Kumkum Bhagya

Kumkum Bhagya is an Indian Hindi-language drama television series produced by Ekta Kapoor under Balaji Telefilms. It aired from 15 April 2014 to 21 September 2025 on Zee TV and digitally streams on ZEE5. It starred Sriti Jha, Shabir Ahluwalia, Mugdha Chaphekar, Krishna Kaul, Rachi Sharma, Abrar Qazi, Pranali Rathod and Namik Paul in lead roles. One of the longest running Indian television soap opera, the concept of the show was originally based on Jane Austen's novel Sense and Sensibility.

WWW zeetv.com/shows/kumkum-bh...Fandom a4d:Twist_of_Fate_(2016_T...

Cast

Main

Sriti Jha as Pragya Arora Mehra: Raghuveer and Sarla's eldest daughter; Abhishek's wife
Shabir Ahluwalia as Abhishek "Abhi" Mehra: Prem and Santoshi's son; Pragya's husband
Mugdha Chaphekar as Prachi Arora Kohli: Abhishek and Pragya's second daughter; Ranbir's wife
Krishna Kaul as Ranbir Kohli: Vikram and Pallavi's son; Prachi's husband
Rachi Sharma as Poorvi Kohli Malhotra: Ranbir and Prachi's younger daughter; Rajvanshi's wife
Abrar Qazi as Rajvansh "RV" Malhotra: Harman and Harleen's younger son; Poorvi's husband
Pranali Rathod as Prarthana Parikh Randhawa: Rajvansh and Poorvi's biological daughter; Kishan and Seema's adopted daughter; Shivansh's wife
Namik Paul as Shivansh Randhawa: Smita's son; Prarthana's husband

Recurring

Mrunal Thakur as Bulbul Arora Khanna: Sarla and Raghuveer's daughter
Supriya Shukla as Sarla Arora: Raghuveer's widow
Madhu Raja as Daljeet Kaur Arora: Raghuveer's mother
Jasjeet Babbar as Janki: The Aroras' handmaiden; Poorvi's mother
Arjit Taneja as Purab Khanna: Abhi's best friend; Bulbul's widower
*Vin Rana replaced Taneja as Purab
Madhurima Tuli as Tanushree "Tanu" Mehta: Alia's best friend
* Leena Jumani replaced Tuli as Tanu
Akshay Bindra as Raunak Zaveri: Kanti and Smita's son
Kanupriya Pandit as Sweety: Pragya and Bulbul's aunt
Faisal Rashid as Suresh Shrivastav: Rachna's brother
Daljeet Soundh as Daljeet Kaur Mehra: Swarni and Indu's sister
Charu Mehra as Poorvi: Janki's daughter; Pragya and Bulbul's namesake sister
Neel Motwani as Corporator Neil Thakur
Shikha Singh as Alia Mehra: Santoshi and Prem's daughter
*Reyhna Malhotra replaced Singh as Alia
Shivaani Sopuri as Parminder "Pammi" Kaur Mehra: Ajay's wife
Ajay Trehan as Ajay Mehra: Daljeet's elder son; Prem's brother
Ankit Mohan as Akash Mehra: Parminder and Ajay's younger son
Aditi Rathore as Rachna Shrivastav Mehra: Suresh's sister
Zarina Khan as Inderjit Kaur Suri: Daljeet and Swarni's sister
Radha Israni as Swarni Dasi: Abhi, Alia, Raj and Akash's grand-aunt
*Asha Sharma replaced Israni as Swarni
Anurag Sharma as Raj Mehra: Parminder and Ajay's elder son
Samikssha Batnagar as Mitali Mehra: Raj's wife
*Swati Anand replaced Batnagar as Mitali
Haelyn Shastri as News Reporter
Nikhil Arya/Rajat Dahiya/Shaad Randhawa as Nikhil Sood: Tanu's ex-lover //
Bobby Khanna as Mr. Mehta: Tanu's father
Roma Lavani as Mrs. Mehta: Tanu's mother
Pratik Parihar as Manohar: Abhi's accountant who schemed against Pragya
Vijay Kashyap as Raghuveer Arora: Daljeet's son; Sarla's husband
Nitin Goswami as Dushyant Rana: Simonica's husband who was accidentally killed by Abhishek
Ruchi Savarn as Disha Singh: Purab's first ex-wife;
Sharhaan Singh as Sangram Singh Chautala: Disha's ex-fiancé
Vivana Singh as Simonica Dushyant Rana: Dushyant's widow
Shwetanshu Singh as Dr. Sheila
Mishal Raheja as King Singh: A rapper based in the UK; Pragya's former boss and one-sided lover
Kaurwaki Vasistha as Kiara Mehra: Pragya and Abhi's eldest daughter
Vedansh Jaju as Sunny Khanna: Purab and Disha's son
Richa Rathore as Neha "Babli" Mehra: Mitali and Raj's daughter
Abeer Adil as Tarun: King's cousin; Neha's husband
Roma Bali as Tarun's mother: King's aunt
Naina Singh/Pooja Banerjee/Tina Philip as Rhea Mehra: Pragya and Abhi's daughter //
Mehul Kajaria/Rushad Rana as Vikram Kohli: Daljeet's eldest son /
Khyati Keswani as Pallavi Kohli: Vikram's wife;
Kiran Bhargava/Smita Shetty as Daljeet "Dida" Kohli: Vikram, Vikrant and Arun's mother /
Pooja Singh as Mishti Kohli: Vikram and Pallavi's daughter; Ranbir's sister
Jaanvi Sangwan as Beeji: A nurse who took Pragya in after the latter's exile; Shahana's paternal grandmother
Aparna Mishra as Shahana Sharma: Beeji's granddaughter; Pragya's niece-figure; Prachi's sister-figure; Aryan's love interest
Zeeshan Khan/Pulkit Bangia/Naveen Sharma as Aryan Khanna: Alia and Purab's son //
Ashlesha Sawant as Meera: Rhea's foster mother and Abhi's ex-fiancé
Manmohan Tiwari as Rohit "Sanju" Gill: A local gangster of Hoshiarpur; Prachi's obsessive one-sided lover
Ashwini Tobe as Dimpy: Rhea's friend
Shivali Choudhry as Shaina: Rhea's friend
Neena Cheema/Rupa Divetia as Sarita Ben: A Gujarati woman who gave refuge to Pragya and her daughters; Rishi's maternal grandmother /
Gautam Nain as Rishi Dhaval: Sarita's grandson
Kajal Chauhan as Priyanka Rane: Abhi's friend's daughter; Rishi's obsessive lover
Sonali Joshi as Chief Minister Vasudha
Ribbhu Mehra as Ritik: Disha's friend and secret lover
Farida Dadi as Baljeet Mehra: Abhi, Raj, Akash and Alia's grand-aunt
Rose Khan as Maya Choubey: Ranbir's ex-fiancée
Manish Khanna as Dushyant Singh Choubey: Maya's uncle
Bhupendra Khuranna as Mr. Choubey: Maya's father, Dushyant's younger brother
Anuradha Sharma as Mrs. Choubey: Maya's mother
Naina Yadav as Palak: Prachi and Shahana's friend
Gagan Anand as Digvijay: Abhishek's business rival
Gazala Silawat as Pari: Rhea's friend
Rohit Choudhary as Pradeep Khurana: Tanu's ex-husband
Dolly Sohi as Sushma Tandon: A rich businesswoman and Pragya's mentor
Vineet Kumar Chaudhary as Gautam Thapar: A businessman; Sushma and Pragya's business partner; Pragya's one-sided lover
Jatin Shah as Gaurav Thapar: Gautam's elder brother
Riyaz Panjwani as Mr. Thapar: Gaurav and Gautam's father
Kushagra Nautiyal as Siddharth "Sid" Kohli: Vikrant's son
Shamik Abbas as Arun Kohli: Daljeet's youngest son
Mridula Oberoi as Teji Kohli: Arun's wife
Abhishek Kumar as Jai Bhatt: Ranbir's best friend
Gulshan Shivani as Stanley: Ranbir's assistant
Aishana Singh as Mihika Kohli: Vikrant's daughter;
Veronica Talreja as Mili: Aryan's ex-girlfriend and friend
Mimicharve Khadse as Mauli: a girl whom Prachi loved as her own after she lost Panchi
Aalisha Panwar as Kaya Malhotra: Ranbir's former boss and Prachi's friend
Simran Budharup/Jyotsna Chandola as Khushi "Panchi" Kohli Randhawa: Ranbir and Prachi's elder daughter /
* Trisha Rohatgi as child Khushi
Abhishek Malik as Akshay Tandon: Ashok's son
Aafreen Dabestani as Mihika Tandon: Ashok's daughter
Mallika Nayak as Manpreet Tandon: Ashok's second wife
Kaushal Kapoor as Ashok Tandon: Prachi's former boss and father figure; Vishakha's brother
Utkarsha Naik as Vishakha Tandon: Ashok's sister; Divya's mother
Riya Kapoor as Divya Tandon: Vishakha's daughter;
*Mahira Sharma replaced Kapoor as Divya
Purvi Pawar as Neha Tandon: Akshay, Mihika, Abhay and Divya's cousin
Sparsh Kotwal as Abhay Tandon: Akshay, Mihika, Neha and Divya's cousin
Vishal Solanki as Satinder: Prachi's rival colleague
Pallavi Mahara as Damini: Aryan's suitress
Sharika Ahluwalia as Laali: A poor, greedy woman who raised Panchi/Khushi
Mohsin Khan as Balbira: Laali's boyfriend
Ipsita Jena as Priya: Prachi's assistant
Sanchita Ugale as Diya Tandon: Divya’s daughter;
Vishal Solanki as Jasbeer: Poorvi's one sided lover
Arjun Shekhawat as Ashutosh: Poorvi’s ex-fiancé
Imran Khan as Harman Malhotra: Rajvansh and Vikrant's father
Pyumori Mehta Ghosh as Harleen Malhotra: Rajvansh and Vikrant's mother; Harman's wife
Kirti Sualy as Rajvansh's grandmother
Susheel Parashar as Rajvansh's grandfather
Preet Kaur Nayak as Dipika Malhotra: Monisha's sister
Rahul Ram Manchanda as Vikrant Malhotra: Harleen and Harman's son
Priti Gandwani as Rajvansh's aunt
Anuj Khurana as Rajvansh's uncle
Nakul Ulja as Yug Malhotra: Rajvansh’s cousin; Diya’s love interest
Kavita Banerjee as Trishna Jaiswal: Krishna's wife
Ajay Sharma as Gajendra Jaiswal; Trishna’s father
Hetal Yadav as Rajni Jaiswal; Trishna's mother
Hemant Choudhary as Amar Dayal; Jaiswal's political rival
Srishti Jain as Monisha: Dipika's sister;
Bhawana Aneja as Roshni: Dushyant's wife; Dipika and Monisha's mother
Aakash Talwar as Arman Randhawa: Khushi's husband
Parimal Bhattacharya as Kishan Parikh: Seema's husband
Vandana Mittal as Seema Parikh: Kishan's wife
Jaya Bhattacharya as Bua Maa
Phalguni Sharma/Honeyy Soni as Gayatri Parikh: Kishan and Seema's daughter; Prarthana's adoptive sister
Hina Dani as Baa: Kanti, Devang, Hitesh and Kinjal's mother
Vijhay Badlaani as Kanti Zaveri: Devang, Hitesh and Kinjal's brother; Smita's husband; Raunak and Sneha's father
Gurdip Punjj as Smita Zaveri: Kanti's wife; Raunak and Sneha's mother
Isha Pandhe as Sneha Zaveri: Kanti and Smita's daughter; Raunak's sister
Nitin Vakharia as Devang Zaveri: Kanti, Hitesh and Kinjal's brother
Bhavwini Gandhi as Shubhvi Zaveri: Devang's wife; Tanuj, Sejal and Arjun's mother
Abhay Bhadoriya as Tanuj Zaveri: Devang and Shubhvi's son; Sejal and Arjun's brother
Hanisha Gehlot as Sejal Zaveri: Devang and Shubhvi's daughter; Tanuj and Arjun's sister
Mohit Jaswani as Arjun Zaveri: Devang and Shubhvi's son;
Parri Galaa as Kinjal Zaveri: Kanti, Hitesh and Devang's sister; Hitenkumar's wife;
Kalpesh Patel as Hitenkumar: Kinjal's husband; Harsh and Kirtan's father
Vedaant Saluja as Harsh: Kinjal and Hitenkumar's son
Ahnaf F Khatri as Kirtan: Kinjal and Hitenkumar's son
Unknown as Vihaan: Sneha's ex-fiance
Aarchi Sachdeva as Payal Shah: Praful and Ketki's daughter; Raunak's suitor
Rashika Matharu as Ketki Shah: Praful's wife;
Nikhhil Raj Khera as Praful Shah: Ketki's husband
MM Rishi as Bhavesh: Prarthana's suitor
Rita Sharma Gupta as Daxa: Bhavesh's mother
Aryan Raajput as Mayank: Raunak's friend
Snehal Waghmare as Raunak's aunt
Hetal Puniwala as Raunak's uncle
Shraddha Arya as Dr. Preeta Arora: Pragya, Bulbul and Srishti's sister
Shakti Anand as Karan Luthra: Preeta's husband
Roopam Sharma/Megha Prasad as Sonalika Jaitley: Anisha's daughter

Production

Development

The series is a love story produced by Ekta Kapoor and Shobha Kapoor under the banner Balaji Telefilms that airs on Zee TV. Ekta Kapoor considers the letter K to be lucky and has named many of her productions starting with K.
Kapoor rejected 19 costumes while selecting the look of character Pragya.

Filming

The production and airing of the show was halted indefinitely in late March 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak in India. The outbreak caused the halt of filming of television shows and movies on 19 March 2020, and they were expected to resume on 1 April 2020. But shooting remained suspended and the remaining episodes were aired up to 24 March 2020. After three months, the production and filming of the series resumed on 29 June 2020 and airing resumed on 13 July 2020.

Casting

Shabbir Ahluwalia, who was also cast in Ekta's TV series Kayamath, was selected to portray the lead role of Abhishek Prem Mehra. Ahluwalia made his comeback after Zee twenty years. Actress Sriti Jha landed the lead role in the show. Mrunal Thakur was selected to portray the second leading role of Bulbul while Arjit Taneja was cast opposite her. In May 2014, Shikha Singh entered the show as the main antagonist Alia Mehra, while Madhurima Tuli was cast to portray the negative role of Tanu. Later, Tuli had to shoot for her film Baby so, this role was later played by Leena Jumani from September 2014. Actor Faisal Rashid was selected to portray the role of Suresh who played an important role in April–May 2014, but in May 2015 he quit the series. Actress Supriya Shukla was cast to play the role of Sarla Arora, while Madhu Raja played the role of Daljeet Arora. Other supporting cast members include Samikssha Batnagar, Ankit Mohan, Charu Mehra and Amit Dhawan. Bhatnagar, who portrayed the supporting role of Mitali was replaced by Swati Anand within the month of launch while Anurag Sharma replaced Amit. In 2015, Neel Motawani was selected to play the negative role of Neel; while in June 2015 Nikhil Arya entered the series playing the role of main male antagonist Nikhil Sood.
In December 2015, Mrunal Thakur opted out from the show and was to be replaced by Kajol Shrivastava, however the character of Bulbul was phased out of the series after Mrunal's departure. In August 2016, Ankit Mohan quit the show so his character left as well. In September 2016, Arjit Taneja quit the show and was replaced by Vin Rana. In October 2016, Nikhil Arya was replaced by Rujut Dahiya. In July 2017, actress Ruchi Savarn entered the show as Purab's new love interest. Mishal Raheja as King Singh and Kaurwakee Vashista as Kiara Mehra entered the show after the leap. Actor Abeer Adil was cast in 2018 as King's cousin Tarun and Roma Bali as Tarun's mother.
In March 2019, a twenty-year leap was introduced with which several new characters entered in the show and became pivotal characters. In March 2019, Mugdha Chaphekar, Krishna Kaul and Naina Singh were introduced as leads of the second generation who play Prachi, Ranbir and Rhea respectively alongside Sriti and Shabbir. In August 2020, Naina left the show as she was not happy playing a negative role anymore and Pooja Banerjee replaced Singh as Rhea. In February 2022, Pooja Banerjee quit the show because her due date was near, and she was replaced by Tina Ann Philip. In February 2022, Jha and Ahluwalia officially quit the show after seven and half years as the story progressed on from their characters.
The show then took another generation leap of twenty years in November 2023, with Rachi Sharma and Abrar Qazi roped in as the new leads of generation three with Sharma portraying Prachi and Ranbir's younger daughter Poorvi Kohli while Qazi as Rajvansh Malhotra respectively. Simran Budharup was roped in to play grown-up version of Prachi and Ranbir's elder daughter Khushi Kohli Randhawa replacing Trisha Rohatgi who played childhood version of same. Later Budhraup quit the show owing to less screenspace and was replaced by Jyotsna Chandola. Later, Chaphekar and Kaul who portrayed leads of generation two, their role roles came to an indefinite end in June 2024 and in September 2024 media confirmed the news that both are no longer part of the show.
In February 2025, the show again took a 20-year generation leap, with Pranali Rathod and Akshay Bindra as new generation leads. However later Bindra's character was sidelined as Supporting character and Namik Paul stepped in as new male lead. Abrar Qazi and Rachi Sharma and other supporting casts marked their exits due to the generation leap. In March 2025, Rachi Sharma was again roped in to reprise her role of Poorvi Malhotra as a cameo to revive dipping TRPs. She was again roped in for a second appearance in April 2025. Soon after it was also confirmed that Shraddha Arya and Shakti Anand would also be joining Kumkum Bhagya reprising their characters Karan and Preeta from Kundali Bhagya. However soon after their roles also ended and the show eventually went off air in September 2025 owing to low TRPs over a year.

Spin-off

Kundali Bhagya

A spin-off series Kundali Bhagya premiered on 12 July 2017 and ran till 6 December 2024. The series narrated the story of Pragya's sisters, Preeta and Srishti and their attempt to find their mother Sarla and how they meet the rich and famous Luthra family. Later that show too took a generation leap and story shifted to Preeta's sons Rajveer and Shaurya.

Bhagya Lakshmi

A similar series Bhagya Lakshmi premiered on 3 August 2021 and ran till 29 June 2025. It traces the love story of Pragya's best friend, Lakshmi and Rishi. It stars Aishwarya Khare and Rohit Suchanti.

Reception

Critical reception

The show climbed to Top 5 most-watched shows across all GECs, after only a few weeks of its launch. It was touted as the biggest fiction launch of 2014.
Reruns of Kumkum Bhagya premiered on Zee Anmol from 2017 and received high ratings in the BARC rural chart when Zee Anmol was FTA. It began running on the network again from episode 1 from 10 June 2020, due to the return to DD Free Dish.
The show also managed to strike a chord with West Africans too. Actor Kartik Aaryan also watched the show during the lockdown.