ACP Pradyuman will live on CID? Five characters on Indian TV who rose from the dead

Kuchh toh gadbad hai.  This famous dialogue from the record-breaking crime television series CID has been on everyone’s mind recently given the rumours of the creative decision to kill the historic character of ACP Pradyuman as a result of another television cliche, heart attack. However, this is not the first time that the protagonist or an extremely popular character of a successful show will be killed onscreen by the creative team. There have been several such cases in the past, some of which that evoked widespread outrage among the fans, prompting the producers to whip writers ordering them to tweak the script in some instances in order to accommodate the return of those much-loved characters. Here are five instances of such famous deaths on Indian television: Mihir Virani from Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi

The character of Mihir Virani, played by Amar Upadhyay, died so many times on the show only to rise from the dead that he was often referred to as ‘The Undertaker of the daily soaps.’ His sudden death in 2001 caused such a massive anger among the fans that they started making frantic calls and writing blood letters to the office of Balaji Telefilms . Rishabh Bajaj and Anurag Basu from Kasauti Zindagi Kay Both these characters, played by Ronit Roy and Cezanne Khan, were killed in the show in a chain of events. However, the immense popularity of their faces among the audience allowed Ekta Kapoor to pull out the Mihir Virani card and reincarnate both the characters for the sake of the longevity of her daily soap. Anandi from Balika Vadhu The adorable character, essayed by Avika Gor, was rumoured to die on the show after the reports of her quitting the show to explore brighter horizons. The audience were left hanging to the edge of their sofas after she was shot in the head by a dreaded criminal at the end of the episode. Santoshi from Santoshi Maa

This death was marginally more believable, owing to the supernatural tone of the show. The titular character, played by Ratan Rajput, departs to heavenly abode only to strike back when another soul enters Santoshi’s body and she is reborn in a different avatar. *slow clap* Shivanya and Ritik from Naagin 

Another supernatural show, this was touted as the John Snow of Indian television. The main villain, played by Sudha Chandran, kills the couple played by Mouni Roy and Arjun Bijlani respectively. It was quite a shock to see the lead couple of the show get murdered at the same time, leaving the audience wondering how the narrative will take shape thereafter. While ACP Pradyuman’s death has raised many eyebrows, these five instances show that this is not the first time that the writers have managed to shock the audience by taking their favourite character away from them. Also, it mostly looks like he’s going to be back.