As Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2 prepares to end its run, Smriti Irani says she remains open to acting opportunities and feels no embarrassment about asking for work. The actor and politician returned to television as Tulsi Virani after losing the 2024 Lok Sabha election and says she chose to seek opportunities rather than wait for someone to approach her.
NDTV reported on the show’s impending finale, scheduled for 20 October, coinciding with Dussehra. In an interview with The Times of India, Irani reflected on her return to acting and explained why she takes pride in asking for work.
“I am actually very proud that I picked up that phone. Why should asking for work embarrass me? I began my professional life asking for opportunities. Why should success make me so entitled that asking for an opportunity again becomes beneath me?” she said.
Irani said she had held significant responsibilities in public life but remained equally comfortable asking whether work was available. She believes professional status should bring neither entitlement nor embarrassment about starting again.
“Position can give you authority. It should never give you entitlement. There is enormous dignity in work and enormous strength in being willing to begin again,” she said.
After the 2024 election defeat, Irani could have waited for someone to offer her an acting role. Instead, she made the call herself. She said the decision helped her reconnect with the young woman who had never considered starting over something to be ashamed of.
“Sometimes the ability to begin again is a greater measure of confidence than the ability to remain at the top,” she said.
Irani is clear that she is not closing the door on acting. She described her political responsibilities as a commitment to public life and acting as a craft she had stopped practising but never stopped loving.
Rather than calling her return a comeback, she described it as a rediscovery. She said she no longer felt the need to close one door to prove her commitment to another path.
Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi 2, produced by Ektaa Kapoor’s Balaji Telefilms, premiered on Star Plus and JioHotstar on 29 July 2025. It revived the family drama nearly 17 years after the original series, which ran from 2000 to 2008. Irani returned as Tulsi Virani, alongside Amar Upadhyay as Mihir Virani. Hiten Tejwani and Gauri Pradhan also returned as Karan and Nandini, while Shakti Anand reprised his role as Hemant Virani.
The series follows Tulsi and Mihir’s relationship, the next generation of the Virani family and the power struggles threatening their lives. According to JioHotstar, the revival recorded more than 1.6 billion minutes of watch time across television and streaming during its launch week.
