Kumkum Bhagya

''Kumkum Bhagya'' () is an Indian Hindi-language drama television series produced by Ekta Kapoor under Balaji Telefilms.Ekta Kapoor brings another love story on TV with 'Kumkum Bhagya'
The Indian Express.Retrieved on 15 September 2014. It premiered on 15 April 2014 on Zee TV and digitally streams on ZEE5.Kumkum Bhagya to replace Pavitra Rishta
Hindustan Times, Retrieved on 15 September 2014. It formerly starred Sriti Jha, Shabir Ahluwalia, Mugdha Chaphekar, Krishna Kaul, Rachi Sharma and Abrar Qazi. It currently stars Pranali Rathod and Akshay Bindra as fourth generation leads. One of the longest running Indian television soap opera, the concept of the show was originally based on Jane Austen's novel ''Sense and Sensibility''.

Cast

Main

* Sriti Jha as Pragya Arora Mehra: Sarla and Raghuveer's eldest daughter (2014–2021; 2023)
* Shabir Ahluwalia as Abhishek "Abhi" Mehra: Santoshi and Prem's son (2014–2021, 2023)
* Mugdha Chaphekar as Prachi Arora Kohli (Prachi Mehra): Pragya and Abhi's second daughter (2019–2024)
* Krishna Kaul as Ranbir Kohli aka Krishna "KK" Kakkar: Pallavi and Vikram's son (2019–2024)
* Rachi Sharma as Poorvi "Pihu" Kohli Malhotra: Ranbir and Prachi's younger daughter (2023–2025)
* Abrar Qazi as Rajvansh "RV" Malhotra: Harman and Harleen's younger son (2023–2025)
* Pranali Rathod as Prarthana Malhotra Randhawa: Poorvi and Rajvansh's daughter; (2025–present)
* Akshay Bindra as Raunak Zaveri: Kanti and Smita's son (2025–present)
* Namik Paul as Shivansh Randhawa: Smita's biological son; (2025-present)

Recurring

* Mrunal Thakur as Bulbul Arora Khanna: Sarla and Raghuveer's third daughter; (2014–2016)
* Supriya Shukla as Sarla Arora: Raghuveer's widow; (2014–2018)
* Madhu Raja as Daljeet Kaur Arora: Raghuveer's mother; (2014–2018)
* Jasjeet Babbar as Janki: The Aroras' handmaiden; Poorvi's mother (2014–2018)
* Arjit Taneja as Purab Khanna: Abhi's best friend; Bulbul's widower; (2014–2016)
**Vin Rana replaced Taneja as Purab (2016–2021)
* Madhurima Tuli as Tanushree "Tanu" Mehta: Alia's best friend; (2014)
** Leena Jumani replaced Tuli as Tanu (2014–2021)
* Kanupriya Pandit as Sweety: Pragya and Bulbul's aunt (2014)
* Faisal Rashid as Suresh Shrivastav: Rachna's brother; (2014–2015)
* Daljeet Soundh as Daljeet Kaur Mehra: Swarni and Indu's sister; (2014–2018)
* Charu Mehra as Poorvi: Janki's daughter; Pragya and Bulbul's namesake sister (2014–2015)
* Neel Motwani as Corporator Neil Thakur (2014–2015)
* Shikha Singh as Alia Mehra: Santoshi and Prem's daughter; (2014–2020)
** Reyhna Malhotra replaced Singh as Alia (2020–2023)
* Shivaani Sopuri as Parminder "Pammi" Kaur Mehra: Ajay's wife; (2014–2021)
* Ajay Trehan as Ajay Mehra: Daljeet's elder son; Prem's brother; (2014–2020)
* Ankit Mohan as Akash Mehra: Parminder and Ajay's younger son; (2014–2016)
* Aditi Rathore as Rachna Shrivastav Mehra: Suresh's sister; (2014–2016)
* Zarina Khan as Inderjit Kaur Suri: Daljeet and Swarni's sister; (2014–2020)
* Radha Israni as Swarni Dasi: Abhi, Alia, Raj and Akash's grand-aunt; (2014–2018)
**Asha Sharma replaced Israni as Swarni (2018–2020)
* Anurag Sharma as Raj Mehra: Parminder and Ajay's elder son; (2014–2021)
* Samikssha Batnagar as Mitali Mehra: Raj's wife; (2014)
**Swati Anand replaced Batnagar as Mitali (2014–2021)
* Haelyn Shastri as News Reporter (2015)
* Nikhil Arya/Rajat Dahiya/ Shaad Randhawa as Nikhil Sood: Tanu's ex-lover (2015–2017)/(2017–2018)/(2018–2019)
* Bobby Khanna as Mr. Mehta: Tanu's father (2015–2017)
* Roma Lavani as Mrs. Mehta: Tanu's mother (2015–2018)
* Pratik Parihar as Manohar: Abhi's accountant who schemed against Pragya (2016)
* Vijay Kashyap as Raghuveer Arora: Daljeet's son; Sarla's husband; (2017)
* Nitin Goswami as Dushyant Rana: Simonica's husband who was accidentally killed by Abhishek (2017–2018)
* Ruchi Savarn as Disha Singh: Purab's first ex-wife; (2017–2019)
* Sharhaan Singh as Sangram Singh Chautala: Disha's ex-fiancé (2017–2018)
* Vivana Singh as Simonica Dushyant Rana: Dushyant's widow (2017–2018)
* Shwetanshu Singh as Dr. Sheila (2017)
* Mishal Raheja as King Singh: A rapper based in the UK; Pragya's former boss and one-sided lover (2018–2019)
* Kaurwaki Vasistha as Kiara Mehra: Pragya and Abhi's eldest daughter; (2018–2019)
* Vedansh Jaju as Sunny Khanna: Purab and Disha's son; (2018–2019)
* Richa Rathore as Neha "Babli" Mehra: Mitali and Raj's daughter; (2018)
* Abeer Adil as Tarun: King's cousin; Neha's husband (2018–2019)
* Roma Bali as Tarun's mother: King's aunt (2018–2019)
* Naina Singh/Pooja Banerjee/ Tina Philip as Rhea Mehra: Pragya and Abhi's daughter; (2019–2020)/(2020-2022)/(2022-2023)
* Mehul Kajaria/Rushad Rana as Vikram Kohli: Daljeet's eldest son; (2019–2021)/(2021-2023)
* Khyati Keswani as Pallavi Kohli: Vikram's wife; (2019–2023)
* Kiran Bhargava/Smita Shetty as Daljeet "Dida" Kohli: Vikram, Vikrant and Arun's mother (2019–2022)/(2022-2023)
* Pooja Singh as Mishti Kohli: Vikram and Pallavi's daughter; Ranbir's sister (2019)
* Jaanvi Sangwan as Beeji: A nurse who took Pragya in after the latter's exile; Shahana's paternal grandmother (2019)
* Aparna Mishra as Shahana Sharma: Beeji's granddaughter; Pragya's niece-figure; Prachi's sister-figure; Aryan's love interest (2019–2023)
* Zeeshan Khan/Pulkit Bangia/Naveen Sharma as Aryan Khanna: Alia and Purab's son; (2019–2021)/(2022-2023)/(2023)
* Ashlesha Sawant as Meera: Rhea's foster mother and Abhi's ex-fiancé (2019–2021)
* Manmohan Tiwari as Rohit "Sanju" Gill: A local gangster of Hoshiarpur; Prachi's obsessive one-sided lover (2019–2020)
* Ashwini Tobe as Dimpy: Rhea's friend (2019–2020)
* Shivali Choudhry as Shaina: Rhea's friend (2019–2022)
* Neena Cheema/Rupa Divetia as Sarita Ben: A Gujarati woman who gave refuge to Pragya and her daughters; Rishi's maternal grandmother (2019–2020)/(2020-2021)
* Gautam Nain as Rishi Dhaval: Sarita's grandson (2019)
* Kajal Chauhan as Priyanka Rane: Abhi's friend's daughter; Rishi's obsessive lover (2019)
* Sonali Joshi as Chief Minister Vasudha (2019)
* Ribbhu Mehra as Ritik: Disha's friend and secret lover (2019)
* Farida Dadi as Baljeet Mehra: Abhi, Raj, Akash and Alia's grand-aunt (2020–2021/2023)
* Rose Khan as Maya Choubey: Ranbir's ex-fiancée (2020)
* Manish Khanna as Dushyant Singh Choubey: Maya's uncle (2020)
* Bhupendra Khuranna as Mr. Choubey: Maya's father, Dushyant's younger brother (2020)
* Anuradha Sharma as Mrs. Choubey: Maya's mother (2020)
* Naina Yadav as Palak: Prachi and Shahana's friend (2021)
* Gagan Anand as Digvijay: Abhishek's business rival (2021)
* Gazala Silawat as Pari: Rhea's friend (2021)
* Rohit Choudhary as Pradeep Khurana: Tanu's ex-husband (2021)
* Dolly Sohi as Sushma Tandon: A rich businesswoman and Pragya's mentor (2021)
* Vineet Kumar Chaudhary as Gautam Thapar: A businessman; Sushma and Pragya's business partner; Pragya's one-sided lover (2021)
* Jatin Shah as Gaurav Thapar: Gautam's elder brother (2021)
* Riyaz Panjwani as Mr. Thapar: Gaurav and Gautam's father (2021)
* Kushagra Nautiyal as Siddharth "Sid" Kohli: Vikrant's son; (2021–2023)
* Shamik Abbas as Arun Kohli: Daljeet's youngest son; (2021)
* Mridula Oberoi as Teji Kohli: Arun's wife (2021)
* Abhishek Kumar as Jai Bhatt: Ranbir's best friend (2021–2022)
* Gulshan Shivani as Stanley: Ranbir's assistant (2022)
* Aishana Singh as Mihika Kohli: Vikrant's daughter; (2022–2023)
* Veronica Talreja as Mili: Aryan's ex-girlfriend and friend (2022)
* Mimicharve Khadse as Mauli: a girl whom Prachi loved as her own after she lost Panchi (2023)
* Aalisha Panwar as Kaya Malhotra: Ranbir's former boss and Prachi's friend (2023)
* Simran Budharup/Jyothsna Channdola Singh as Khushi "Panchi" Kohli Randhawa: Ranbir and Prachi's elder daughter; (2023–2024)/(2024-2025)
** Trisha Rohatgi as child Khushi (2023)
* Abhishek Malik as Akshay Tandon: Ashok's son; (2023)
* Aafreen Dabestani as Mihika Tandon: Ashok's daughter; (2023)
* Mallika Nayak as Manpreet Tandon: Ashok's second wife; (2023–2024)
* Kaushal Kapoor as Ashok Tandon: Prachi's former boss and father figure; Vishakha's brother; (2023–2024)
* Utkarsha Naik as Vishakha Tandon: Ashok's sister; Divya's mother (2023–2024)
* Riya Kapoor as Divya Tandon: Vishakha's daughter; (2023)
**Mahira Sharma replaced Kapoor as Divya (2023–2024)
* Purvi Pawar as Neha Tandon: Akshay, Mihika, Abhay and Divya's cousin (2023)
* Sparsh Kotwal as Abhay Tandon: Akshay, Mihika, Neha and Divya's cousin (2023)
* Vishal Solanki as Satinder: Prachi's rival colleague (2023)
* Pallavi Mahara as Damini: Aryan's suitress (2023)
* Sharika Ahluwalia as Laali: A poor, greedy woman who raised Panchi/Khushi (2023)
* Mohsin Khan as Balbira: Laali's boyfriend (2023)
* Ipsita Jena as Priya: Prachi's assistant (2023)
* Sanchita Ugale as Diya Tandon: Divya’s daughter; (2023–2025)
* Vishal Solanki as Jasbeer: Poorvi's one sided lover (2023–2025)
* Arjun Shekhawat as Ashutosh: Poorvi’s ex-fiancé (2023–2024)
* Imran Khan as Harman Malhotra: Rajvansh and Vikrant's father; (2023–2025)
* Pyumori Mehta Ghosh as Harleen Malhotra: Rajvansh and Vikrant's mother; Harman's wife (2023–2025)
* Kirti Sualy as Rajvansh's grandmother (2023–2025)
* Susheel Parashar as Rajvansh's grandfather (2023–2025)
* Preet Kaur Nayak as Dipika Malhotra: Monisha's sister; (2023–2025)
*Rahul Ram Manchanda as Vikrant Malhotra: Harleen and Harman's son; (2023–2025)
* Priti Gandwani as Rajvansh's aunt
* Anuj Khurana as Rajvansh's uncle
* Nakul Ulja as Yug Malhotra: Rajvansh’s cousin; Diya’s love interest (2023–2025)
* Kavita Banerjee as Trishna Jaiswal: Krishna's wife (2024)
* Ajay Sharma as Gajendra Jaiswal; Trishna’s father (2024)
* Hetal Yadav as Rajni Jaiswal; Trishna's mother (2024)
* Hemant Choudhary as Amar Dayal; Jaiswal's political rival (2024)
* Srishti Jain as Monisha: Dipika's sister; (2024–2025)
*Bhawana Aneja as Roshni: Dushyant's wife; Dipika and Monisha's mother (2024–2025)
* Aakash Talwar as Arman Randhawa: Khushi's husband (2024–2025)
* Parimal Bhattacharya as Kishan Parikh: Seema's husband; (2025–present)
* Vandana Mittal as Seema Parikh: Kishan's wife; (2025–present)
* Jaya Bhattacharya as Bua Maa (2025-present)
* Phalguni Sharma/Honeyy Soni as Gayatri Parikh: Kishan and Seema's daughter; Prarthana's adoptive sister (2025)/(2025–present)
* Hina Dani as Baa: Kanti, Devang, Hitesh and Kinjal's mother (2025–present)
* Vijhay Badlaani as Kanti Zaveri: Devang, Hitesh and Kinjal's brother; Smita's husband; Raunak and Sneha's father (2025–present)
* Gurdip Punjj as Smita Zaveri: Kanti's wife; Raunak and Sneha's mother (2025–present)
* Isha Pandhe as Sneha Zaveri: Kanti and Smita's daughter; Raunak's sister (2025–present)
* Nitin Vakharia as Devang Zaveri: Kanti, Hitesh and Kinjal's brother; (2025–present)
* Bhavwini Gandhi as Shubhvi Zaveri: Devang's wife; Tanuj, Sejal and Arjun's mother (2025–present)
* Abhay Bhadoriya as Tanuj Zaveri: Devang and Shubhvi's son; Sejal and Arjun's brother (2025–present)
* Hanisha Gehlot as Sejal Zaveri: Devang and Shubhvi's daughter; Tanuj and Arjun's sister (2025–present)
* Mohit Jaswani as Arjun Zaveri: Devang and Shubhvi's son; (2025–present)
* Parri Galaa as Kinjal Zaveri: Kanti, Hitesh and Devang's sister; Hitenkumar's wife; (2025–present)
* Kalpesh Patel as Hitenkumar: Kinjal's husband; Harsh and Kirtan's father (2025–present)
* Vedaant Saluja as Harsh: Kinjal and Hitenkumar's son; (2025–present)
* Ahnaf F Khatri as Kirtan: Kinjal and Hitenkumar's son; (2025–present)
* Unknown as Vihaan: Sneha's ex-fiance (2025–present)
* Aarchi Sachdeva as Payal Shah: Praful and Ketki's daughter; Raunak's suitor (2025–present)
* Rashika Matharu as Ketki Shah: Praful's wife; (2025–present)
* Nikhhil Raj Khera as Praful Shah: Ketki's husband; (2025–present)
* MM Rishi as Bhavesh: Prarthana's suitor (2025–present)
* Rita Sharma Gupta as Daxa: Bhavesh's mother (2025–present)
* Aryan Raajput as Mayank: Raunak's friend (2025–present)
* Snehal Waghmare as Raunak's aunt (2025–present)
* Hetal Puniwala as Raunak's uncle (2025–present)
*Shraddha Arya as Dr. Preeta Arora: Pragya, Bulbul and Srishti's sister; (2025–present)
* Shakti Anand as Karan Luthra: Preeta's husband (2025–present)
*Roopam Sharma as Sonalika Jaitley: Anisha's daughter, (2025–present)

Production

Development

The series is a love story produced by Ekta Kapoor and Shobha Kapoor under the banner Balaji Telefilms that airs on Zee TV. Ekta Kapoor considers the letter ''K'' to be lucky and has named many of her productions starting with ''K''.

Kapoor rejected 19 costumes while selecting the look of character Pragya.

Filming

The production and airing of the show was halted indefinitely in late March 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak in India. The outbreak caused the halt of filming of television shows and movies on 19 March 2020, and they were expected to resume on 1 April 2020. But shooting remained suspended and the remaining episodes were aired up to 24 March 2020. After three months, the production and filming of the series resumed on 29 June 2020 and airing resumed on 13 July 2020.

Casting

Shabbir Ahluwalia, who was also cast in Ekta's TV series '' Kayamath'', was selected to portray the lead role of Abhishek Prem Mehra. Ahluwalia made his comeback after Zee twenty years. Actress Sriti Jha landed the lead role in the show. Mrunal Thakur was selected to portray the second leading role of Bulbul while Arjit Taneja was cast opposite her. In May 2014, Shikha Singh entered the show as the main antagonist Alia Mehra, while Madhurima Tuli was cast to portray the negative role of Tanu. Later, Tuli had to shoot for her film ''Baby'' so, this role was later played by Leena Jumani from September 2014. Actor Faisal Rashid was selected to portray the role of Suresh (Pragya's fiancé) who played an important role in April–May 2014, but in May 2015 he quit the series. Actress Supriya Shukla was cast to play the role of Sarla Arora, while Madhu Raja played the role of Daljeet Arora. Other supporting cast members include Samikssha Batnagar, Ankit Mohan, Charu Mehra and Amit Dhawan. Bhatnagar, who portrayed the supporting role of Mitali was replaced by Swati Anand within the month of launch while Anurag Sharma replaced Amit. In 2015, Neel Motawani (who was also cast in other shows of Ekta) was selected to play the negative role of Neel; while in June 2015 Nikhil Arya entered the series playing the role of main male antagonist Nikhil Sood.

In December 2015, Mrunal Thakur opted out from the show and was to be replaced by Kajol Shrivastava, however the character of Bulbul was phased out of the series after Mrunal's departure. In August 2016, Ankit Mohan quit the show so his character left as well. In September 2016, Arjit Taneja quit the show and was replaced by Vin Rana. In October 2016, Nikhil Arya was replaced by Rujut Dahiya. In July 2017, actress Ruchi Savarn entered the show as Purab's new love interest. Mishal Raheja as King Singh and Kaurwakee Vashista as Kiara Mehra entered the show after the leap. Actor Abeer Adil was cast in 2018 as King's cousin Tarun and Roma Bali as Tarun's mother.

In March 2019, a twenty-year leap was introduced with which several new characters entered in the show and became pivotal characters. In March 2019, Mugdha Chaphekar, Krishna Kaul and Naina Singh were introduced as leads of the second generation who play Prachi, Ranbir and Rhea respectively alongside Sriti and Shabbir. In August 2020, Naina left the show as she was not happy playing a negative role anymore and Pooja Banerjee replaced Singh as Rhea. In February 2022, Pooja Banerjee quit the show because her due date was near, and she was replaced by  Tina Ann Philip.

The show then introduced the third generation post a leap of twenty years in November 2023, with Rachi Sharma and Abrar Qazi roped in as the new leads with Sharma portraying Prachi and Ranbir's younger daughter Poorvi Kohli while Qazi as Rajvansh Malhotra respectively. Simran Budharup was roped in to play grown-up version of Prachi and Ranbir's elder daughter Khushi Kohli Randhawa replacing Trisha Rohatgi who played childhood version of same.

In February 2025, the show again took a 20-year generation leap, with Pranali Rathod and Akshay Bindra as new generation leads. Abrar Qazi and Rachi Sharma and other supporting casts marked their exits due to the generation leap. In March 2025, Rachi Sharma was again roped in to reprise her role of Purvi Malhotra as a cameo to revive dipping TRPs. She was again roped in for a second appearance in April 2025. Soon after it was also confirmed that Shraddha Arya and Shakti Anand would also be joining ''Kumkum Bhagya'' reprising their characters Karan and Preeta from ''Kundali Bhagya''.

Spin-off

Kundali Bhagya

A spin-off series '' Kundali Bhagya'' premiered on 12 July 2017 and ran till 6 December 2024. The series narrated the story of Pragya's sisters, Preeta and Srishti and their attempt to find their mother Sarla and how they meet the rich and famous Luthra family. Later that show too took a generation leap and story shifted to Preeta's sons Rajveer and Shaurya.

Bhagya Lakshmi

A similar series '' Bhagya Lakshmi'' premiered on 3 August 2021. It traces the love story of Pragya's best friend, Lakshmi and Rishi. It stars Aishwarya Khare and Rohit Suchanti.

Reception

Critical reception

The show climbed to Top 5 most-watched shows across all GECs, after only a few weeks of its launch. It was touted as the biggest fiction launch of 2014. The serial is very popular among Indian women. The show also gave tough fight to the long-time Hindi GEC leader ''Diya Aur Baati Hum'' that aired at same slot on Star Plus.

Reruns of Kumkum Bhagya premiered on Zee Anmol from 2017 and received high ratings in the BARC rural chart when Zee Anmol was FTA. It began running on the network again from episode 1 from 10 June 2020, due to the return to DD Free Dish.

The show also managed to strike a chord with West Africans too. Actor Kartik Aaryan also watched the show during the lockdown.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Official website
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2014 Indian television series debuts
Balaji Telefilms television series
Hindi-language television shows
Indian drama television series
Indian television soap operas
Television shows set in Mumbai
Zee TV original programming
Television shows set in Delhi