As a review i will mention the following
1. Story started off an intelligent village girl’s journey forced to marry a city guy much older than her who is committed to another woman
2. She finds herself alone upholding a one sided relationship while connecting to her husband’s family n other wife. She continues her education n journey towards becoming a journalist.
3. Family issues, her love for her husband, her marriage her paternity issues etc start taking her away from her goal in life while making her kind of disillusioned.
4. With first leads exit things are shaken up n the makers make the best decision by brining in the antithesis of what the previous male lead is shown as.
5. The previous male leads character had some basic flaws that in todays world n times just cannot be accepted or should be accepted. He was not a out n out bad guy but just too flawed n weak to be rooted for. Makers probably could have given him a good redemption arc n fixed the story in that manner. But they decided to go with alternate track of new character who looks like a antihero initially but as things unfold becomes the hero.
So yeah many fans either left at that point or joined in. But in either case the female lead is a dynamite n its a better show than most being aired on tv now.