Tulsi To Titan: Performance Politics

In the great gladiatorial arena of Indian public life, few figures have fought harder, flared brighter, or fallen faster than 49-year-old Smriti Zubin Irani.

- PRABHU CHAWLA

Fewer still possess the gall and guile to return with such operatic flair.

The reboot of Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi (KSBKBT), premiering July 29, marks Irani's renaissance. It's not regression; it's re-entry. A recalibrated cultural conquest.

Comebacks in politics arrive cloaked in symbolism, charged with subtext, and choreographed for resonance. Hence, the Tulsi-Irani redux isn't nostalgia; it's narrative warfare. Once Tulsi was the sanskari sovereign of Indian television. Now, back to being Tulsi again, Irani is showing off a shrewd recalibration of power, presence, and persona.

Born in 1976 in a modest Delhi household, her political ascent was not bestowed; it was built by her from scratch. From wiping tables at McDonald's to ruling the primetime as Tulsi Virani in Ekta Kapoor's cultural colossus, she embodied middle-class mythos with magnetic precision. But ambition is a hungry beast. Irani, never one to be typecast, pivoted to politics in 2003, entering the BJP without pedigree but with panache. The nation scoffed. The party watched. And she worked relentlessly, rhetorically, ruthlessly.

At 49, Irani is reclaiming her reach. The sari-draped storyteller has stepped off the Lok Sabha stage onto the soapbox of the small screen. Irani, once Bharat's beloved bahu, became a policy bulldozer in Modi 1.0 and 2.0. Unlike the dozens of television faces who flared and faded, she fused charisma with consequence. She wasn't just a screen queen but was a symbol of saffron resilience. And yet, politics, as unforgiving as ever, made her taste both triumph and truncation. However, this time she is armed not with tears and tantrums, but a script steeped in subtext, strategy, and subliminal seduction.