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 completing 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 Rathi (Deepika Singh G.) whose ambition is to become an IPS officer, achieves it with the help of her husband Sooraj (Anas Rashid) 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 her parents 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 Raj Kumar, 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 learn 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 enacts her own death in a train accident. The family presumes 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 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 about his birth parents but hates them for giving him away. Four terrorists kill Ankur and Ankita and also take the residents of the Rathis' neighborhood hostage, including them. Sandhya and Sooraj bravely rescue the civilians.

Upon seeing his parents' selflessness 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 the river before exploding. Sandhya's mangal sutra and Sooraj's chain becomes entangled in the water before the setting Sun, highlighting that even death cannot separate them.

 

Main Cast

·         Deepika Singh as IPS Sandhya Rathi: Kanchan and Arvind's daughter; Ankur's younger sister; Sooraj's wife; Ved, Vansh and Kanak's mother. (2011–16) (Dead)

·         Anas Rashid as Sooraj Rathi: Santosh and Arun's elder son; Vikram, Mohit, Chavvi's brother; Sandhya's husband; Ved, Vansh and Kanak's father. (2011–16) (Dead)

Recurring

·         Neelu Vaghela as Santosh Rathi (Bhabo): Arun's wife; Sooraj, Vikram, Mohit, and Chhavi's mother, Ved, Vansh's and Kanak's Grandmother. (2011–16)

·         Ashok Lokhande as Arun Rathi (Bhabasa): Santosh's husband; Sooraj, Vikram, Mohit, and Chhavi's father, Ved, Vansh's and Kanak's Grandfather. (2011–16)

·         Gautam Gulati/Karan Goddwani as Vikram Rathi: Santosh and Arun's second son; Meenakshi's husband; Mishri and Golu's father (2011–14)/(2014–2016)

·         Kanika Maheshwari as Meenakshi Rathi (Meena): Vikram's wife; Mishri and Golu's mother (2011–16)

·         Varun Jain as Mohit Arun Rathi: Santosh and Arun's youngest son; Emily's husband; Pari's father (2011–15) Dead

·         Sehrish Ali as Chhavi Arun Rathi: Santosh and Arun's daughter; Dilip's divorced wife (2011–16)

·         Aryan Sharma as Young Aryan Rathi (Chotu) (2011–15)

·         Rashmi Pitre as Chaturi: Rathi family's household help (2011–14, 2016)

·         Varun Khandelwal as Ankur Arvind Kothari: Kanchan and Arvind's son; Sandhya's elder brother; Ankita's husband (2011–16) (Dead)

·         Urmila Nimbalkar/Shubha Uplopwar/Unknown as Ankita Ankur Kothari: Ankur's wife; Bulbul's mother (2011–13)/(2014–15)/(2016) (Dead)

·         Rakesh Kukreti as Arvind Kothari: Ankur and Sandhya's father (2011) (Dead)

·         Surbhi Tiwari as Kanchan Arvind Kothari: Ankur and Sandhya's mother (2011) (Dead)

·         Urmila Sharma as Daisaa: Rathi's neighbor (2011–16)

·         Kanishka soni as Kavita: Daisaa's daughter in law (2011–16)

·         Ruchi Savarn as Preeti (2011)

·         Nupur Alankar as Kisna (2011)

·         Helly Shah as Shruti (2011)

·         Kiran Bhargava as Malti Agarwal: Owner of the night college where Sandhya studied (2012)

·         Unknown as Sudha: Meenakshi's younger sister (2012–14)

·         Ragini Shah as Maa Sa: Bhabasa's mother; Suraj, Vikram, Om, Mohit and Chhavi's grandmother (2012, 2013, 2016)

·         Deepak Gheewala as Dado Sa: Bhabasa's father; Suraj, Vikram, Om, Mohit and Chhavi's grandfather (2012, 2013)

·         Gaurav Sharma as Rajkumar: Maya's brother; A terrorist (2012, 2014) (Dead)

·         Satyam Seth as Dilip: Chhavi's ex-husband (2013–15)

·         Pooja Singh as Emily Mohit/Om Rathi: Mohit's wife; Om's second wife; Pari's mother and Sparsh's step-mother (2013–16)

·         Pallavi Rao as Kajri (2013)

·         Eijaz Khan as Abhimanyu Singh (2013)

·         Preeti Chaudhary as Kavita Sharma (2013–14)

·         Charu Asopa as Roma Reddy (2014) (Dead)

·         Alan Kapoor as IPS Rahul Kapoor (2014)

·         Keith Sequeira as Officer Roy (2014)

·         Vindhya Tiwari as Prema (2014) (Dead)

·         Jyoti Sharma as Disha (2014) (Dead)

·         Gurdeep Kohli as Maya/Baijii: Rajkumar's sister; The terrorist leader who hijacks the plane. (2014) (Dead)

·         Arjun Punj as IPS Arjun Chaudhary (2014)

·         Sonam Lamba as Shalu: One of the passengers in the hijacked plane (2014)

·         Manini Mishra as Officer Agrima Singh (2014–15)

·         Neil Bhatt as IPS Zakir Siddiqui (2014–15)

·         Lavneet Rajput as Young Bulbul Kothari: Ankur and Ankita's daughter. (2014–15)^[9]

·         Devyansh Tapuriah as Ved Rathi: One of the Sandhya and Sooraj's twin son; Vansh and Kanak's elder brother. (2015–16)

·         Ricky Patel as Vansh Ankur Kothari / Vansh Sooraj Rathi. (2015–16)

·         Reem Sheikh as Mishri Vikram Rathi: Meenakshi and Vikram's daughter; Golu's elder sister (2015–16)

·         Sadhil Kapoor/Kiran Mohnani as Golu Rathi: Vikram and Meenakshi's son; Mishri's younger brother (2015)/(2016)

·         Drisha Kalyani as Pari Rathi: Mohit and Emily's daughter (2015–16)

·         Randeep Rai/Kunal Khosla as Adult Aryan Rathi (Chotu): Rathi's adoptive son; Arzoo's husband (2015)/(2016)

·         Shivshakti Sachdev as Bulbul Kothari: Ankur and Ankita's daughter (2015)^[9]

·         Rituraj Singh as Mahendra Singh: Kabaddi Coach of Sooraj and his team (2015)

·         Ridhi Dogra as Kabaddi Coach Aditi (2015)

·         Jignesh Mehta as Avinash: One of the players in Sooraj's Kabbadi team (2015)

·         Vicky Arora as Ratan: One of the players in Sooraj's Kabaddi team (2015)

·         Banty Chopra as Lakhan: One of the players in Sooraj's Kabaddi team (2015)

·         Sandeep Nahar as Babban: One of the players in Sooraj's Kabaddi team (2015)

·         Arun Singh Rana as Prem: Sooraj's Kabaddi Team Captain (2015)

·         Aadesh Chaudhary as Chandrashekhar: Leader of terrorist group Garjana Sangh (Chandu) (2015) (Dead)

·         Bharat Singh Jadon as Ashok (2015–2016)

·         Amit Dolawat as Himanshu Dubey: Manjari's son (2015) Dead

·         Ekta Tiwari as Devi Narayani (2015)

·         Vaishali Thakkar as Manjari: Himanshu's mother (2015) Dead

·         Shalini Arora as Yashoda (2015)

·         Shefali Sharma as Laalima Agarwal: Lokesh's sister (2015–16)

·         Akshay Batchu as Lokesh Agarwal: Laalima's brother (2015–16)

·         Sarwar Ahuja as IPS Satyadev Tripathi: Head investigator of Mohit's murder case (2015–16)

·         Prachi Tehlan as Arzoo Rathi: Aryan's wife.(2016)

·         Joyoshree Arora as Resham: Arzoo's grandmother. (2016)

·         Rukhsar Rehman as Mehak (2016)

·         Deepraj Rana as Gul Mohammad (2016)

·         Abhinav Shukla as Om Rathi: Suraj's cousin, Poorvi's ex-husband; Emily's second husband, Sparsh's father, Pari's step-father. (2016)

·         Pooja Sharma as Poorvi Om Rathi: Om's ex-wife and Sparsh's mother. (2016)

·         Rishina Kandhari as Arpita Khanna: Sandhya's co-officer (2016)

·         Anshul Trivedi as Amit (2016)

·         Vishal Jethwa as Chhota Packet: The leader of the terrorist group who subjugate Hanuman street (2016)

·         Akhil Kataria as PP (2016)

·         Ashish Chowdary as Jimmy (2016)

·         Unknown as Rocky (2016)