Balika Vadhu

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Balika Vadhu
Also known as	Balika Vadhu – Kacchi Umar Ke Pakke Rishte Balika Vadhu – Lamhe Pyaar Ke
Genre	Soap opera
Written by	Purnendu Shekhar Gajra Kottary[1] Rajesh Dubey Emraan Usha Dixit Raghuvir Tomagola Manisha Singh Kovid Gupta Raman Manaktala
Directed by	Sidharth Sengupta Pradeep Yadav
Creative director	Siddhartha Vankar
Starring	Siddharth Shukla Avika Gor Toral Rasputra Avinash Mukherjee Pratyusha Banerjee Shashank Vyas Shakti Anand Mahhi Vij Ruslaan Mumtaz Surekha Sikri Gracy Goswami Sriti Jha Sargun Mehta
Country of origin	India
Original language	Hindi
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	2,248
Production
Executive producers	Zakir Shaikh Sachin Chavan Fuzel Khan
Producers	Sunjoy Waddhwa Comall Sunjoy W.
Production locations	Jaitsar Jodhpur Mumbai Udaipur Srinagar Jaipur Naigaon New Delhi
Cinematography	Sanjay K. Memane Anil Katke
Editors	Santosh Singh Janak Chauhan
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	20 minutes
Production company	Sphere Origins
Release
Original network	Colors TV
Picture format	576i 1080i (HDTV)
Original release	21 July 2008 (2008-07-21) – 31 July 2016 (2016-07-31)
Chronology
Related shows	Balika Vadhu 2 Chhoti Anandi
External links
Website

Balika Vadhu (transl. Child Bride) is an Indian soap opera that aired on Colors TV between 21 July 2008 and 31 July 2016 and ran for 2,248 episodes on Colors TV. The story is set in rural Rajasthan and revolves around the life of a child bride transitioning from her childhood to womanhood. The soap opera was divided into two parts titled Balika Vadhu – Kacchi Umar Ke Pakke Rishte (English: Child Bride – Strong Relationships of Tender Age), and Balika Vadhu – Lamhe Pyaar Ke (English: Child Bride – Moments of Love).^[2]

The first part focused on Anandi and Jagdish, who were married in childhood. The second part reflected on the life of Anandi's daughter, Dr. "Nimboli" Nandini who was also a child bride.^[3]

In 2021, Colors TV announced a reboot of the series for a second season, although it remains unclear if any of the cast or story-line will remain same.

Plot[]

Part 1 : Kacchi Umar Ke Pakke Rishte[]

An 8-year-old girl, Anandi is married to Jagdish "Jagya" Singh. Jagya's widowed sister Sugna faces difficulty remarrying as she is pregnant. Though a local, Shyam asks Sugna's hand in marriage, Jagya doesn't approve of it and switches his exam results with Anandi's. Anandi confronts Jagya but is shot. Later, Jagya's grandmother gets him married to a girl named Gauri, while still being married to Anandi; the panchayat declares it illegal. Since both Jagya and Anandi are going through changes, their families decide that they should stay away from each other until they're both adults.

The show skips 5 years into the future.

Jagya is motivated to become a doctor when he is unable to find a doctor for an injured Anandi, and goes to Mumbai to study. He meets Gauri again and decides to leave Anandi to marry her. They get married; Gauri believing that his child marriage is invalid. Meanwhile, Anandi educates village girls, campaigns against child marriage, and becomes the Sarpanch Bitiya of Jaitsar. She sends divorce papers to Jagya, which he angrily signs. Jagya and Anandi get divorced and Anandi tries to move on. Meanwhile, Jagya gets to know how Gauri had separated him from his family and divorces her for cheating and vows to reunite with Anandi. However, Anandi having moved on, marries Shivraj and moves to Udaipur.

Sanchi, Shivraj's sister, develops a crush on Jagya. She however tries to create trouble in his family by creating misunderstandings and manipulating people. They get engaged and he returns to Mumbai to study. Six months later, he realizes that she only wants to marry him out of spite and calls-off the wedding. He marries Ganga–a girl he had helped earlier, causing conflict with the family. Meanwhile, Jagya runs for political office and becomes the Vidhya of Jaitsar.

Shivraj dies while trying to stop a terrorist attack as Anandi delivers twins Nandini and Shivam. Akhiraj, a goon, kidnaps Nandini and renames her Nimboli for marriage to his son Kundan. 11 years later, Jagya traces Nandini, and Akhiraj is arrested but escapes custody and kills Anandi as she protects her children. Jagya fatally shoots him, but the twins fall into a river and presumably die. They however survive and are put into an orphanage. They are separated when Shivam is arrested for murdering a man who tried to rape Nandini.

Part 2: Lamhe Pyaar Ke[]

The second part is set 15 years after the end of Part 1. Nandini is a physician, driven by a promise to her dying mother to provide medical treatment throughout Rajasthan. She marries medical student Krish Malhotra, who she later learns is the stepson of Kundan. She also finds that the groom she approved for her adoptive sister Sudha is actually Shivam, who has become a gangster. She reunites with him. Kundan kidnaps her to force her to remarry him, but is killed by the police.

In the epilogue, she summarizes her family history from Anandi's childhood to her present in a book titled Balika Vadhu.

Cast[]

Main[]

• Pratyusha Banerjee/Toral Rasputra as Anandi Singh Shekhar: Khajaan and Bhagwati's daughter, Jagya's ex-wife, Shiv's wife, Amol's adoptive mother, Nandini and Shivam's mother (2010–13, 2013–16)
  • Avika Gor as Child Anandi (2008–10)
• Shashank Vyas/Shakti Anand as Dr. Jagdish "Jagya" Singh: Bhairon and Sumitra's son, Sugna's brother, Anandi's ex-husband, Ganga's husband, Mannu's step-father, Abhimanyu's father (2010–2015, 2015–16)
  • Avinash Mukherjee as Child Jagya (2008–10)
• Sidharth Shukla as Shivraj "Shiv" Shekhar: Anoop and Meenakshi's son, Sanchi's and Mahi's brother, Anandi's second husband, Amol's adoptive father, Nandini and Shivam's father (2012–15)
• Mahhi Vij as Dr. Nandini Shekar/Malhotra: Anandi and Shiv's daughter, Naren and Jamuna's adopted daughter, Shivam's sister, Kundan's ex-wife, Krish's wife (2016)
  • Gracy Goswami as young Nandini "Nimboli" Shekar (2015–16)
• Ruslaan Mumtaz as Dr. Krish Malhotra: Kundan's step-son, Nandini's husband (2016)
• Surekha Sikri as Kalyani Devi Singh: Dharamveer's wife, Bhairon and Basant's mother, Jagya and Sugna's grandmother (2008–16)
  • Heeba Shah as young Kalyani Devi
• Sriti Jha/Sargun Mehta/Aasiya Kazi as Dr. Ganga Singh: Ratan's former wife, Jagya's second wife, Mannu and Abhimanyu's mother (2013, 2013–14, 2014–16)
  • Roshni Walia as young Ganga (2013)
• Anjum Farooki/Deblina Chatterjee as Dr. Gauri Singh: Jagya's ex-girlfriend (2010–12, 2014)
  • Mahima Makwana as young Gauri (2010)
• Anup Soni as Bhairon Singh: Dharamveer and Kalyani's son, Basant's brothe, Sumitra's husband, Jagya and Sugna's father (2008–14)
• Smita Bansal as Sumitra Singh: Bhairon's wife, Jagya and Sugna's mother (2008–14)
• Chetanya Adib as Khajaan Singh: Bhagwati's husband, Anandi's father (2008–15)
• Bhairavi Raichura as Bhagwati Singh: Khajaan's wife, Anandi's mother (2008–12)

Recurring[]

• Dishank Arora as Shivam Shekhar: Anandi and Shivraj's son (2016)
  • Viren Vazirani as young Shivam (2015–16)
• Vineet Kumar Chaudhary as Kundan Singh: Akhiraj and Harki's son (2016)
  • Sparsh Srivastav/Karan Pahwa as young Kundan (2015–16)
• Roop Durgapal as Sanchi Kabra: Alok and Iravati's daughter (2012–15)
• Jaineeraj Rajpurohit as Alok Shekhar: Premkishore's son, Iravati's husband (2012–15)
• Sonal Jha as Iravati Shekhar: Alok's wife, Sanchi's mother (2012–15)
• Avinash Wadhawan/Akshay Anand as Anoop Shekhar: Premkishore's son, Meenakshi's husband (2013–2014, 2014–2015)
• Anita Kulkarni as Meenakshi Shekhar: Anoop's wife, Shivraj and Mahi's mother (2012–15)
• Shubham Jha as Amol Shekhar: Shivraj and Anandi's adopted son (2014–2015)
• Satyajit Sharma as Basant Singh: Jamuna's husband, Gehna's ex-husband (2008–2014)
• Neha Marda/Sheetal Khandal as Gehna Singh: Basant's ex-wife (2008–2012, 2012–2015)
• Sanjay Basak as Nandkishore "Nandu" Singh: Basant and Gehna's son (2012–2015)
• Rahul Lohani as Niranjan Singh: Gehna's second husband (2009–2010, 2014–2015)
• Sunil Singh as Akhiraj Singh: Harki's husband (2015–2016)
• Rudrakshi Gupta as Harki Singh: Akhiraj's wife (2015–16)
• Farah Hussain as Kamli Singh: Akhiraj and Harki's daughter, Pushkar's wife (2015–16)
• Tisha Kapoor as Urmila Singh: Kundan's ex-wife (2015–16)
• Sudhir Pandey as Premkishore Shekhar: Alok and Anoop's father (2012–2015)
• Sushmita Mukherjee as Subhadra, Hardik grandmother (2014–15)
• Nidhi Jha/Sonam Lamba as Gulli: Hardik's wife, Champa's daughter (2011–2013, 2014)
• Vimarsh Roshan as Advocate Vivek Kabra: Sanchi's husband (2013–2015)
• Sonal Handa as Saurabh Kabra (2013–2014)
• Shalini Arora as Suman Kabra (2014–2015)
• Abhishek Tiwari as Mahi Shekhar (2012–2014)
• Reena Aggarwal as Ashima (2012–2013)
• Chandresh Singh as Ratan Singh (2013–2015)
• Vibha Anand/Janvi Chheda as Sugna Singh: Shyam's wife (2008–2010, 2011–2013)
• Vikrant Massey/Sachin Shroff as Shyam Singh: Sugna's husband (2009–2010, 2011–2013)
• Rudra Soni as Varun Singh: Pratap and Sugna's son (2011–2013)
  • Shivansh Kotia as young Varun (2010)
• Amar Sharma as Madan Singh: Shyam's father (2008–2014)
• Abhijeet Lahiri as Ramcharan Singh (2009–2010)
• Asmita Sharma as Radha Singh: Shyam's wife (2008–2010)
• Neha Gosain as Asha Singh (2011–2013)
• Ankit Gupta as Abhishek Singh (2012–2013)
• Rajeshwari Sachdev as Mangaladevi Singh née Disa (2015–2016)
• Rajendra Gupta as Mahaveer Singh (2009–2012)
• Mrudula Sathe as Rani (2008)^[4]
• Parichay Sharma as Pushkar Singh: Kamli's husband (2015–2016)
• Hiten Tejwani as Dr. Anant: Nidhi's father (2015–2016)
• Vidhi Pandya as Nidhi: Anant's daughter (2015–16)
• Farida Jalal as Vasundhara Devi (2009, 2012)
• Faiza Faiz/Mamta Chaturya as Phooli Singh: Anandi's childhood friend (2008–2010) (2010–2012)
• Arpit Joshi as Lal Singh (2010–2012)
• Nivedita Bhattacharya as Shivani Rajadhyaksha (2011, 2014)
• Sadiya Siddiqui as Sandhya (2008–2013)
• Jehangir Vakil as Pratap Singh: Sugna's ex husband (2008–2009)
• Geetanjali Mishra as Sona/Kusum (2014–2015)
• Harsh Mehta as Mahendra "Mannu" Singh: Ganga and Ratan's son (2015–2016)
  • Dhairya Ashani as young Mannu

Crossover episodes[]

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No.	Air Date	Crossover operas
1	19 February 2016	Thapki Pyar Ki	Sasural Simar Ka	Ishq Ka Rang Safed
2	10 March 2016
3	17 March 2016	Thapki Pyar Ki	Sasural Simar Ka	Balika Vadhu
4	29 March 2016	Thapki Pyar Ki	Sasural Simar Ka	Udaan
5	8 April 2016
6	21 April 2016	Thapki Pyar Ki	Sasural Simar Ka	Ishq Ka Rang Safed
7	12 May 2016	Swaragini	Sasural Simar Ka	Udaan
8	20 May 2016	Thapki Pyar Ki	Sasural Simar Ka	Udaan
9	26 May 2016	Thapki Pyar Ki	Sasural Simar Ka	Balika Vadhu
10	13 June 2016	Ishq Ka Rang Safed	Sasural Simar Ka	Balika Vadhu

Reception[]

Ratings[]

Balika Vadhu's premiere had a very low rating of 0.7 target rating point (TRP) initially.^[5] Five weeks after launch, it entered the top 5 list under "Hindi General Entertainment Channels (GEC)" ^[6] and the became the most-watched program of Colors TV.^[5] This helped the newly launched channel to gain first position in the TRP chart, breaking the nine-year run of Star Plus.^[7][8] Balika Vadhu often held top position on the ratings charts through its first 1,400 episodes.^[5]

Critical reception[]

Balika Vadhu opened to mixed reviews from critics. While some appreciated the series for portraying the issues of child marriage, which had not been shown before on Indian television, others criticized it for glorifying child marriage and exploiting it.^[5][9][10]

In 2009, the series was criticized in the Indian Parliament, prompting the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to suspend its telecast and condemn the series for portraying child marriage in contravention of Indian law.^[11][12][13]

Awards[]

Year	Category	Recipient(s)
Indian Television Academy Awards[14][failed verification]
2008	Best Serial Drama	Sphere Origin
	Best Director Drama	Siddharth Sen Gupta, Pradeep Yadav
	Best Actress Drama	Avika Gor
	Best Child Artist
	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Sadia Siddiqui
	Best Actress in a Negative Role	Surekha Sikri
	Best Title Track	Lalit Sen
	Best Teleplay	Purnendu Shekhar, Gajra Kottary, Rajesh Dubey
	Best Dialogue	Raghuvir Shekhawat
	Best Videography	Sanjay Memane
2009	Best Serial Drama	Sphere Origin
	Best Director Drama	Siddharth Sen Gupta, Pradeep Yadav
	Best Child Artist	Avika Gor
	Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Smita Bansal
	Best Actress in a Negative Role	Surekha Sikri
	Best Title Track	Lalit Sen
	Best Teleplay	Purnendu Shekhar, Gajra Kottary, Rajesh Dubey
	Best Dialogue	Usha Dixit
	Best Videography	Sanjay Memane, Anil Katke
2010	Best Actress Drama	Surekha Sikri
	Best Child Artist	Avika Gor
	Gr8! Laurel For Ensemble Acting	Balika Vadhu
	Best Teleplay	Purnendu Shekhar, Gajra Kottary, Rajesh Dubey
	Best Dialogue	Usha Dixit
	Best Costumes	Winnie Malhotra, Neelu Shroff
	Best Audiography	Suhas Rane
2011	Best Actress Drama	Surekha Sikri
	Best Actor in a Supporting Role	Anup Soni
2012	Best Actor in a Supporting Role	Anup Soni
	Best Title Track	Lalit Sen
	Best Dialogue	Usha Dixit
	Best Costumes	Winnie Malhotra, Neelu Shroff
	Best Videography	Sanjay Memane
2013	GR8! Face of the Year – Male	Siddharth Shukla
2014	Best Actress Drama	Surekha Sikri
	Best Teleplay	Purnendu Shekhar, Gajra Kottary, Rajesh Dubey
2015	Special Recognition	Siddharth Sen Gupta, Aasiya Kazi, Gracy Goswami
2021	ITA Milestone Award	Balika Vadhu

Spin-off[]

An animated series, Chhoti Anandi, was launched in 2016 and focuses on the adventures of 8-year-old Anandi and her friends. It was simulcasted on Colors TV and Rishtey from January to April 2016.^[15]

Reboot series[]

A reboot of the series was announced in early 2021.^[16] The first teaser of the series was released officially on 27 June 2021.^[17] The series premiered on 9 August 2021 on Colors TV with Shreya Patel & Vansh Sayani in lead roles of Anandi & Jigar respectively.^[18]

Adaptations[]

Language	Title	Original release	Network(s)	Last aired	Notes
Hindi	Balika Vadhu बालिका वधू	21 July 2008	Colors TV	31 July 2016	Original
Kannada	Putta Gowri Maduve ಪುಟ್ಟ ಗೌರಿ ಮದುವೆ	12 March 2012	Colors Kannada	5 April 2019	Remake
Bangla	Gouridaan গৌরিডান	28 January 2011	Colors Bangla	19 September 2015	Remake

|- | Sinhala | Punchi Manali
පුංචි මනාලි | TV 1 | Dubbed |}

References[]

External links[]

• Balika Vadhu at IMDb