Kayamath

Infobox Television
show_name = Kayamath


caption = A still from Kayamath.
format = Drama
runtime = approximately 26 minutes
creator = Balaji Telefilms
starring = see below
country = IND
network = STAR Plus
first_aired = February 19 2007
last_aired = Present
num_episodes = 200+
website = http://starplus.indya.com/shows/serials.aspx?xfile=About%20the%20Show&bid=Star_Plus/Kayamath

"Kayamath" is a Hindi soap opera that airs on STAR Plus. The show is created by Balaji Telefilms.

The Story

"Kayamath" emphasizes on how relationships change over the course of time, with the concept of everlasting love as the underlying theme of the show. It is also a story about Prachi, who faces many things in life.

The story begins with the introduction of two pairs of best friends living under completely different lifestyles - the first pair being Prachi/Neev and the second Milind/Ayesha.

Brought up in the lap of luxury, Neev and Prachi are oblivious to the harsh realities that people often face in life. The two of them are straight-forward and simple. Their childhood friendship soon blossoms into love. On the other hand, Milind and Ayesha have lived in poverty all their life. They've learned to stand up for themselves and know how to deal with challenging situations. They too, have been in love with each other since they were kids.

Eventually, Prachi and Ayesha meet - and become close friends within a short span of time. Neev and Milind are unhappy with this as they can't stand their friendship. Milind believes that Prachi is too much of a spoiled little princess while Neev sees Ayesha as an ill-mannered, disrespectful brat. Meanwhile, Prachi's brother Alaap starts a relationship with Milind's sister Sukriti. Things turn ugly between Prachi and Milind's respective families when Alaap humiliates Sukriti and dumps her after a one-night stand.

A shocking secret comes to light on the day Prachi's father dies, which brings Ayesha and Prachi's friendship to a halt. They discover that they are half-sisters from their father's side. Their father Inder once had an extra-marital affair with Amirta (Ayesha's mother) while he was married to Premlata (Prachi's mother). Inder had later abandoned Amrita and gone back to Premlata for the sake of the newly born Prachi. He was unaware of the fact that Amrita was also pregnant with his child, Ayesha. Amrita became mentally unstable out of misery. Inder came to know of Ayesha's existence after her birth but didn't have the courage to face Amrita again. As a result, Ayesha was raised without either of her parents being actively involved in her life.

Ayesha begins to resent Prachi, holding her responsible for the way her life turned out and for Amrita's condition. A misunderstanding created by Alaap makes Ayesha's resentment turn into hatred. She decides to make Prachi pay. She takes over the Shah family's business empire and subsequently warns Prachi that she would hurt her by making sure she and Neev don't stay together. Prachi breaks-up with Neev as she had promised her dead father that she'd always look out for Ayesha's best interests. Soon, Ayesha successfully blackmails Neev into marrying her. Shortly after those two get married, Prachi finds out that her father didn't die in an accident - he was murdered.

Milind, who had moved to Turkey to make money, re-enters the story as a millionare. Now powerful and wealthy, he wants revenge against the Shahs for what they put him, Sukriti and Ayesha through. However, he is shattered when he finds out that Ayesha has married Neev. To teach Ayesha a lesson as well as to make Prachi pay for Alaap's misdeeds, he presents Prachi with a deal - he will help her find out who killed her father if she agrees to get into a marriage of convenience with him. Prachi accepts the deal.

Milind and Prachi's marriage leaves Neev and Ayesha devastated. Milind uses Prachi to make Ayesha jealous, but when he's alone with Prachi he mistreats and humiliates her. However, she fulfills all the duties of a wife without hesitation and quietly puts up with Milind's misbehaviour. Slowly, Milind starts respecting and caring for Prachi. Ayesha constantantly attempts to create misunderstandings between the two by making Milind believe that Prachi couldn't care less about him or their marriage. She also implies that Prachi is cheating on him with Neev. Eventually, Neev comes to know that Ayesha was the reason why Prachi ended her relationship with him. He confronts her, declaring his love while she apologizes. Milind witnesses this, which further instigates his suspicions. One situation leads to another and Milind/Prachi have a heated confrontation one night. The misunderstandings are cleared; Milind pulls Prachi into a kiss and they consummate their marriage.

Milind and Prachi's relationship continues to grow stronger. Prachi comes to know about Sukriti and Alaap's illegitimate son, whom Sukriti has kept a secret. Prachi brings the child home and pretends to be his mother after Ayesha claims that he is the product of Prachi's extra-marital affair with Neev. This infuriates Milind and he takes the matter to court. The two of them nearly get divorced, but the truth comes out just in time - much to Ayesha's displeasure. She decides to get Prachi out of Milind's life once and for all, by murdering her. Her plan backfires and Milind's is the one who gets hit by her car. This causes him to have partial amnesia, where he doesn't remember his life beyond his return from Turkey. Ayesha siezes this opportunity to the fullest by encouraging Milind to avenge the Shahs through Prachi. Meanwhile, Neev ends his marriage of convenience with Ayesha, who forces him and Prachi to marry so that Milind could be hers. A date is set for the Neev/Prachi and Milind/Ayesha weddings. Inspite of his seething hatred towards Prachi, Milind finds himself drawn towards her. A mutual love confession follows between Milind/Prachi, after which Milind rejects Ayesha at the altar. His memory returns after Ayesha mistakenly tells the memories of him and Prachi which he has forgotten, and the house was set on fire. She gives up on her quest to tear Milind/Prachi apart.

Mallika, a businesswoman, enters the story. She is instantly smitten by Milind and thus plots to get Prachi out of the picture. Ayesha gets wind of her true intentions and warns her to stay away from Milind/Prachi. One night Mallika brings Milind to her uncle's farmhouse and tampers with his drink, making him pass out. Before she could take advantage of the situation, Ayesha shows up. The two get into a scuffle, during which Mallika stabs and kills Ayesha. Prachi comes to know that she is pregnant, but before she can tell Milind, she finds out that Ayesha has been murdered and Milind is arrested for it.

Mallika forces Prachi to leave Milind on the condition that she'll stand as witness and help Milind to get rid of the false accusations. After a lot of dilemma, Prachi agrees and leaves Milind to catch a train. In the meanwhile, Milind is released. Prachi humiliates him over the phone but cannot keep herself away when she comes to know that Milind has gone to visit Mallika. Milind figures out that Mallika is resposible for Prachi's sudden decision to leave him. He tries to stop Prachi but in vain. Prachi gets up in a train to Kolkata. She meets a Bengali couple - Proteek Dasgupta and his wife Panchi, who are travelling with their infant. Panchi hears out Prachi's story and urges Proteek to convince her to stay with them at their house. Milind drives off to the station where Prachi's train is supposed to arrive. Upon reaching there, he and the Shahs come to know that there has been a blast in the Kolkata express. They find Prachi's belongings and assume she's dead.

The scene shifts to five years later, where Prachi is shown to be living with Proteek and his family. Through flashbacks it is revealed that Panchi had died in the bomb blast. Proteek honoured her last wish by inviting Prachi to stay with him and his family. Prachi accepted his offer seeing as she had nowhere else to go. When they arrived at the Dasgupta household, Prachi was assumed to be Panchi as nobody had met the real Panchi before. Proteek requested Prachi to pretend to be his wife as his ailing father wouldn't be able to bear the shock of his daughter-in-law's death. Back to the present, Proteek and Panchi have been pretending to be a couple for the last five years. They're raising two children - Suprateek (Proteek and Panchi's son) and Sumonto (Milind and Prachi's son). Proteek has secretly fallen in love with Prachi and hopes that she'll reciprocate his feelings someday.

On Sumonto's birthday, Prachi gifts him a gold chain she had made for Milind. Sumonto, being his usual naughty self is chased by Tanushree Dasgupta, Prachi's elder sister-in-law. Sumonto falls from the terrace and hurts himself badly. He has to be hospitalised. Prachi fails to arrange for blood for Sumonto and is shattered. When she comes back, Proteek tells her that a person has donated blood to Sumonto. Prachi wants to thank him personally and goes to his room. Although she cannot find the person, she finds a locket having her and Milind's picture. Prachi is convinced that Milind saved their child's life and runs after him to meet him. But she remembers Mallika's warning and restricts herself.

The nurse from the hospital calls Prachi up and says that the man who donated blood to Sumonto is at the hospital and wants his locket back. Prachi rushes there but misses him and finds out that he left with a social worker named Sushmita Chatterjee. Later on, she meets Sushmita, who reveals that she runs a rehabilitation center for people who're alone and distressed. A completely shattered Milind is shown sitting on the floor of a room in the rehab center, clutching Prachi's picture. His appearance is extremely shaggy and unkempt.

Prachi reaches the rehab center to meet Milind only to find out he has left already. Meanwhile Proteek meets with an accident on his way from Bhuvaneshwar to Kolkata and Milind saves him and brings him back to Kolkata. Prachi sees Milind but hides herself from him as she is in a dilemma to choose between her love Milind and her responsibility to Dasguptas. During his stay, Milind begins to bond with Sumonto. Tanushree suspects something is up with Prachi when she avoids a face to face interaction with Milind.

Cast

* Panchi Bora as Prachi Shah

* Shabbir Ahluwalia as Milind Mishra

* Jay Bhanushali as Neev Shergill

* Sanjeeda Sheikh as Ayesha

* Bharat Arora as Alaap Shah

* Mohnish Behl / Ronit Roy as Inder Shah

* Prachi Shah as Premlata Shah

* Reshmi Ghosh as Mallika

* Gaurav Chaudhary as Proteek Dasgupta

* Chottu as Sumonto Dasgupta

Awards

tar Parivaar Awards

Winner

In 2007

*Favourite Naya Sadasya - Panchi Bora as Prachi

In 2008

*Favorite Pati - Shabbir Ahluwalia as Milind