Why is Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi so funny?

Most 20-somethings may have only heard of Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi. Some may have a vague memory of the comedy show, which made even our grumpy fathers giggle. It didn't matter that we didn't understand the jokes. Just watching three actors cracking everyone at home was enough to make us sit in one place. And the parents, they didn't seem to mind it either. Television in the '80s was a different ballgame altogether. Barring probably the odd Nirodh advertisement, everything was fairly non-squirmy.

Of course, things can never be the same again. But when a Video CD of the hit show made its way to the office desk, one couldn't help wishing for the innocent times. Then came the list of requests: "Can I borrow this?" "Oh, just for a day!" And the colleagues who came up only to say, "We grew up watching this!", unwittingly giving out their real age.

But for a generation like ours, born before the Great Economic Liberalisation, Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi proves to be a reminder. It tells us that life did exist before McDonalds, Barista and the Internet. It tells us that one could still have a nice laugh without double entendres and sleazy comedies. But more importantly it tells us that perhaps, just perhaps if we could slow down and take a step back, we could still laugh at life.

Probably the most fascinating part about Yeh Jo Hai Zindagi was that the entire action took place in one living room. No jazzy sets, no mother-in-laws and no Kaanjevaram saris (Ekta was still a child, remember?). You don't need any of that, Yeh Jo... seems to tell us now.

Renu (Swaroop Sampat), Ranjit (Shafi Inamdar) and his unemployed brother-in-law Raja (Rakesh Bedi), walked in to our homes around 1984 and changed television viewing forever.

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