Hindi Serial - Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai on Star Plus

Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hain is a relatively new serial that appears on Star Plus weeknights at 9:30 PM (Monday - Friday). The series started on January 12, 2009, and has been moving relatively slowly; it is full of family drama, being slightly different from the saas-bahu serials of earlier. The serial essentially revolves around 2 Marwari families (both being above middle class, in fact, with the sets and house that they show, the families are rich). The 2 families are the Maheshwari family (to which, the main female character, Akshara, belongs to), and the Singhania family, to which the main male lead, Naitik, belongs to. These 2 characters are a part of an arranged marriage, and the serial displays the goings on in the families, their relations with each other, and the way their emotions move.



Akshara is a traditional girl, who is sweet natured, and who knows her limits. Her parents (in fact, the entire family), is looking for a groom for her, and she is somewhat uncomfortable with the concept of looking for a boy (at least initially), but she does not have too much choice in the matter. To the extent, when she meets Naitik, she is totally tongue-tied, and her family thinks that she had destroyed the marriage. However, Naitik is impressed with her, and decides to move ahead with Akshara (and her family is so happy, that no one bothers to even ask her whether she wants to get married to Naitik).
For the past several months, they have been engaged, and the families are moving towards the marriage date. There is also the tension of different emotions and social customs - whether it be the amount of gifts and presents in the marriage, whether it be the power relations between the 2 families, whether it be that girls should get educated after a marriage, whether the girls or boys can easily meet after an engagement, and so on.
Right now, the 2 households are engaged in some of the mehendi functions, and there is also some tension between Naitik and Akshara since Naitik found out about an earlier engagement that Akshara had with his cousin Rituraj, and is miffed about that, and Akshara feels this; this distance from Naitik is scaring her since she now feels close to Naitik.

Cast:

Hina Khan ... Akshara Vishambhar Nath Maheshwari (the main lead, protagonist)
Karan Mehra ... Naitik Rajshekhar Singhania(Akshara's to-be husband)
Vinita Malik ... Daadi (Akshara's grandmother who is more like a friend to her)
Sanjeev Seth ... Vishambhar Nath Maheshwari (Akshara's father)
Lata Sabharwal ... Rajeshree Maheshwari (Akshara's mother)
Manu Malik ... Omkar Nath Maheshwari(Vishambhar's younger brother, Akshara's uncle)
Neelima Tadepalli ... Sunaina Omkar Nath Maheshwari(Omkar's wife)
Ather Habib ... Shaurya Vishambhar Nath Maheshwari (Akshara's older brother, in love with Varsha, now married to her)
Pooja Joshi ... Varsha Shaurya Maheshwari(Akshara's childhood friend in love with Shaurya, now married to him)
Aman Sharma ... Anshuman (Omkar & Sunaina's son, Shaurya and Akshara's cousin brother)
Amardeep Jha ... Shankari Tai (Udaipur's most famous matchmaker, who knows Maheshwari family for a long time)
Zarina Roshan ... Gopi Daadi (worker at Maheshwari household, but more like a family member, aka Akshara's second grandmother)
Sunita Rajwar ... Dhaniya (another worker at Maheshwari household who is also more like a family member and Akshara's friend)
Bajinder Singh ... Bhola (driver of Maheshwari' family)
Ali Merchant ... Rituraj (Akshara's was-to-be fiance and now Akshara's brother in law)
Sonali Verma ... Gayatri Rajshekhar Singhania (Naitik's mother)


Videos of the serial on YouTube:

Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai - 1st July 09 Part 1


Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai - 1st July 09 Part 2


Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai - 1st July 09 Part 3