Jaya Bachchan shielded Dekh Bhai Dekh cast from ABCL crisis

Bhavana Balsavar, the actor who played Sunita Deewan in the beloved 1990s family sitcom Dekh Bhai Dekh, has opened up about an unusual bit of off-screen discipline: even as Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited (ABCL) was reportedly navigating a financial crunch, the show’s sets stayed fully insulated from the stress.

Speaking to Siddharth Kannan, Balsavar credited producer Jaya Bachchan with preserving both the scale and the mood of the production. The audience, she suggested, never saw the struggle that was apparently unfolding behind the scenes.

The set that felt like a home

Balsavar’s clearest memory is of the physical world the production built. The show centred on three generations of the Diwan family sharing an ancestral Mumbai bungalow, and its standing set matched that premise.

In her telling, the two-floor structure, staircases and multiple rooms were so complete that the cast could almost live there. The multi-camera setup and the sheer amount of work were, she said, ahead of their time for Indian television.

“They were such professionals and so brilliant. Jaya ji never let us feel that there were any problems.”

That line, from Balsavar’s conversation with Kannan, captures the core of her tribute: the financial difficulty was talked about outside, but it was not allowed to become the cast’s problem on the floor.

Why that mattered to the actors

Balsavar explained a practical reason for the careful approach. Actors, she said, can be sensitive to news about a production’s troubles, and that awareness can creep into a performance. By keeping the mood light, the producers protected the show’s comedy.

She recalled that Jaya Bachchan would visit the set, share jokes and laugh with the team. The warmth, Balsavar said, made the crisis feel distant even when it was common knowledge in the industry.

Reinvestment over debt repayment

Perhaps the most telling detail is what happened to the money Dekh Bhai Dekh earned. According to Balsavar, Jaya and Amitabh Bachchan chose to put the revenue back into the show rather than divert it entirely toward settling debts. That decision kept the production quality intact.

Here is what that commitment looked like on screen and off, as described by Balsavar:

• Large standing set with two floors, staircases and many rooms
• Multi-camera shooting that was rare for Indian television at the time
• Producers who kept financial stress away from actors to protect performances
• Earnings funnelled back into the show instead of only servicing debt

For fans, the production details add a layer to a sitcom that premiered on DD Metro on 6 May 1993 and became one of the decade’s most loved family comedies. Directed by Aanand Mahendroo, Dekh Bhai Dekh turned the Diwan family’s crowded bungalow into a familiar, almost lived-in world. Balsavar’s memories suggest that feeling was engineered deliberately, even under financial pressure.

At a time when Indian television production is faster and more fragmented, the anecdote is a useful reminder: a producer’s first job is often to protect the creative atmosphere, not just the budget line. The Bachchans, by Balsavar’s account, understood that the show’s scale was part of its charm and refused to let a corporate crisis shrink it.

Whether Dekh Bhai Dekh remains a comfort watch for you or a piece of 1990s nostalgia, the story behind it makes the comedy feel a little more intentional.

Source: The Times of India