Star, Balaji make light of tiff over ‘Kyunki’ clone

Reports that there was a dispute between Star India and Balaji Telefilms over the Tamil reworking of the hit soap “Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi Balaji” were downplayed by both the channel and the production house today.

Balaji had been commissioned to do the programme for the Tamil language Sun TV network. Star raised objections after it was noticed that the initial episodes were virtually identical to that of ‘KSBKBT’ being shown on Star Plus.

According to Star corporate communications head Yash Khanna, since Star owns the worldwide rights to the soap it had asked Balaji to change the storyline and the television software production house had agreed to do so.

The Tamil version started this April and 104 episodes have already been shown.

Balaji CEO Sanjay Dosi said the issue had been sorted out and emphasised that Star and Balaji continued to share a most positive relationship.