Balika Vadhu 1500 Episodes Completion Celebration

...The initial thought process...

One single person who desperately wanted to tell this story and had conceived it 12 long years back; having actually written it as a 26 episode serial for Doordarshan. For him, child-marriage was an everyday occurrence happening regularly in his backyard. The person is Purnendu Shekhar.

Purnendu Shekhar had been bothered by the institution of child-marriage from his journalistic days in Jaipur. When he read newspaper stories reporting instances of child-marriages, he asked a question - Why? It bothered him to see ministers gracing the ceremonies of Aakha Teej (Akshay Triteeya in Rajasthan), a day of such good muhurat that thousands of minors, from teenagers to infants, are married off by their parents. He was inspired to write about it and his inspiration was his own family.

...Taking shape...

"I had written the script way back in 1992 but it didn't have any takers till Ashwini Yardi came looking for a hatke script for Colors. So, I narrated the story to her. She was initially shocked by the fact that child marriages are still rampant in India but after she said yes, there was no looking back for Anandi's story, which was initially rejected by a couple of people on the ground that it's DD stuff," he recalled.

According to him, it was the story of his mother, who got married at 15 that inspired him to write. "The story is loosely based on my mom and a family friend, who deserted his child-bride, once he went off to Ahmedabad to pursue his medical studies. So, to build a story, there needs to be a certain degree of realism. It's not just basing a story in any state that will make a serial a hit. It's the content that is still the king,"

...Emerged as "Path Breaking Show"...

It was an experiment doomed to failure - or so thought the entire TV Industry in Mumbai. A new channel was coming up with a show which wasn't a saas-bahu saga, or a fast-paced crime thriller, or even a side-splitting sitcom; but a serial set in some far-flung village of Rajasthan with a 12 year old naive girl as its protagonist and which had as its base, a subject as serious as child-marriage. The show? Balika Vadhu , a trendsetting serial which went on not only to establish a channel, but also broke all records till date. Starting its journey from 21th July 2008, it completed the 1500th episode on 6th February 2014.

An age old tradition of "Bal Vivaah" and the regressive outlook of elders brought these two innocent lives, together, binding them with a holy bond of matrimony, at an age where they could not even understand the meaning of marriage.

The sprightly little girl, all of a sudden found herself caught in a golden cage which clipped and clamped her wings, and there the saga of a "Balika Vadhu" began. At her tender age, she had to take on the responsibilities of a dutiful "beendni" under the task master , the family matriarch Dadi Saa.

Having found solace in the tender loving care of her " Bapu Sa" and "Maa" in her "Sasra", and a friend in her beend' Jagdish, Anandi adapted herself to an environment which is devoid of every child's simple desires of school, studies, dolls and friends. Anandi and Jagdish, had their share of childish fights, making up's at the very next moment, natural for friendships at that tender age which is nothing but innocence.

Anandi's compassionate nature coupled with rebellion for regressive age old traditions was highlighted in her friendship with the child widow Phooli'. The innate selfless nature and her will to go to any extent for the sake of her dear ones was reflected on that day itself, at such young age, when she took a bullet head on to save the life of Jagdish.

Anandi's and Jagdish's bond of friendship prevailed over every other bond they were un naturally made to share. Whether they could do justice to the bond of matrimony that was created between them, only time could tell...but for sure, their friendship is here to stay.

And that is the beginning as well, for many more strong bonds of tender years - Kache Umar ke Pakke Rishte !!!

Jagya met Gauri, they became friends soon their friendship became love soon and this caused a rift in Anandi and Jagya's life. Few years later Gauri and Jagya became doctors , Gauri came to know the truth about Jagya's married life. Gauri was the girl whom Jagya got married when they was young due to Anandi's poor health.

After coming to know the truth Gauri planned to take revenge from Jagya's family she was also greedy for Jagya's wealth. Jagya and Gauri got married but no one in Jagya's family accepted their relationship . Jagya's family took Anandi's side and supported and encouraged her and made her the sarpanch of Jaitsar . Jagya's family planned for the remarriage of Anandi and they decided to get Anandi divorce from Jagya. They both got divorced and their married life came to an end. Gauri's badepapa revealed the truth about Gauri. After knowing her bad deeds Jagya left Gauri.

Actors:- Sriti Jha (Ganga), Shashank Vyas (Jagya)

After she ran away from her abusive husband Ratan, Jagya took Ganga home to his family where she lived, thrived, and got an education with his help, but along the way, fell in love with her "Dr Sa", who bonded with her over her precious son Mannu. Jagya helped Ganga find her path in life, and she helped him move on from his heartbreak with Anandi & Gauri.

Their bond was innocent, and it was clear that both were incredibly compatible to each other. Jagya fought Ratan Singh for Ganga, and at times even his own family, and Ganga too helped save his life when he was close to death. The two had depth in their relationship and trusted each other, and they had an uncanny way of saying everything to each other through their eyes, without speaking a single word.

Fate, however, had something else in store as Ganga had to leave for Mangalore to do her nursing course, and losing her took its toll on Jagya, and he realized he was madly in love with her. Jagya too was caught up in a mismatched relation with Anandi's SIL, Sanchi, and having nothing in common with her, he was immensely unhappy. Jagya found out from his friend Lal Singh that Ganga had feelings for him, and soon after he finally broke free from these shackles and left for Mangalore, defying his family. There he saved Ganga from trouble in jail and brought her back to Jaitser, confessed his love to her and inadvertently married her in front of both the Singhs & Shekars. This sudden marriage led to distress for both families, but finally all got settled and Ganga was accepted as the Singh's bahu, and JaGan returned home to the Badi Haveli with Mannu. With nothing holding them back anymore, Jagya and Ganga become one and consummated their marriage, and the rest as they say is history.

But God puts another test in front of them in the form of Ganga's complicated pregnancy. A minor accident to Ganga at home makes Jagdish to get her tests done for surety that she hasn't got some serious injury but through these tests it is revealed that Ganga is not strong enough to withhold another pregnancy, due to the ill treatment she received in the hands of Ratan Singh at the time of her first pregnancy. Ganga is extremely upset getting to know of this, but Jagdish like a true life partner stands by her telling her that he is happy with Mannu, whom he considers his own child.

But destiny had different plans as Ganga soon finds out that she is pregnant and her unconditional love for Dadisaa makes her to continue her pregnancy as Dadisaa wishes for Jagdish's child. She succeeds in hiding the truth from Jagdish as well as family for first five months, ultimately, it is revealed, shocking one and all and leaving them with no option, but to continue the pregnancy. Singhs and Jagdish try their best to save Ganga's life , she herself too faces the challenge with immense courage and hope.

Evil tries to cast its shadows once again in JaGan's life to snatch their happiness. The revengeful taunts of Sanchi send Ganga to early labour. The true love , blessings and prayers of family and well wishers defend Ganga like a shield from the evil curses of Sanchi. Ganga safely delivers and JaGan are gifted with a healthy baby boy., thus proving once again that evil cannot win over goodness ever .The little bundle of joy sent from heavens above, fills JaGan's life with lot of happiness and they name their angel '' Abhimanyu''. Also, Jagdish legally adopts Mannu, giving him his name " Mahendra Jagdish Singh".

Singhs are lead by formidable matriarch Kalyani Devi(Surekha Sikri) who in turn is ruled by age old customs and traditions and she is a product of the system that placed customs above everything else. She believed that upholding the traditions customs at all costs is her primary responsible as a human being. She has two sons, Basant Singh(Satyajith Sharma) her adopted son and her younger son Bhairon Singh(Anop Soni). The older impulsive son who believes in pleasing his maasa and never questions her the younger son who is a wise man but ultimately bows down before his mother's will out of sheer love for his mother.

Because of Dsa's beliefs the family ended up paying huge prices time and again in their journey that started way back. Basant's first wife died during child birth because Dsa refused to get help for a lady who has not given any heirs to the family. Later she bought Gehna(Neha Marda) an eighteen year old girl from an impoverished family like a piece of cattle and she forced Basant to consummate his marriage by using force and Gehna was brutally assaulted every night until she became pregnant all because Dadisa wanted a child for Basant. After a lot of upheaval things settled between Basant and Gehna (now played by Nivedita Kohli ) with Badi massi helping them and now they have two children Nandakishore Singh (Sanjay Basak) and Baby Bhairavi Singh.

Bhairon and Sumitra's(Smita Bansal) daughter Suguna(Vibha Anand) was married off in childhood and ended up pregnant with her husband's child at a very young age and her husband was killed. Dsa tried to get Suguna to abort the child because of the disrepute her family would face.She also forced Suguna to adopt a harsh life of a widow. Later when Shyam(Vikrant Massey) fell in love with Suguna she relented with great reluctance. Now Shyam and Suguna have two children one of whom is from Suguna's first marriage.

Into this family came a little girl Anandi as the child bride of Jagdish, son of Sumitra and Bhairon. She is a bubbly cheerful bright and compassionate and inquisitive girl. Dadisa converted this girl into an obedient submissive wife by curtailing her activities and education.As time went by she made place for herself in the hearts of the people of Badi Haveli. She even risked her life to save Jagya and this resulted in temporary brain dysfunction and Dsa got Jagya forcibly married to Gudiya and Anandi fought for her rights and got her husband back.

Jagya and Anandi grew up.They were quite happy with each other.Then Jagya went away to do medicine in Mumbai there he fell in love with Gauri left Anandi thinking that she is not suitable to be his wife.

That's when Dsa realised what her beliefs have done to her family. Her ladesar turned against her and dumped his wife whom she has trained to become an obedient wife. She realised the damage her thoughts and actions has done to Anandi and became a pillar of support to her and helped her rebuild her life gave her freedom to do what she wanted with her life. With the help of Singhs Anandi grew from strength to strength to become the daughter of the family and did a lot of work to make their village a better place and later on the villagers made her their Sarpanch.

Dsa got Anandi divorced and found her an ideal husband in Shiv and got her married to him. Anandi is now happy in her life with her soul mate Shiv and their son Amol. Meanwhile Jagya after realising his mistakes made peace with family met Ganga a child bride found his soul mate in her and are now happily married and have a family of their own.

Dsa now actively supports women in their endeavors to better themselves and she is ably assisted by her sons. She fully embraced the thoughts and new ideas propagated by Anandi. This journey of Singhs started when new ideas and thoughts in the form a little girl entered their lives and now the seeds that were sowed way back have grown into trees that give shade and bear fruits.

Mr ShivRaj Shekhar entered in Anandi's life like a whirlwind, shattered all her self-erected barriers, fell irrevocably in love with her and finally married her with the blessings of their families. With him Anandi stepped into her new sasra KesarBagh - the ancestral home of Shekhars.

Shekhars are a family with army background, modern in attire, educated but lack farsightedness. Patriarch of the family, a retired army man Premkishor Shekhar (Sudhir Pandey), Anandi's GFIL is a happy go lucky man but needs firmness to handle crisis in the family. He supports Anandi from heart.

The elder son of the family, Alok Premkishor Shekhar (Jaineeraj Rajpurohit), Anandi's FIL is also retired from army, managing his handicraft business now and usually appreciates her.

The younger son Anup Premkishor Shekhar (Avinash Vadhawan), Anandi's newly entered FIL was declared dead during a military action but he reappeared after 25 years from across the border where he was held captive by terrorists . He values Anandi and her help in regaining his memory.

Younger DIL Meenakshi Anup Shekhar (Anita Kulkarni) aka Meenu, Anandi's real MIL is an emotional and benevolent lady, very close to Shiv and her hand in Shiv's upbringing is the reason behind his turning out an honest and open minded person. She genuinely loves Anandi.

Besides Shiv, their pride Shekhars have two more offspring's, Anup & Meenu's son- Mahi Anup Shekhar (Abhishek Tiwari), Anandi's BIL , a passionate cricketer,a confidante of his bhabhi who is recently gone to join army.

Finally the special mention of the new and sweetest member of the family , the angel of Ansh, their son -Amol Shivraj Shekhar (Kushmeet Gill). Instant emotional connection between Ansh and Amol brought this special kid in their life forever. Now he is their beloved son and has filled their life with various hues of joy. He is already looking up to his father with pride and learning to take different challenges of life in his stride from his inspiring mother.

Art Director
Tarun Ahuja Set Designer
Rajat Poddhar

...C r e d i t s...

Write ups - adi2512 , santhiyaa_J , Hiral_Halwa , payali09 , yanks28, sidra08 , aparnauma , anshurg5

Collages & Team behind camera - anjali_pi

Thread Preparation - dixie123 , khusi_*

congrats and in a short time, you guys have made a great thread...

Congratulations to Balika Vadhu on the completion of 1 500 episodes! 🥳

Great work everyone! Special thanks to Nivi and Khushi for putting this together with the support of Apoorva 👏

Looking forward to this being a rocking thread. Everyone please join in [:D/]