Akshara and Naitik, both from large Marwari joint families based in Udaipur get married. Soon, their son, Naksh is born. Naitik falls into a coma due to an accident.
4 years later
Akshara starts working in the family business. Naitik recovers from the coma and struggles to bond with a mischievous Naksh. Naitik's mother Gayatri dies after falling off a cliff post. Rashmi gives birth to a daughter and names her Gayatri. Akshara and Naitik's daughter Naira is born. Mahendra dies and Kaveri blames Akshara for it and disowns her. Akshara and Naitik move out with their children.
10 years later
Akshara and Naitik have relocated to Cape Town along with Naksh and Naira. Naksh returns to Udaipur and convinces Kaveri to forgive an innocent Akshara. Eventually, the family is reunited. Naira misunderstands that Akshara holds her responsible for her friend Sukanya's death and flees from Udaipur in fear of being arrested.
7 years later
Naira lives in an orphanage in Rishikesh. Akshara finds her, brings her back and eventually they reconcile. Akshara dies by falling off a cliff. Kartik and Naira get married. Shubham dies of a drug overdose and Naira is blamed for hiding his drug addiction. She leaves the house.
2 years later
Kartik realises his mistake and unites with her. Naira learns about her pregnancy but Kartik questions Naira about her relationship with Mihir. Naira moves out without informing her pregnancy and is presumed dead.
5 years later
Kartik learns that Naira is alive and Kairav is their son and reconcile. Later, Akshara, their daughter is born. Naira falls off a cliff and dies. Soon, Kairav meets Sirat; Naira's lookalike, and think she has returned. For him, Kartik brings Sirat to his house. She marries him and Aarohi, their daughter is born. Kartik dies in a plane crash. Sirat also dies.
20 years later
Akshara is a singer while Dr. Abhimanyu is a practicing surgeon. Both get married. Anisha and Kairav's marriage is fixed but he gets to know about her affair with a married man. Scared, she commits suicide for which Kairav is blamed.
1 year later
Akshara and Kairav live in Mauritius. They return to India and latter is proven innocent. Neil and Aarohi also get married. Akshara and Aarohi become pregnant. Akshara and Neil try to rescue some girls from goons resulting in his death, for which she is blamed and leaves. She is helped by Abhinav whom she marries.
6 years later
Akshara lives with her son, Abhir and Abhinav. Abhimanyu learns that Abhir is his son. Abhinav dies on his birthday. Akshara and Abhimanyu decide to marry for Abhir, who is in depression now. Akshara is pregnant with Abhinav's child. Aarohi dies due to Akshara's mistake. Abhimanyu and Abhir too die in an accident.
22 years later
Akshara lives with Abhira. Soon Armaan and Ruhi falls for each other. Abhira is being troubled by her stalker Yuvraaj who intends to marry her. Ruhi gets heartbroken after Armaan fails to reach her due to case hearings of Yuvraaj and gets ready to marry his half-brother Rohit. Yuvraaj forcefully tries to marry Abhira by keeping Akshara as hostage. Armaan saves her but Akshara gets a shot and asks him to marry Abhira to save her, and dies. Poddars starts harassing Abhira post her entry in Poddar house and she struggles to continue her studies while Rohit leaves home and is persumed dead after learning about Armaan and Ruhi's affair before marriage and latter starts getting jealous of Armaan and Abhira's married life.
Filming of the show began on 11 September 2008.[11] It was launched at Rambagh Palace in Jaipur, Rajasthan. In January 2009, the series was promoted through a campaign at six main cities by StarPlus along with Jagran Solutions. A contest was held in the country among over 1000 married couples out of which fifty of them were selected through events like quizzes and on air test on radios. They were made to remarry with the rituals along with the games and events held in Rambagh Palace.[12]
In January 2010, a sequence was shot without any dialogue, with only background music used during dramatic scenes when the Singhania family learn that the character Akshara motivates the love between her sister in law Nandhini and Naitik's friend Mohit, against them.[13]
In January 2013, Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai was sent notice by channel for its ending due to decreasing ratings. However it received extension until June 2013 while the ratings rose and the decision of ending was dropped.[14] Besides, twice again it received notice for ending but soon when the ratings increased after it, the plan was dropped and the series continued.
During November 2014, lead Hina Khan could not attend shooting for a few days due to her other work schedules and the track was altered for her absence.[15] In December 2014, a scene where characters Naman and Karishma kiss was cut from the broadcast to avoid offending the show's audience.[16]
The show took its first leap of 4 years on 30 November 2012 after the car accident of Naitik as he slips into a coma.[17] It then took a leap of 10 years on 30 March 2015 after Kaveri banished Akshara from the house owing to Mahendra Pratap's death.[18] Then a leap of some years was taken on 16 May 2016 after teenage Naira running away from her home fearing imprisonment.[19] Another leap of 2 years was taken on 21 May 2018 after Shubam's death as Swarna ousts her.[20] It took a leap of 5 years on 7 June 2019 after Naira leaves the Goenka house on Kartik's misconception about her.[21] On 18 October 2021, The show took a leap of 8 years where Sirat was shown a single mother to Aarohi and Akshara while Kartik was abroad to drop teenaged Kairav and Vansh to hostels. On 27 October 2021, a leap of 12 years was taken after Kartik and Sirat's deaths and the story started focussing on Abhimanyu and grown up Akshara and Aarohi. On 25 August 2022, the show took a leap of 1 year where Akshara was helping Dr. Kunal's sister, Maya, and was living away from her family and Abhimanyu.[22] On 6 January 2023, show took another leap of 6 years and it was shown that while Akshara is raising her son Abhir after legally marrying Abhinav in Kasauli and Aarohi is raising her and Neil's daughter Ruhi as a single mother post Neil's death with Abhimanyu fulfilling her fatherly responsibilities.[23] On 6 November 2023, show took a leap of 22 years after Aarohi, Abhimanyu and Abhir's deaths and started focussing on Akshara's daughter, Abhira, Armaan and grown up Ruhi.[10]
The 10 year leap in March 2015 was slightly delayed as the casting of adult Naksh was not finalised. Producers auditioned over 200 people before choosing Rohan Mehra.[24] In April 2016, both Hina Khan and Karan Mehra refused to play the role as in-laws after the on-going wedding track of their onscreen son Naksh and Tara. Thus, the track was altered such that the wedding was called off.[25]
During January 2017, at the filming of pre-wedding sequences of the lead characters Naira and Kartik, fire broke out on the sets due to a short circuit.[26] Common people were auditioned at Delhi during 4 and 5 February 2017 and cast for Baraati in Naira and Kartik's wedding.[27]
In August 2017, the wedding dress of the character Keerti, for her and Naksh's marriage sequence, was designed by Bollywood fashion designer Neeta Lulla.[28]
Pankhuri Awasthy was cast in June 2019 as Vedika, whose role was supposed to be for three months.[29] However, with the increased ratings, becoming most watched Hindi GEC for few weeks in urban, her role was extended with her exit in January 2020 while in between she took a break in October and re-entered in November 2019.[29][30]
Speaking about Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai's success producer Rajan Shahi said, "Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai doing well is something we have to strive for each and every day. When a show completes this number of episodes, it becomes a challenge as to how to sustain the show. There are so many topics to choose from and there are so many relationships, so that becomes a major challenge, to keep the freshness alive. Drama, intrigue, etc is just a part of storytelling but to still keep the essence alive that is the challenge, it is always a day to day battle".[31] He also quoted that the elaborate festival celebrations shown is the strength of the series.[32]
Speaking about the introduction of transition in the story from Akshara and Naitik to Naira and Kartik, Shahi said, "We were losing out on the young audience when things were going sweet between (original protagonists) Akshara and Naitik. With the introduction of Kartik and Naira -- a couple that is imperfect, makes mistake and learns from the mistakes -- the audience again found a connection with the on-screen characters. That is how our show has stood strong against the test of time".[33] In May 2017 Shahi stated:
"With due respect to both the actors, it is a fact that after Karan left, we could consolidate our position and the TRPs actually increased. After Hina's exit too, the show has grown. This is not to say that they did not contribute to the show, but we were not able to shoot when those two were a part of the show as they had so much baggage. There were just two-three hours of shooting with the lead actors. Now, even if we are given a choice, the writers wouldn't want Akshara back".[34]
For his above statement both Khan and Mehra expressed their displeasure where Khan stated:
"During that time, he went on record to praise both of us for our dedication and professionalism. And honestly, we were probably the only lead pair on television who continued to be with the show for eight consecutive years. Despite the work pressure, disagreements and other work opportunities, we continued to stay loyal to the show and supported the producer. But now that we are not doing the show, he's very conveniently contradicting his own statements".
Mehra stated:
"If he is saying that I worked for two-three hours, he is referring to someone else because my attendance register is the proof. Also, I gave my notice period in advance. I don't know who he has a grudge against and why is he saying it now? I was thanked by the channel and Rajan sir when I quit, so I don't understand how this has emerged now".[34]
In May 2022, actress Pranali Rathod worn a bridal lehenga worth ₹2.5 Lacs approximately for Akshara and Abhimanyu's wedding sequence, the costliest lehenga ever worn by any YRKKH actress.[5] It was also reported that the whole wedding sequence which was shot in Samode Palace of Jaipur costed a budget around ₹2 Crores including whole cast's stay and special Rajasthani traditional costumes, the highest ever budget spent on marriage sequence of any Indian television series.[35]
Hina Khan was cast to play Akshara Singhania, making her acting debut.[36] Khan stated that she knew nothing about acting while signing the series quoting, "I didn't learn acting from anywhere. I think it's because of luck that I landed up in TV. Even after that I had to do a lot of hard work. It was more difficult for me when I began acting and straight away I had to perform. I never got to learn".[37]Karan Tacker was initially roped for the role of Naitik, but was replaced by Karan Mehra a day before the promo shoot as Tacker became skeptical.[38] Speaking about it producer Rajan Shahi said, "Karan refused to be a part of the show a day and a half prior to shooting the promo. I needed to hunt for a new face on immediate basis. I accidentally met Karan Mehra, a real life replica of my fictitious character Naitik".[39]
In June 2016, Mehra quit the show, because of health issues.[40] Two sequences were shot before his exit: one was his death track and other was his kidnap track and decision was made to take the story with the kidnapping track.[41] Then, he was replaced by Vishal Singh in August 2016, making his entry with the kidnapping sequence in Switzerland.[42][43] In November 2016, Hina Khan quit as her character became monotonous for her and she was shown killed in a car accident.[44]Shivangi Joshi playing Naira and Mohsin Khan playing Kartik, who entered in May 2016, became the leads as the story focused on their journey.[8]
In 2012, Sanjay Gandhi playing Mahendra quit due to the issues between him and his co-actors Sonali Verma and Sandeep Mehta who was then replaced by Abhijit Lahiri.[45] The latter also quit after the death of his character in March 2015. In 2012, Urmila Sharma was replaced by Sunitha Rao as Rukmini.[46][47] In September 2013, Ather Habib playing Shaurya quit as he felt nothing more was there to explore in his character and was replaced by Yash Gera.[48] Gera also quit in 2017 due to the same reason as that of Habib.[49] He was replaced by Sameer Sharma in the spin-off series during March 2019.[50] In December 2013, Sonali Verma quit her role as Gayathri Singhania, because Verma planned to get married and move to the United States. Her character was killed after a fall from a cliff.[51]
In 2015, Aman Sharma playing Anshuman quit as he wanted to search for better opportunities and was replaced by Dheeraj Gumbar who also quit in mid 2016.[52]
In 2015, Ayush Agarwal quit due to personal reasons and was replaced by Shamik Abbas. In May 2016, Umang Jain playing Nayantara and her on-screen family members quit as the story started to focus on other tracks after the cancellation of her and Naksh's wedding in the show after Hina Khan playing Akshara refused to play the role of a mother-in-law.[53]
In September 2016, Rohan Mehra playing Naksh quit to participate in Bigg Boss and was replaced by Rishi Dev.[54] Dev also quit in December 2018 as he wished to focus on his YouTube channel and was replaced by Shehzad Shaikh.[55][56] In September 2017, Kanchi Singh playing Gayatri Deora quit as her character was sidelined and was replaced by Deblina Chatterjee in November 2018.[57][58]
Anshul Pandey playing Naman quit in October 2016 who was replaced by Jay Pathak in the spin-off series during March 2019.[59] In January 2018, Priyanka Udhwani playing Karishma quit as nothing was left for her character.[60] In July 2018, Vaishnavi Rao was cast as Mansi which was earlier played by Shreya Sharma as the makers considered the former better for the role.[61] Shirin Sewani who was last seen in November 2018 playing Jasmeet in this series was replaced by Soniya Kaur in the spin-off series in March 2019.[62]
Parul Chauhan quit in April 2019 as she did not want to play a grandmother and was replaced by Niyati Joshi as Swarna.[63][64] As the story was about to take a leap, in May 2019, Mohena Singh playing Keerti quit after getting married, and was replaced by Harsha Khandeparkar in August 2020.[65][66]Deblina Chatterjee playing Gayatri quit as she was not interested in playing a mother, and was replaced by Simran Khanna.[67][68] Sreshth Saxena and Shubh Saxena also quit due to the leap as their characters need to be shown as grown up teenagers.[69] Shaurya Shah, who entered in June 2019 as Kairav, quit the following month due to health issues, and was immediately replaced by Tanmay Rishi.[70][71]
In January 2020, Anmol Jyotir who played teenage Nishanth Maheshwari until 2017 was cast along with his real life twin Apoorva Jyotir to play teenage Kush and Luv.[72] As a result of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, actors younger than ten years of age were prohibited from performing on set, so when shooting resumed in June 2020, Tanmay Rishi Shah and Maaz Champ shot their sequences from home.[73] However, due to the requirement of characters Kairav and Vansh on the sets, they were replaced by Aarambh Trehan Sehgal and Siddharth Dubey in October 2020.[74] Actress Vrushika Mehta was cast to do a cameo Dr. Riddhima in November 2020 and completed her sequences in December 2020.[75]
In October 2021, Mohsin Khan playing Kartik left the show as well as child actors Aarambh Trehan Sehgal and Siddharth Dubey.[76]Shivangi Joshi playing Sirat and actresses Shilpa Raizada and Simran Khanna playing Surekha and Gayatri respectively left the show after the 8 year leap sequence post the next generation leap, Pranali Rathod was cast to play Akshara Goenka and Harshad Chopda was cast to play Dr. Abhimanyu Birla. About her role, Rathod said "I relate to the character so much that I instantly fell in love with the way it has been written. Also, in real life, I'm free-spirited just like Akshara". Karishma Sawant was cast as Aarohi Goenka, making her acting debut. Mayank Arora and Sharan Anandani played Kairav Goenka and Vansh Goenka post the generation leap. Ami Trivedi was cast as Manjari Birla and Paras Priyadarshan as Neil Birla. Vinay Jain, Pragati Mehra and Ashish Nayyar were cast as Dr. Harshvardhan Birla, Dr. Mahima Birla and Dr. Anandvardhan Birla.[77] Neeraj Goswami, Niharika Chouksey and Sehrish Ali were cast to play Parth Birla, Nishtha Birla and Shefali Birla. However Ali was replaced by actress Nisha Nagpal days after introduction of the third generation.[78]
In February 2022, Kashish Rai joined the cast as Anand and Mahima's elder daughter Anisha Birla,[79] and she quit the following month. But she returned and permanently left the series in August 2022 through her character's death.[80]
In June 2022, Niharika Chouksey portraying Nishtha Birla quit the series quoting, "I waited for six months but there was nothing for me to do in the show".[81] In August 2022, Mrunal Jain was cast to play Dr. Kunal Khera.[82] Actress Navika Kotia, who previously played Prerna Singhania from 2013 to 2014 joined the cast again in August 2022 to play a new character Maya Khera.[83]
In December 2022, Sharan Anandani playing Vansh Goenka quit the series and said, "My character never had any growth since long and was unhappy with tracks as I can't remain silent actor standing in background at this stage of my career".[84][85] In the same month, Paras Priyadarshan who portrayed Neil Birla quit the series as "he didn't wanted to play role of a father owing to the following leap in the show".[86]Jay Soni entered the show as Abhinav Sharma.[87] Mayank Arora who portrayed Kairav Goenka quit the series as "he wished to explore more as an actor and felt that now he should bid adeau to Kairav".[88] Following the pre-leap exists child actors Shreyansh Kaurav and Hera Mishra were cast to play Akshara's son Abhir Birla and Aarohi's daughter Ruhi Birla respectively for post-leap sequences in January 2023.[89] In the same month actor Abeer Singh Godhwani replaced Mayank as Kairav Goenka[90] while actress Shambhavi Singh was cast opposite him as Muskan.[91]
In late February 2023 actress Saee Barve entered the series as Surekha Goenka which was previously played by actress Shilpa Raizada from 2016 to 2021.[92]
Due to upcoming leap Karishma Sawant, Harshad Chopda and Shreyansh Kaurav portraying Aarohi, Abhimanyu and Abhir left the series in October 2023 with storyline showing their deaths[93][94] while Pranali Rathod and Hera Mishra were replaced by Preeti Amin and Pratiksha Honmukhe as old Akshara and grown-up Ruhi respectively. However the former completed her part in December 2023 with storyline showcasing Akshara's death.[95][96] Subsequently Samridhii Shukla and Shehzada Dhami were cast to play leads Abhira Sharma and Armaan Poddar.[10] Shivam Khajuria too joined as Rohit Poddar opposite Honmukhe[97] while Anita Raj, Shruti Ulfat and Sandeep Rajora were cast as Armaan's grandmother and parents respectively.[98][99]Swati Chitnis who portrayed Suhasini Ajmera Goenka since 2016 too exited the series in same month after playing her role for seven years while whole cast of the Birla family too exited the series as leap continued with the Goenkas.[100][101]
Filming
The series is mainly filmed in the Film City at Goregaon in Mumbai.[102] As the story is based in Udaipur of Rajasthan, some scenes were filmed there.[103][104] In December 2013, a sequence was shot at Wai.[105] Sequences were also filmed in Rishikesh during 2016 and March 2018.[106][107] In March 2017, the wedding track of Kartik and Naira was filmed in Bikaner, Rajasthan.[108]
The show as also filmed in various foreign locations including Bangkok in 2014, Cape Town in 2015, Hong Kong in 2015, Switzerland in 2016 and Greece in 2017.[109][110][111][112][113]
On 13 April 2021, Maharashtra's Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray announced a sudden curfew due to increased Covid cases in Maharashtra, while the production halted from 14 April 2021 and the production and filming location was soon shifted temporarily from Mumbai to Silvassa along with other shows Anupamaa, Aai Kuthe Kay Karte and Mann Kee Awaaz Pratigya 2 of the same production house.[114] After two months of shooting in Silvassa, the team shifted back to Film City, Mumbai on 10 June 2021.[115]
In October 2021, the team flew to Udaipur to shoot initial episodes after the generation leap including introduction sequences.[116]
In April 2022 to May 2022, the team flew to Jaipur to shoot Abhimanyu and Akshara's wedding sequence.[117]
Broadcast
The series which was in a continuous production since its premiere was halted indefinitely in March 2020.[118] Owing COVID-19 outbreak in India, the filming of the television series and films were halted on 19 March 2020, expected to resume the works from 1 April 2020 and the series airing was halted on 25 March 2020 after the bank episodes got over.[119][120] However, later on imposing the nationwide lockdown, which was extending with the increasing cases, filming could not be resumed since March end.[121] After three months, the shooting of the series resumed on 26 June 2020 and airing resumed from 13 July 2020.[122][123]
The production once again halted on 24 August 2020 when the cast Sachin Tyagi, Swati Chitnis and Samir Onkar along with four crew members were tested positive for the COVID-19 virus and resumed with others on 28 August 2020.[124][125][126] Since 2 October 2022, it is broadcast daily along with other Star Plus's shows.[127]
In 2019, On Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai's completion of 10 years, a spin-off series, Yeh Rishtey Hain Pyaar Ke, premiered on 18 March 2019 starring Rhea Sharma and Shaheer Sheikh.[128] The series portrayed the life of Naman and Karishma's daughter and Naira's younger step cousin Mishti, portrayed by Sharma alongside Abir portrayed by Sheikh.[129]
Crossovers
Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai has had several crossover episodes with various shows. They are as follows:
From 26 March 2022 to 28 March 2022, Anupamaa from Anupamaa, attended Akshara and Abhimanyu's engagement.[134][135]
Broadcast
From 2011 to 2015, the show was dubbed as Uravugal Thorarkadhai in Tamil on Star Vijay and as Pellante Noorella Panta in Telugu on Star Maa, both being discontinued after airing more than 1000 episodes.[136][137][138] In 2017, the show was dubbed in Malayalam under the title Akkareyanente Maanasam 2 on Asianet Plus[139] and also in Tamil as Uravugal Thodarkadhai 2 on Star Vijay Super[140] from episode 2075, but were discontinued within few months.
Television specials
Rishton Ka Utsav (2018)
A special segment named Rishton Ka Utsav[141] aired from 26 November 2018 to 5 December 2018 where Kartik and Naira organize a unique festival which brings all generations with most of the family members of the show through all these years come together and celebrate their reunion.[142] This segment also marked the entry of Deblina Chatterjee as Gayatri Deora replacing Kanchi Singh who quit the show in 2017.[58]
The cast of Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai participated as a team in the musical game show Ravivaar With Star Parivaar.[143] It competed with the teams of other Star Plus's shows.[144]Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai emerged as the winner of the show winning the trophy and a prize money of 10 lac rupees.[145]
Reception
Critical reception
Shoma Munshi in their book Prime Time Soap Operas on Indian Television said the show has "simplicity and highly emotional content" and was noted for placing female characters in the historical tradition of a large joint family.[146]
The Indian Express stated, "Simple story, simple treatment, easy pace, small tiffs, grouse, grief, happiness, sadness, celebrations, rituals, customs but no melodrama and no scheming and plotting....that's every day life beautifully captured and which pleases eyes, ears and other senses. Not that it has not resorted to TRP gimmicks like misunderstanding, pregnancy and miscarriage to come out of its lows, but the show has chronicled post-marriage journey of an arranged married couple quite well".[147] They also quoted, "There is a sense of positivity and reality in the show, that no other serial offers on the small screen".[148]
Praising the two shows Bidaii and Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai of Rajan Shahi's Director's Kut Production as game changers of Starplus which do not have excessive camera moves and mother in law - daughter in law melodramas unlike previously aired dramas, The Times of India stated, "The shows adequately highlighted the quintessential emotions with loads of romanticism and simplicity in story-telling".[149]
Speaking on the success of the series, The New Indian Express said, "Like most successful television series in our country, "Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai" has always banked heavily on the great Indian family. However, the show, along with its cast, has changed over the decade, to accommodate changing times. Perhaps that is where the winning formula lies—in retaining its old core values in an ever-changing set-up".[150]
Impact
This Hindi soap is the fourth longest-running Indian television soap opera.[151] It was the first Hindi show to cross 2,500 episodes.[152] It completed 3,000 episodes on 11 September 2019 creating a history in the Indian television.[148] On 1 September 2021, It completed 3500 episodes.[153] On 4 March 2023, It completed 4000 episodes successfully.
Hina participated in the 'Power of 49' campaign, in which soap opera actors used their influence to urge women to vote.[154]
Khan was paid with ₹1to 1.25 Lacks per episode as of in 2015 and 2016 making her one of the highest paid Indian television actress.[155][156]
In 2020, it became the third most tweeted Indian television show on Twitter.[157]
Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai's soundtrack has been composed by Navin Tripathi and Manish Tripathi. The lyrics are penned by Manish Tripathi. The title track "Haan Koi Chori Chori" has been sung by Navin Tripathi and Alka Yagnik.
