MUMBAI: Lily Patel the veteran Gujarati stage actress, popular as Dadima of Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii has replaced Dina Pathak as Badima in Khichdi.

Dina Pathak, who passed away recently was playing the role of Badima, the great grandmother in the sitcom. Lily Patel will take over the role from episode 12 which will be telecast on 26 November.

"It was difficult to find a replacement for Dinaji. Since the comedy revolves around a Gujarati joint family, we needed a Gujarati actress in place of Dinaji. And we decided on Lily Patel who is an accomplished Gujarati theatre actress who has the ability to balance emotions and humour perfectly," co-producer of Khichdi, Jamnadas Majethia says.

Khichdi is neither a complete sitcom nor a total soap but a blend of both in right proportion. As the title suggests, the serial is a concoction of characters and their emotions, idiosyncrasies, likes and dislikes, relationships and dreams, all done to imperfect perfection in a melting pot, which happens to be their home, states the release .

"It is being appreciated a lot because it is different in terms of characterization, situations and humour and moreover, it is believable," says Jamnadas. Written and directed by Aatish Kapadia, a well known writer-director of several hit Gujarati plays, serials and films.

A UTV and Hats Off Production, the sitcom stars Lily Patel, Anang Desai, Supriya Pathak, Raju Mehta, Vandana Pathak and Amit Verma among others. It is telecast on Star Plus every Tuesday at 8 pm.