MUMBAI: It was celebration time at Mumbai's ITC Grand Maratha Sheraton Hotel on Saturday, 31 May, 2003. Veteran actress and famed producer Aroona Irani held a bash to celebrate the success of her Star Plus soap Des Mein Nikhla Hoga Chand (DMNHC). She became the first independent producer to beat Balaji in the ratings game in recent times.
 

The serial conceptualised and created by AK Films has had an uninterrupted run of 84 episodes since 2001 in the prime time slot of 9 pm. The serial DMNHC had ousted the usual Balaji contenders -Kyunki ..... Kahaani ... and Kasauti Zindagi Kay .....from the top position, reveal the latest TRP ratings (for the week 5 May to 10 May 2003).

DMNHC topped the chart with a TRP of 10.9, followed by Kasauti ...at 10.5 and Kyunki ...at 10.3. However, in the recent ratings provided by TAM (week 21 for 18-24 May), Balaji's Kasauti... has grabbed the top three spots (10.5) followed by DMNHC with a TVR of 9.5.

In the presence of her unit and several TV stars, Irani, dressed in a blue coloured saree, attributed the unprecendent success to the gripping storyline. "The storyline has a social fervour that blends two varying cultures - the western NRI (non resident India) and our own traditionally soaked Indian ethos. Not a pebble has been left unturned to make the serial visually rich and technically up-to-date to match the core narrative. The storyline also emcompasses an interesting romantic interlude," added Irani.

Present on the occasion were TV stars such as Sangeeta Ghosh, Shweta Keswani, Siddharth Dhawan and Varun Badola. Also making his presence felt was Amarr Upadhyay who returning to the small screen after his insipid feature film debut.