| Genre: | Drama thriller fiction |
| Director: | Sanjay Satavase |
| Creative Director: | Shivangi Babbar |
| Country: | India |
| Language: | Hindi |
| Executive Producer: | Ritesh Yadav Akash Ahuja Dhoopi Shibani |
| Producer: | Ekta Kapoor |
| Cinematography: | Maneesh Malik |
| Camera: | Multi-camera |
| Runtime: | 22 minutes |
| Company: | Balaji Telefilms |
| Channel: | Zee TV |
| Last Aired: | present |
Bhagya Lakshmi (International title: Unfortunate Love) is an Indian television series that premiered on 3 August 2021 on Zee TV.[1] Produced by Ekta Kapoor and Shobha Kapoor's Balaji Telefilms, the series stars Aishwarya Khare and Rohit Suchanti. [2] [3]
Lakshmi Bajwa is a kind-hearted naïve girl from Gurdaspur, a village in Punjab. After her parents' death, she and her sisters are taken to Mumbai by their greedy aunt, Rano, who decides to have Lakshmi quickly marry anyone so she can fulfil Lakshmi's father's will and take his property. However, Lakshmi marries a businessman, Rishi Oberoi. It is revealed that Rishi was coerced by his parents, especially by his mother Neelam, to marry Lakshmi for one year as they believed that Lakshmi, a girl with good luck who is referred as Bhagya Lakshmi could save him from death as told by their priest. Rishi also has a girlfriend named Malishka, who initially consented to this arrangement but as their marriage progresses, Malishka notices a shift in Rishi's behaviour – he's grown fond of Lakshmi. Rishi is falling for Lakshmi because of her good nature but is unaware of his feelings. He feels committed towards Malishka. Before the year is up, Lakshmi learns the truth and leaves, despite Neelam's pleas. In court, Lakshmi and Rishi are told to stay together for six months before the divorce is finalized seeing Rishi and Lakshmi's bonding. During the six months, Rishi falls in love with Lakshmi and soon realises this, but Malishka makes it seem like Rishi slept with her although he didn't, leading to Lakshmi finalizing her divorce and leaving Rishi. Rishi and Malishka's marriage is fixed.[4]
However, Rishi brings Lakshmi back claiming that he will marry her to a nice man and help her get settled as a friend. However, Rishi proposes to Lakshmi and tells Malishka that he only loves Lakshmi, but Lakshmi rejects it after thinking about Malishka. However, Lakshmi's marriage is fixed with Vikrant, but it turns out that Vikrant was planning to deceive Lakshmi, he already had a wife but was marrying Lakshmi in order to make her surrogate to their child. They get to know about him on the day of the wedding, and the wedding is called off. Lakshmi again leaves the house due to being insulted. On Rishi and Malishka's wedding day, Rishi reveals his love for Lakshmi and breaks his wedding with Malishka. Rishi chooses Lakshmi over his mother and leaves his house with her. Finally, Lakshmi accepts her love for Rishi. Rishi and Lakshmi get married. As they leave for their honeymoon, Malishka causes Rishi and Lakshmi's accident and tries to kill them in anger. Both of them are saved, and Neelam finally accepts them and calls them back home. In their house once again, Rishi and Lakshmi are to marry, but Lakshmi faints just before the marriage, and turns out that Lakshmi has lost her mental stability.
However, Malishka plots against Lakshmi due to which she forcibly ends up in a mental asylum against Rishi's will. However she was brought back but Malishka again plots against Lakshmi and makes it look like Lakshmi has made Virendra's car's brakes fail.
Virendra and Lakshmi get into a car accident, leaving Virendra comatose. Lakshmi regains her mental stability but everyone, including Rishi, blames her for Virendra's state and throw her out of the house, much to Malishka's triumph. Lakshmi boards a train to return to her village but the train gets into an accident. Lakshmi is presumed dead by Rishi and his family but she survives and finds herself pregnant with Rishi's child. Lakshmi returns to her village and decides to raise her child single-handedly.
Lakshmi now lives in her village and raises her and Rishi's daughter, Parvati "Paro". Shalu is also living with Lakshmi and Parvati in the village. Rishi, on the other hand, is now a tough business tycoon and has an adopted son, Rohan and is married to Malishka but doesn't share a husband-wife relation. Virendra is shown dead. Rishi, along with Rohan, visit a village school where they meet Parvati, but Rishi is unaware that Parvati is his daughter. Lakshmi also meets Rohan, but she is also unaware that Rohan is connected to Rishi. Parvati and Rohan become close friends. Rohan stays at the village and lives with Lakshmi, while Parvati goes to the city with Rishi, for a school exchange program. Neelam, who still hates Lakshmi, begins to despise Parvati, after their first meeting. Neelam rebukes Parvati's mother, unaware that it's Lakshmi.
Rohan is revealed to be Rishi and Lakshmi's twin son and Parvati's twin brother. Five years ago, Lakshmi has loosed her son due to a riot in the village. Malishka and Rishi have been married for seven years. However, Rishi still lives with Lakshmi's memories, and Parvati's behaviour reminds him of her. Ayush has also married Anushka, they don't love each other. Soon the student exchange program comes to an end with Rohan and Paro returning to their homes. When Paro receives a scholarship from Rohan's school, Lakshmi decides to shift back to Mumbai, much to Shalu's disapproval, to ensure a brighter future for Paro. The three shift back to Mumbai and start living with Rano while Lakshmi starts working as a teacher at Rohan's school. Rishi and Lakshmi finally meets each other when Rishi had saved her from an goon and her one-sided obsessive lover, Ranjeet.
Rishi is happy to see Lakshmi alive. Lakshmi rejects Rishi and his love as she feels betrayed when she sees that Rishi and Malishka are married. The Oberoi family learn that Lakshmi is alive and Paro is her daughter. Anushka becomes insecure due to Shalu's return and Ayush's attention on Shalu. Shalu and Ayush are getting close to each other. It is revealed that Shalu was angry upon Ayush because of past incidents. Due to this they never had contact with each other.
Malishka gets insecure due to the return of Lakshmi and also Rishi's bond towards on Paro. Malishka frames Paro for attempting to murdering Neelam. Neelam is hospitalized. Paro gets arrested but Shalu helps Paro by escaping from court. Neelam's sister Aanchal and Malishka wants make sure that Paro is shifted to Juvenile home. Then, Lakshmi and Paro escape to another city. Rishi also reaches there. But due to Malishka's conspiracy they are caught by Police. Lakshmi is made to believe that Rishi has called the police. Lakshmi takes the blame of Neelam's condition upon herself.
Soon, Neelam finds out that Paro is her granddaughter and withdraws the case. She files a case for Paro's Custody from Lakshmi. Paro learns that Rishi is her father. She tells the Judge that she want to live with both her parents. The judge says that Rishi and lakshmi must live together for Paro. The Obrois perform Rishi and lakshmis greh pravish. Now Rishi, lakshmi, Rohan and Paro are living in the Obrois house. Malishka returns to her old self and plots to kill Lakshmi.
Aishwarya Khare and Rohit Suchanti were finalised to reprise their roles as leads in May 2021 itself, but due to the lockdown in Maharashtra, they signed the contract only in June. The filming and production began on 14 June 2021 in Film City, Mumbai.[6]
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Indian Television Academy Awards | Best Story | Anil Nagpal | ||
| Best Actress in Supporting Role - TV (Popular) | Munira Kudrati | rowspan="5" | |||
| Best Actor in Supporting Role - TV (Popular) | Aman Gandhi | ||||
| Best Actor in Lead Role (Popular) | Rohit Suchanti | [7] | |||
| Best Actress in Lead Role (Popular) | Aishwarya Khare | ||||
| Best Television Show - Fiction (Popular) | Ekta Kapoor |