Star Plus and Balaji Telefilms have now taken their battle to the courtroom and after the first hearing; it is Star who has drawn first blood. In another blow for Balaji, the Bombay High Court on Monday rejected Balaji’s plea for a stay in Star’s termination of their show Kyunki Saas bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi.

Balaji Telefilms had last month moved the vacation bench of the Bombay High Court challenging Star Group's decision to terminate its prime time daily soap.

"Such relief is not possible," said Justice JH Bhatia.

Steadily declining TRPs and a premium charge for the content had compelled Star to pull off the eight-year-old long show. In their defence, Balaji, stated that the show wasn’t promoted well by the channel. But the bench refused to accept Balaji's argument.

"The programme has outlived its life. We had no motive to hurt Balaji," Star's counsel Ravi Kadam told the court. The serial has to be taken off air because the channel was losing viewers of prime time slot to other channels, “he said.

But Balaji's counsel Ram Jethmalani argued that the agreement between the two parties provided that the show will run at least up to March 2009.

Balaji Telefilms, however, has three days to come up with an appeal.

The last we heard was that the show will be winding up on November 6.