Reviews & Ratings for
Sarabhai vs Sarabhai (2004)

How often do we find snob people around us who look down upon the others just because they do not wear good clothes,or are not totally Westernized in their outlook and practices? Pretty regularly! The well-to-do Upper middle-class in India,falling in the twilight-zone between the wealthy and the Bourgeoisie are always aspiring to shed the last traces of their associations with the lower rung of society.They try to add fluidity to their class mobility-that is to say,their journey to the upper rungs of society!
Sarabhai v/s Sarabhai,very meticulously traces these aspects of a typical upper-middle class Indian family and presents them in the packaging of a sitcom, seasoned with sarcastic humor-lots and lots of it! The well-educated,highly sophisticated Maya Sarabhai-at loggerheads with her simple,middle-class daughter-in-law Monisha; the capricious head of the family, Indravadan at loggerheads with his son Roshesh,a failed poet and Momma's boy;and the normal son-the unbiased voice of the audience-Sahil Sarabhai sandwiched between this eclectic mix of his family! I can assure you this show will produce roaring laughter all the while,but will never fail to ring its message loud and clear-the farcical situation in the upper-middle class Indian society.

It was a time when the class system in the Indian urban world was gradually getting more and more demarcated in terms of the elite, the middle-class and the lower middle class. This class system caused the elites to believe themselves to be sophisticated and charming in their ways, while believing the middle-class to be loud and gregarious and miserly.
While our other serials always ran in a parallel world of huge palace-like homes and saas and bahu fights and plastic surgeries, director Deven Bhojani and writer Aatish Kapadia quietly created a witty mirror of the society. Thus was born the cult, Sarabhai versus Sarabhai.

We have Maya (Ratna Pathak), the matriarch of the family - the eternally sophisticated and gracious, educated and classy woman to the world outside, versus a hypocrite to Indravadan (Satish Shah), her hubby. You have the spoilt brat Rosesh (Rajesh Kumar) - the baby of the house, whose poetries are "so bad that they are good", and who is detested with a vengeance by Indravadan. You have Monisha (Rupali Ganguly), the "middle-class" woman Maya loves to hate, all the time, anywhere, anytime. Then there's Sahil, Monisha's husband and Maya and Indu's oldest son - the rope that is pulled from both sides in a fierce tug-of-war between the seas and bahu.

The serial follows the conventions of a Horatian satire, which satirises the society in a very light-hearted manner, without hurting anyone's sentiments. That's exactly what this serial does for you. What with Madhusudhan who cannot hear for the life of him and still never once accepts his problems,; and Dushyant, who mechanically chews gum as he technically "explains" mechanisms with Rosesh as the model, the serial is a funny mirror to the inside story of an outwardly posh and elite household.

TV series that will surely crack you up with its perfectly timed puns. Focusing on the relationship of a high class mother-in-law making fun of her middle-class daughter-in-law, this show never disappoints when you're in a mood of light hearted comedy.

Rib tickling classic comedy show casing a typical indian family. Any other show couldn't have given a better insight to the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law relationship.
Lastly, Monisha was not exactly that middle class just a bit messy and careless and cheap?

Sarabhai v/s Sarabhai is the best sitcom that Indian television has ever had.Everything about this show is "EPIC" including its theme song which totally describe the show
"Ye Jo nazar aate hain, Ye wo to hain nahi, Shubaba!
Dekho inhe gaur se, Dikhenge ye aur koi, Shubaba!
Zubaan se O my my kitne pyaar hain, Dilon mein U don't know O angaare hain, Sophistication inki surname hai, hypocrisy mein jeete ye saare hain. Ik pal mein banti hai pal mein bigadti hai U can't say when how and why....SARABHAI...VS...SARABHAI

Probably one of the best hindi sitcoms ever made, Sarabhai vs Sarabhai makes you laugh till your sides hurt! All the actors are extremely brilliant. The show features your typical modern upper-class Indian household and the comical situations they end up in. Especially funny are the bits where Maya Sarabhai (Ratna Pathak) complains about the daughter in law, Monisha (Rupali Ganguly) about being too 'middle class'. Must watch!