Actor-director Karan Razdan, who is back with a new version of the popular 1985 show ‘Rajani’, says the episodes of the original serial, starring former wife Priya Tendulkar, are lost. The serial, which Razdan wrote and Basu Chatterjee directed, featured late star Tendulkar as a middle class housewife who takes on issues related to the common public.

It was quite popular at the time and even featured cameos from Shah Rukh Khan (as seen in the image) and Subhash Ghai, a PTI report from Mumbai stated yesterday.

“The original episodes have been lost forever because those days preserving the tape and that also a low band tape was I think next to impossible. Here at least we have recreated Rajini and on Waves OTT (pubcaster Prasar Bharati’s streaming platform), it’s going to last a lifetime or for long,” Razdan told PTI.

The new version, currently streaming on Doordarshan, features Aradhana Sharma as Rajani’s daughter, who is carrying forward her mother’s legacy by tackling different issues in each of the serial’s episodes.

The filmmaker, also known for the popular serial ‘Tehkikaat’ and writing screenplays for movies such as ‘Diljale’ and ‘Trimurti’, is happy that they got a chance to recreate the series and on Waves OTT.

Razdan said it was a conscious decision to not bring a replacement to the character played by Tendulkar and instead feature the new protagonist as her daughter. “If I had replaced Priya as Rajani then it would be a completely idiotic thought. But here it’s the daughter… So, I feel that this was a chance worth taking,” he explained.

According to Razdan, the series at the time couldn’t continue as they were tackling issues that were not comfortable for those in power, but it was revived briefly for a second season in 1995.

“So I have lived with the idea (of bringing a new show) for about eight years till Gaurav Dwivedi ji (CEO, Prasar Bharti) contacted me. We came up with the idea to make ‘Rajani 2.0’and launch it on Waves,” he said. Asked how Shah Rukh came to do a cameo in the series, Razdan said Tendulkar was doing a role in ‘Trimurti’ where she became friends with SRK.

“One day she told me, ‘Shall I ask Shah Rukh ( for the cameo). That is when Anand Mahendroo was trying to do (the show). So I said ‘Yeah, I mean you can ask him. He’s from television’ Shah Rukh said yes immediately,” he said.

Razdan, who now hopes he gets megastar Amitabh Bachchan to do a cameo in ‘Rajani 2.0’, said the new version of the show speaks about topical problems plaguing the common man like safety of women in the workplace, digital arrests, fraud in flat delivery etc.

Sharma, who stars as Rajani’s daughter in the series, said it was a huge responsibility to step into the shoes of the actor, who passed away in 2002 at the age of 47.