24 Years Of Saturday Suspense: Revisit This Iconic Zee TV Thriller Show And Bring Back ‘Scary’ Memories

April 5 2021, marks the 24th anniversary of the weekly thriller show of Zee TV, Saturday Suspense. Did the title ring a bell? Did it send you into nostalgic waves of simpler times, and when all you wanted to do on a Saturday night was to watch the show? Let’s go back in time and take a look back at the show on its 24th anniversary!

Saturday Suspense had begun airing on Zee TV on 5 April 1997. The show had hour-long episodes of thrilling stories and aired a new episode every Saturday. The anthology of these stories had garnered a lot of fans during its run time. The first episode of the show that aired on 5 April ‘97, was ‘My Last Birthday,’ which starred actors Kartika Rane, Akshay Anand, Ashwini Kalsekar, and Shakti Singh in prominent roles.

My Last Birthday revolved around the story of a girl, Shreya (Kartika Rane), who was being followed by a mysterious stranger who started blackmailing her on her birthday. From the very first episode itself, the show set its bar high, with an intriguing plot that had a suspense that one could not guess.

Actors from the first episode, Akshay Anand, Ashwini Kalsekar, and Shakti Singh, later starred in multiple other episodes of Saturday Suspense. The second episode of the show, titled Khamoshi, starred Annup Sonii and Rajendra Gupta. Similarly, a lot of actors who are very well-known today had starred in the episodes of the Saturday Suspense, when they were not so known and famous in the industry.

Some of these actors include Kay Kay Menon, who had starred in about six episodes, Irrfan Khan, who had starred in five episodes, Achint Kaur, who starred in three episodes, Supriya Karnik, who starred in three episodes, Manoj Joshi, who had starred in two episodes, and Shreyas Talpade, who had starred in one of the episodes with Manoj Joshi. Boman Irani too was in one of the episodes of the show and had starred alongside Irrfan Khan.

Also read: Silence…Can You Hear It: Manoj Bajpayee’s Best Scenes From The Film

Many other renowned and popular actors like Rajat Kapoor, Sakshi Tanwar, Rajit Kapur, Ali Asgar, Arun Govil, Ashutosh Rana, Shekhar Suman, Deven Bhojani, Murali Sharma, Ashish Vidyarthi, Gracy Singh, Pallavi Joshi, Mohan Kapoor, Mita Vashisht, etc., had starred in this show.

Saturday Suspense, with any of its episodes, never failed to leave the audience gasping with its revelations. There were also episodes with eerie moments that were sure to give the audience chills and goosebumps. One heck of a show, that definitely needs to re-air!

Also, did you know, some of the show’s episodes were directed by some of the most renowned directors of today? These include Anant Mahadevan, who directed the episode Khoj, Vivek Agnihotri, who directed the episode The Tenant and Once More, Vikram Bhatt, who directed Shinakht. Notable filmmakers like Shyam Ramsay, Anurag Basu, Ashutosh Gowariker, Deepak Tijroi, and Homi Wadia directed other episodes. 

Saturday Suspense has received a lot of love and acclaim from the people and had a great run till it lasted. Its last episode, The Trap, had aired on May 1, 1999. After two years of a successful run, people missed the Saturday Suspense a lot. Even after 24 years of its beginning, the stories that had aired as episodes remain to be some of the most thrilling ones we’ve ever seen. If you’re missing the show a lot, and this article on its anniversary made gave you craving for some suspenseful content, check out ZEE5’s new movie, Silence…Can You Hear It.

Silence is a crime thriller film written and directed by Aban Bharucha Deohans. It stars Manoj Bajpayee, Prachi Desai, Arjun Mathur, Vaquar, and Sahil Vaid in prominent roles. The film revolves around the murder of a young girl, Pooja (Barkha Singh), which has no witnesses or direct evidence. With its intriguing plot and engaging direction, Silence creates a thrilling atmosphere and makes you wonder what the suspense would be till its climax. It will create the aura of Saturday Suspense and give you the true feels of the episodes of the show. 

Watch Silence… Can You Hear It on ZEE5.