Diya Aur Baati Hum


Diya Aur Baati Hum is an Indian television soap opera that aired on Star Plus from 29 August 2011 to 10 September 2016 with a total of 1,487 episodes. Produced under Shashi Sumeet Productions, it starred Anas Rashid and Deepika Singh.
Set against the backdrop of Pushkar, Rajasthan, Diya Aur Baati Hum focused at breaking the stereotypical image of women in rural India, by showing the inspirational journey of Sandhya whose ambition is to become an IPS officer, achieves it with the help of her husband Sooraj by going against all odds.
A sequel series, Tu Sooraj Main Saanjh, Piyaji starring Rhea Sharma and Avinesh Rekhi began airing on 3 April 2017 and ended on 1 June 2018.

Plot

Ambitious and educated, Sandhya Kothari pursues her dream of becoming an IPS officer for her father Arvind. Sooraj Rathi, a partially-educated and simple young master-confectioner is the perfect elder heir to his middle-class traditional family in Rajasthan.
Sandhya's dreams and aspirations are destroyed as she loses Arvind and her mother Kanchan in a terrorist attack. Planning to move abroad, her brother Ankur fixes her marriage to Sooraj whose strict mother Santosh wants her daughter-in-law to be simple and not well-educated, with the excellent skills of a housewife.
After discovering this, Ankur lies about Sandhya's education level to ensure her settlement. Sandhya gives up her education and dreams, accepting her roles as a wife and the elder daughter-in-law of the family. Soon, as her truth of being educated and not knowing cooking is revealed, Santosh banishes her.
Sooraj stands up for Sandhya and vows to teach her everything she must know to prepare herself as the daughter-in-law that Santosh expects. Sandhya starts caring for Sooraj and helps him in various situations including an international confection competition in Singapore.
Later, Sooraj helps Sandhya complete her studies. Eventually, he convinces Santosh to accept Sandhya and her dreams. Sandhya faces great challenges in the IPS Academy, establishing herself as an extraordinary police officer.
As a police officer, Sandhya fights various criminals including terrorist leader Rajkumar, while in the meantime, solving her various family problems as she struggles to balance between her professional duties and domestic responsibilities.
Together with Sooraj, Sandhya forms a deep relationship with underlying love, until misunderstandings tear them apart. But it gets cleared up and they reunite. Sandhya donates one of her kidneys to Santosh battling for life which is unknown to the family.
Ankur's little daughter Bulbul greatly eagers for a sibling but his wife Ankita miscarries and is unable to conceive again. Expecting twins, Sandhya and Sooraj decide to give their one twin to Ankita on Bulbul's demand.
Later, Sooraj and Santosh learns that Sandhya is her kidney donor. Sandhya delivers twin sons Ved and Vansh. The infants are kidnapped in order to be sold. In the ensuing rescue actions, Ved is saved and Vansh succumbs to his death shattering all.

Seven years later

Sandhya and Sooraj live happily with Ved. After many turns, the Rathis find out that Vansh never died, but was raised by Ankur and Ankita, who plotted the whole kidnapping fiasco. Sandhya cuts all ties with Ankur, but lets him keep the child for the sake of Vansh's happiness.
As Sooraj dreams of opening a big hotel and works for it along with Sandhya, she gets appointed for an extremely perilous mission Mahabhali, to track a dangerous terrorist and defeat him in his own territory in West Bengal faking her identity as Sagarika.
Therefore, Sandhya leaves and enact her own death in a train accident. The family presume her dead. Sooraj loses his dreams and mental stability due to the shock of Sandhya's death and refuses to believe it. Santosh starts detesting Sandhya as she holds her responsible for Sooraj's condition.
Santosh wants Sooraj to marry Laalima Agarwal, for whom she believes will be able to help him get better. Meanwhile, Sandhya battles with the difficulties of Mahabhali and eventually manages to sabotage their plan but her identity is exposed. The terrorists capture and almost torture her to death.
Soon, Sooraj finds out Sandhya is indeed alive and joins along on the mission to help Sandhya. After successfully completing the mission, they return home. However, Santosh refuses to forgive Sandhya. Sandhya faces a stiff competition with Laalima, who falls for Sooraj.
But, Sooraj and Sandhya's love wins and Santosh forgives her as Laalima gives up. Later, Sooraj's youngest brother Mohit is shot to death after attempting to molest Laalima by Santosh. With the help of women's rights activists, Sandhya bails her out.
Santosh hates Pakistan because of a tragic accident on the border which took her younger brother's life when they were children. Not knowing Arzoo is from Pakistan, she fixes her alliance with Aryan. At first, Sandhya suspects Arzoo of being a terrorist.
Later, Sandhya not only saves Arzoo from the terrible misunderstanding, but also helps her get accepted by Santosh. Sooraj meets with an accident and gets stuck in a wheelchair. Sandhya decides to run his confectionary shop by leaving her job, much to Sooraj and the family's displeasure.
As Sandhya delivers a daughter named Kanak, Sooraj overcomes his disability and is able to walk to run his shop. Sandhya gets a proposal from commissioner and joins the police again before meeting IPS Arpita Khanna, who considers Sandhya as her rival at first but later becomes among her best allies.
Soon, Vansh discovers the truth of his birth parents but hates them for giving him away. Four terrorists kill Ankur and Ankita and also take the residents of the Rathis' neighbourhood hostage, including them. Sandhya and Sooraj bravely rescue the civilians.
Upon seeing his parents' selflesness and courage, Vansh forgives them and the family is reunited, but not for long. Sandhya and Sooraj unsuccessfully try a trap for the terrorists and punish them. The leader kidnaps Kanak and makes Sandhya and Sooraj eat bomb pills.
Sandhya and Sooraj bid their farewell to family and others by jumping into river before exploding. Sandhya's mangalsutra and Sooraj's chain becomes entangled in the water before the setting Sun, highlighting that even death cannot separate them.

Cast

Main

Development

Speaking about the series before its premiere, Nitin Vaidya, the business Head of StarPlus then said, "It's undeniable that in India, traditionally the women's role is seen as bride, wife or mother, within the geographical parametres of her home. This show aims at breaking that mould and raising public acceptance to women stepping out of their homes towards self fulfilment. Diya aur Bati Hum is another testimony of Star Plus' programming ethos - 'Rishta Wahi, Soch Nayi '."
On 8 January 2013, the cast and crew went to Ajmer for shooting a sequence, expected to return back to Mumbai on 11 January 2013. However, with the overcrowding of the fans of the series, they could not properly shoot within the estimated time, sometimes being halt for a while owing the rush of people there.

Casting

was cast as Sooraj, lead protagonist of the show, Deepika Singh opposite Rashid was cast as Sandhya while Kanika Maheshwari was cast as the main antagonist of the show. Kiran Bhargava entered the show with a reprise roles, the story will be focusing on Sandhya's Dream where she decides to fulfill her dream and joins a night college where the situation will be worse for her. Sooraj and his family is unaware about Sandhya's decision and Kiran is the owner of the night college.
In August 2014, Neelu Vaghela playing Santosh decided quit the series owing health issues and her death sequence was also shot. But the popular demand from both viewers and channel made her to continue and the track was altered.
In May 2015, Jimmy Shergill was in talks for the role of the Kabaddi coach. But, Shahbaz Khan was confirmed. However, Rituraj Singh got the role due to the creative differences with Khan.

Cancellation and Future

Due to its fluctuating ratings, it was reported to go off air on 15 August 2016. But, it received an extension for about a month and ended on 10 September 2016. However, before the series was about to end, it was reported to come back with a sequel series owing its popularity. Within seven months, the sequel titled as Tu Sooraj Main Saanjh, Piyaji premiered and aired from 3 April 2017 to 1 June 2018 for 365 episodes.

Filming

The series is based on the backdrop of Pushkar, Rajasthan. The series is mainly filmed on the sets created in Mira road, Mumbai. Some of the scenes were filmed in Rajasthan including Pushkar, Ajmer and Bikaner. The final scene of the series was filmed in Udaipur. In June 2012, the sequence of lead character Sooraj's cooking competition was filmed in Singapore for 10 days. For that, the upcoming episodes were shot well in advance before going there such that shooting did not happen for 12 days after it in India.
From December 2013 for a few months, the main IPS training sequence of lead character Sandhya was shot at Haryana Police Commando Complex in Newal, Karnal and the initial promo of the sequence being shot in a ground at Matunga. During which, in April 2014 the sequence of a training in Jungle was shot at Ghodbunder road, Thane, Maharashtra.
In March 2015, the storyline took a five years leap. Soon, in the same year, in July, it took a three years leap.
In 2016, the sequences of the character Arzoo in Pakistan was shot at Bhopal which was shown in the series as Pakistan.
Singh and Rashid continuously ran for about 12 hours for filming the last sequence for 2 days.

Critical reception

Critics

Rediff.com quoted the series as simple and fresh.
Hindustan Times quoted that the series portrayed women in better light.
The Indian Express rated two and half stars and stated, "The lead actors are impressive. Anas Rashid as maa ka laadla Sooraj is likeable and Deepika Singh as Sandhya is raw but earnest."

Ratings

Diya aur baati hum maintained its number one position mostly on the ratings charts from the beginning till it completed 1000 episodes. It became the no 1 show in India with 14.5 TVM, considered to be extremely good at that time. It also became the only fiction show to have a rating of 6.6 on a Saturday. In UK, Diya Aur Baati Hum is one of the most watched shows on Star Plus and also got a record viewership of 383,700 viewers. Diya Aur Baati Hum is also known as one of the most popular Indian teledrama in South Asia and Star Plus.
On week ending 21 January 2012, it garnered 5.88 TVR being most watched Hindi GEC. In week 44 of 2011, it was the tenth most watched Hindi GEC with 3.11 TVR. In week 50 and 51, it became the second most watched Hindi GEC after Saath Nibhana Saathiya garnering 5.7 and 5.87 TVR.
In May 2012, during the ongoing IPL broadcast during prime time remained the most watched television program. After three weeks of its premiere being most watched programme, in Week 17 2012, Dance India Dance along with Diya Aur Baati Hum beat them scoring 4.5 and 4.48 TVR for position number one and two being the only two GECs to top the list. In week 22 during IPL finale, it was the most watched Hindi GEC with 5.1 TVR. During September and August 2012, it maintained its top position with 5.8 and 4.8 TVR.
In week 5 of 2013, it was the most watched Hindi GEC with 4.3 TVR while it was pushed to second by Sapne Suhane Ladakpan Ke garnering 4.2 TVR. In week 9, it was in the top spot with 7.1 TVR. The following week it maintained its position with 5.7 TVR. In first week of August, it was the top rated with 4.5 TVR. During week 30 and 31 of 2013, it maintained its top position garnering 9.1 and 10.3 million viewership. In week 48 of 2013 it was the most watched Hindi GEC with 11.4 million TVTs. Overall, It secured number one among the top ten shows in India of 2013, with an average viewership of 9.3 million and a peak viewership of 12.3 million in October 2013. The highest rating garnered by it was 6.7 TVR being the fourth highest rating achieved in that year.
The series had a tough fight with Kumkum Bhagya for the top spot which aired at the rival channel Zee TV during same time slot which premiered in April 2014. When Kumkum Bhagya premiered, Diya Aur Baati Hum, the top show in its slot saw a decrease of 22% of its viewership in that week, after which Kumkum's viewership started increasing gradually and soon beat Diya Aur Baati Hum for number one pushing it to second. Since then, both had a tough fight for number one position for a long time alternatively. In January 2015, it remained the most watched Hindi show followed by Kumkum Bhagya.
In 2014, it maintained its position in top three most watched Hindi shows. In week 27 of 2014, it shared the top spot with Saath Nibhana Saathiya garnering 4.4 TVR.
In week 12 of 2016, it occupied fourth position garnering a trp of 2.6. In week 14, it garnered a trp of 2 slipping down to seventh position. However, it was ended by the channel on September 2016 due to its decreased ratings since past few months.

Impact

The story is based on a fictional family in Pushkar of Rajasthan who lives in the fictional street named Hanuman Gali. Owing to Diya Aur Baati Hum's huge popularity, Municipal Corporation and Government of Rajasthan renamed a lane in Pushkar as Hanuman Gali. The event was attended by the cast and crew which was held during December 2015. Speaking about it actress Neelu Vaghela who played Santosh said, "Apparently, the show has a great viewership and tourists who visited Pushkar often used to go searching for Hanuman Galli and ask for Sooraj and his jalebi shop. Since, this has led to increase in tourists, I guess the ministry must have come up with this plan. We are excited and the whole team will be going for this event." Lead Deepika Singh stated, "There was a day when I had to run through all the streets in Pushkar for the opening scene of the show. Nobody did recognize me then. But now, as I stood at the same place, the whole crowd present over there was cheering for me and their reactions made me feel so special,"
The poster of the series and the main leads are found in the shops in the areas of Pushkar and Jaipur owing its popularity.

Crossover

In 24 August 2012, the show had a crossover episode with Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai. In 3 March 2016, Diya Aur Baati Hum's lead actress Deepika Singh as Sandhya made an entry in Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai. In January 2016, Diya aur Baati Hum and Saath Nibhana Saathiya had a connection.

Broadcast and remakes

National and international broadcast

It was dubbed in Telugu on Star MAA as Eetharam Illalu. In the Tamil it was dubbed under the title, En Kanavan En Thozhan on Star Vijay. However both the versions were discontinued by the respective channels after airing 1,203 and 1,077 episodes.
Internationally it aired in Sri Lanka dubbed into Sinhala as Swapna on Sirasa TV and in Vietnam dubbed in Vietnamese as Vợ tôi là cảnh sát on VTVCab 5 Echannel, although the ending was altered with the family celebrating. It also airs in Afghanistan in Pashto on Lmar TV as د مینې ډيوه. On 2 January 2017 Diya Aur Baati Hum started airing also in Slovakia as Sandhya - svetlo môjho života. It also began airing on CVM Television in Jamaica on 1 May 2017, as Made For Each Other. It also began airing on TV1 in Lithuania as "Mano gyvenimo šviesa". In Indonesia, the series is dubbed in Indonesian under the title Sandya, and aired on Indosiar.
It also aired in Romania as Destine Implinite, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Bulgaria as Svetlinata Na Moya Jivot, in Estonia as Hingesugulased Macedonia, Russia as Svet Tvoey Lyubvi, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Thailand as Likhit rak ni pheux thex, Vietnam, Uganda, Nigeria, Lithuania, Georgia as Dinastia, Cambodia as Veasna Kon Brosa Srey, Indonesia and Pakistan and was watched by more than 148 million viewers worldwide.

Remakes

The series was remade in other languages in India in
However the Bengali, Marathi and Kannada versions were stopped after 992, 377 and 700+ episodes, while the Malayalam version has completed 1,524 episodes which was more than the original version on Asianet. It was one of the top rated and longest ran serial on Malayalam Television and received lot of Awards and appreciation.

Sequel series

Owing its popularity, the creators of the show launched a sequel series named Tu Sooraj Main Saanjh, Piyaji with the leads Anas Rashid and Deepika Singh not being part of it. It starred Rhea Sharma as Kanak, the grown up daughter of Sooraj and Sandhya and Avinesh Rekhi as Uma Shankar. It begun airing from 3 April 2017 and ended on 1 June 2018 with 365 episodes.

Awards and nominations

Big Star young entertainer award 2012--
Super hit TV starDeepika Singh

Kalakar Awards 2013-
Best TV serialDiya aur baati hum

Guild Awards 2013-
Best Drama SeriesDiya aur baati hum

Big Star Entertainment Awards-
Best TV Show 2013Diya aur baati Hum
Best TV Show 2014Diya aur Baati hum

Zee Rishtay Awards 2014-
Most Watched ShowDiya aur Baati Hum

Cinemascapes Awards-
Best General Entertainment TV ShowDiya aur Baati hum

Awarded by UP Government-
Achievement in Acting ProfessionAnas Rashid

E24 Viewers Choice Awards--
2012Best SonAnas Rashid
2013Best SonAnas Rashid
2014Best DaughterinlawDeepika Singh
2014Best MotherinLawNeelu Vaghela

Garv Indian TV Awards--
2014Best Title SongDiya aur baati hum
2014Gr8 Face FemaleDeepika Singh
2014SPL MentionDiya aur baati hum
2015Best EditingSameer Gandhi for Diya aur Baati hum
2015Votice Show choice With Social MessageDiya aur Baati hum

Indian Iconic Awards 2017-
Best TV ActorAnas Rashid