Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah: Story so far

‘Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah’ is an Indian comic-drama TV series. Its story revolves around the families residing in Gokuldham Co-operative Housing Society in Mumbai. It’s a complete family show where people from different religions, regions and cultures live together as one big family. Apart from their daily happenings, the show also takes up a social issue time to time. ‘Taarak Mehta...’ is based on the popular Gujarati column ‘Duniya Ne Oondha Chashma’ written by columnist Taarak Mehta for the Gujarati weekly magazine ‘Chitralekha’. It first went on air in 2008 on Sab TV and is one of the highest rating TV series.

The characters in the show include:
The Gadas- Daya ben, Jetha Lal Gada, his father Jayantilal Gada, and son Tapu- a Kutchi Gujarati Jain family.
The Bhides- Aatmaram Tukaram Bhide, his wife Madhavi and daughter Sonu- a Marathi family.
The Hathis- Dr Hansraj Hathi, his wife komal and son Goli- from Bihar.
The Sodhis- Roshan Singh Sodhi, his wife Roshan and son Goggi- a Punjabi family with a Sikh husband and a Parsi wife.
The Iyers- a Tamil husband Krishnan Subramaniam Iyer and a Bengali wife Babita.
The Mehtas- Taarak and his wife Anjali-a Gujarati family.
Other important characters include Popat Lal-a bachelor journalist, Abdullah-who owns a shop in the society, and Baga-who works for Jetha Lal Gada in his electronics’ shop. And it’s Taarak Mehta who is often seen narrating the episode.

When it comes to the various characters of ‘Taarak Mehta...’ how can one forget the Tapu Sena, which includes all the mischievous kids of Gokuldham Society namely Tapu, Sonu, Goggi, Goli and Pinku. Come what may, the naughty kids always have their way of creating new troubles and even getting out of them each time.

Currently the show is focusing on Tapu Sena’s board exam results and Junior College admissions. Will all the kids pass out with flying colours? And even if they do, would they be able to beat the competition and get an admission in the same Junior College? With the rise in peer pressure and exam anxiety seen among teenagers, ‘Taarak Mehta...’ would deal with these issues.

‘Taarak Mehta...’ also took up the save the girl child issue recently. Daya ben ended up finding an abandoned baby girl, when she had gone to the temple one day. Seeing the infant alone, she decided to bring the baby to her home till they find her parents. The baby girl was named Khushi and seeing her all the Gokuldham members together took it upon them to find her family and make them understand that girls are equal and as valuable as boys. It’s all about the upbringing at the end of the day. Finally Khushi’s parents and grandparents understood their fault and she was reunited with her family happily.

The show has been running successfully since 2008. The team completed 1000+ episodes and that’s when the entire cast was taken to Hong Kong for the shoot. What’s more, with the high viewership of this family show it’s noted that many Bollywood A-listers make an appearance in ‘Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma’ to promote their upcoming films too. Actors including Deepika Padukone, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan have also been seen in the popular show.

Interestingly, owing to the success of the show ‘Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma’ was invited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be a part of first nine citizens of India to kick start his Clean India Campaign (Swachha Bharat Abhiyan). All the members of Gokuldham Society participated in the Abhiyan. When asked about it, Disha Vakani aka Daya ben said, “In our show Gokuldham society is very clean. Even the children in the society are taught these civic manners. I appeal to all our fans to follow the same conduct in real life.” Dilip Joshi aka Jetha Lal Gada added, “Yes, we are indeed proud. It’s a great honor. And please remember that cleanliness is the civic responsibility of each and every Indian Citizen.”