Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah remains one of television's longest-running sitcoms, continuing to entertain audiences even after 17 successful years. Characters like Jethalal and Dayaben have become truly iconic.
Though Disha Vakani, who played Dayaben, stepped away from the show in 2018 for maternity leave and hasn’t returned since, her legacy lives on. Recently, creator Asit Modi shared that Dayaben’s famous ‘garba steps’ were actually improvised by Disha herself, adding yet another layer to her unforgettable performance.
In an interview with Screen, Asit said that the Garba step it was the improvisation of Disha that was added to the character.
Recalling about how Dayaben's evergreen Garba style came to life, Asit said, "During the first episode, we thought of adding garba in the episode when Bapuji snorted, his hip gets stiff, that is when we decided to try if we could use Garba to rectify his stiffness. That’s how the craze for doing garba started. Daya Bhabhi’s style of garba was her improvisation. While shooting, we all try to take what is written in the script to the next level.”
Reflecting on the moment they realized Disha was the perfect fit for the role, Asit Modi shared that it became instantly clear to the makers that she truly embodied the spirit of Dayaben.
“Disha Vakani is a very fine actor. So when we explained the character to her, our brief was that she is a very innocent lady who looks after her husband, her father-in-law, and her world revolves around her son. Whenever she gets shocked, her reaction is always ‘Hey Ma, Mataji!’, it’s a very common reaction amongst people in Gujarat. During her audition, we were all sitting together, and when she played the part, we all just loved it."
Asit also shared that the inspiration for Dayaben calling out to Jethalal from the balcony came from his own mother, who would often run after his father, calling out to him whenever he forgot something on his way to work. He explained that they infused this sense of innocence into Dayaben’s character, while the element of her doing garba was introduced later.
Regarding Dayaben's eagerly awaited return to the show, Asit Modi assured that the character will be returning shortly. Even though he is currently working on finding a new face for the part, he acknowledged that he still has a strong desire for Disha Vakani to play the legendary character again.
Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah premiered on Sony SAB TV in 2008. It stars actors such as Dilip Joshi, Amit Bhatt, mandar Chandwadkar, Munmun Dutta and more.
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