Because Even a Mother-in-Law Was a Daughter-in-Law Once) is an Indian Hindi-language soap opera that aired from 3 July 2000 to 6 November 2008 on Star Plus.

[5] The show revolves around an ideal daughter-in-law, the daughter of a pandit married to Mihir, grandson of business tycoon Govardhan Virani.

Debuting alongside Kaun Banega Crorepati on July 3, 2000, on Star Plus, Kyunki... was the most successful serial at its time, ranked number 1 with double digit TRPs for seven continuous years, peaking at 22.4 in May 2001.

Set in Mumbai, the series focuses on the wealthy Gujarati Virani family who live in their lavish house, Shantiniketan, where the three daughters-in-law, Savita, Daksha and Gayatri, control the whole family and create trouble for their wise and kind-hearted mother-in-law Amba called Baa by everyone.

Savita fixes her son Mihir's marriage to the arrogant Payal, but he falls in love with and marries the family priest's kind hearted and caring daughter Tulsi.

Kesar has switched Harsh with Tulsi's real son, Ansh who was then raised by Aditya Gujral.

Sahil divorces Tripti realizing her true intentions and evil nature and marries Ganga.

By the end of the show, the Viranis defeat all their enemies and are united finally, but Amba dies leaving the entire inheritance to an unknown person in her will.

[6] As it progressed, it was directed by Ashish Patil, Nivedita Basu,[7] Suraj Rao,[8] Santosh Badal, Dharmesh Shah, Santram Varma, Santosh Bhatt, Garry Bhinder,[9] Deepak Chavan,[10] Sanotsh Bhatt, Fahad Kashmiri, Avhiroop Mazzumdar, Jeetu Arora,[11] Santosh Kolhe, Vicky Chauhan, Rohit Dwivedi, Deepak Sharma, Shyam Maheshwari, Talat Jani,[12] Hitesh Tejwani, Anoop Chaudhary and V.G Roy.

[17] Smiti Irani, auditioning among many girls, was initially rejected by the production house casting team stating her as 'not fit for TV'.

[31] On 10 October 2008, a notice was sent to the production house by the channel to terminate the serial by 10 November 2008 stating the declining ratings since July 2008.

[32] To save the series from cancellation, the production house took Star TV to Bombay High Court seeking for the stay order asserting that they had a contract through March 2009 and that the channel had not provided appropriate promotion while the channel pointed out the cancellation due to declining ratings as per agreement.

[37][38] Shailaja Bajpai from The Indian Express said, "Kyunki...'s success was due to the fact that it was a universal story that appealed to everyone.

[40] The Tribune, comparing women's depiction in the series with some of the Star World English series stated, "The women in Ally McBeal or Friends are nothing like those in Kyunki... or Kahaani Ghar.... Professionally competent, in control of their lives they are not to be held back by any stereotypical demands made on them.

"[41] Produced with the backdrop of Mumbai and the concept of an ideal Gujarati joint family,[42] the show made Producer Ekta Kapoor and Star Plus achieve great heights of success, by not only being the number 1 show on Indian Television which ran for eight constant long years, but also receiving great TRPs.

After that, it started to rise gradually and also became the second most watched Hindi show of 2000 after Kaun Banega Crorepati with an average TRP of 6.4.

[48][49] In March 2001, the series garnered its all-time high ratings of 22.4 TVR when the lead character Mihir returned to life on popular demand and protests.

[72] The show also went on to receive several awards, most of which were won by Smriti Irani for her portrayal of the ideal character Tulsi.

[78] In February 2003, The Times of India reported that people started recreating the grand sets of the series in their homes in Kolkata.

[79] In 2001, a conflict arose between Star India and the production house over the Tamil series titled Kelunga Mamiyare Neengalum Marumagal Than (trans.

CEO of Balaji Telefilms Sanjay Doshi stated that the script of the Tamil series was already changed after episode 15.

[82] Both Star and Balaji Telefilms reported it as a copyright violation considering the advertisement which uses the same sets, backdrop, announcement fonts and music along with the cast of the series.

[84] In February 2002, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation lodged a FIR at Andheri police station against Star TV and Balaji Telefilms when the episode aired on 5 February 2002 showed the character Puja undergoing sex determination test of her unborn child and also the doctor encouraging her for the child being a son.

[86] In November 2004, Kapoor was summoned by National Commission for Women and Star was sent a notice following complaints from many women's groups for showing a marital rape sequence of character Nandhini by Ansh Gujral for 15 minutes in the episode aired on 14 October 2004 claiming it more sensitive considering the viewership of the series by all age groups.

[87][88] Kapoor's lawyer stated that they will appear on 1 December 2004, along with a copy of the episode to submit to them, while the channel defended that they were mindful of their programs and they are for general viewing.

"[96] Smriti Irani playing Tulsi, said that she doesn't support mercy killing while she, who was uncomfortable doing it, said that she did the sequence considering that she would have been labelled as an unprofessional actor had she refused.

[97] In January 2008, the dialogue "You and your God, go to hell" pointing against Lord Vishnu in an episode said by the antagonist Suvarna Jha playing Tripti hurt the sentiments of many people and the Vaishnav community.

[98] Protests and rallies were held in Junagadh led by the priests and various Vaishnav followers who also submitted a memo to the district collector for Balaji Telefilms, Producer Ekta Kapoor and Suvarna Jha to apologise for it.

[99] In February 2008, Pulkit Samrat playing Lakshya got a notice from court stating his absence for shooting and no response to phone calls from production house while Samrat stated that he attended the shoots regularly but was idle for most of the time with inconsequential scenes and so wished to work on other series.

[101] Acknowledging the impact of some of her shows including Kyunki..., Ekta Kapoor stated, "They were heavily stylised and melodramatic.