,“ adds Pathak Shah. This creative recession in TV wasn't lost on Kapadia who loves taking a dig at saas-bahu sagas. “In the first season, Monisha was addicted to a soap called Uska Pati Sirf Mera Hain, in this season we have Roshesh acting in a soap called Bahu machchar, Beta khachchar,“ laughs Kapadia.

But an actor who bagged Sarabhai for being well-entrenched in daily soaps was Rupali Ganguly. “I was cast in negative roles earlier; Aatish cast me after seeing me in a scene in Sanjivani where two characters are talking and I'm standing in the middle with an aarti in my hands. It was a 3.5-minute-long scene where I had no dialogues and I was only making faces, which, Aatish felt, lent itself to comedy,“ remembers the actress, who, like her TV avatar, is a bargain hunter. Another lead who identifies with his TV avatar is Satish Shah, whose wife complains that he's become more like Indravadhan Sarabhai at home. “I took myself to believe that I'm not unlike Hägar the Horrible - a mixture of mischief and innocence. Indravadhan was intended to be more vicious. But then, Aatish and I had a long discussion about 'why can't this guy be a lovable rascal' and he loved the idea,“ says the actor who feels that Kapadia's writing leaves no scope to improvise. “In my earlier roles, I'd meddle with the choreography of the scene and improve the dialogues if required - since I'm seen on screen, if the show doesn't work - they will say Satish Shah's show didn't work. But I didn't have to do that here. Now, I just act which is called economy of labour,“ says the actor who turns 66 next month and has taken “voluntary retirement from acting“ as his “bucket list is over“.

At this point, the scene being shot features the show's quirky attraction - Roshesh, played by Rajesh Kumar. The character who rose to fame for his distinct drawl, is narrating a poem. “Subuk subuk pen ghiske handwritten parchi mat banana, tum tum fim fim type karo, printout ka hain zamana,“ he says in his quintessential “momma's boy“ style. “Initially, I was allowed to read out the poems, now I have to memorise them,“ says the 41-year-old actor who discovered the voice for this character accidentally. “I was sitting on a commode and was shitting both ways as I had two days to get the voice right. That is when my voice echoed in the toilet and I cracked it. For two days, I spoke to everyone in that voice,“ shares Kumar, who powered through several retakes to get a nod from co-director Deven Bhojani, who also plays the son-in-law Dushyant on the show. “Initially, as a director, I was a bit scared as Satishji and Ratnaji are very senior actors. But when I am on the director's chair, I won't give up without extracting the best from an actor. We are also keen on sticking to the lines because Aatish writes in a rhythm and even if actors alter it minutely, the meaning changes,“ explains Bhojani, before Kapadia steps in to offer an example, “If the line is 'Kya Fark Padta Hai' and they say 'Fark Kya Padta Hai', it's not the same. The first is rhetoric and disdain while the second is a question.“

As the clock strikes seven, the team is at the end of their 12-hour shift. While they settle down for a script reading session for the next day's shoot, a last round of chai is called for. Before we leave, we see Kapadia mimicking Maya and Monisha, leaving the cast in splits, as they imagine how the scene will materialise on screen.