Molkki

Molkki
File:Molkki.webp
Genre	Social Drama
Created by	Ekta Kapoor
Written by	Dialogue Dheeraj Sarna
Screenplay by	Saba Mumtaz
Story by	Gajra Kottary Advait Kottary
Directed by	Muzammil Desai
Creative director	Shivangi Babbar
Starring	Priyal Mahajan Amar Upadhyay
Opening theme	Molkki
Composer	Vinod Ghimare
Country of origin	India
Original language	Hindi
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	209
Production
Producers	Ekta Kapoor Shobha Kapoor
Editors	Vikash Sharma Vishal Sharma
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	22–25 minutes
Production company	Balaji Telefilms
Release
Original network	Colors TV
Picture format	576i 1080i(HDTV)
Original release	16 November 2020 (2020-11-16) – present
External links
Voot
Production website

Molkki (lit: one who has a price) is an Indian television drama series produced by Ekta Kapoor under Balaji Telefilms. It is broadcast on Colors TV and premiered on 16 November 2020. It stars Priyal Mahajan and Amar Upadhyay.

Set in the Rewari district in Haryana, the serial mainly focuses on the bride buying custom of India called Molkki Pratha, where poor girls are sold off as brides to rich men.

Despite being illegal, molkki pratha is still practiced in some regions of India.

Plot

Molkki is an Indian tradition that involves marrying off poor girls to a wealthy man in exchange for money. The storyline of the series revolves around a poor girl named Purvi who is made a Molkki bride for money.

Purvi marries Virendra Pratap Singh, a widowed father of two kids and head of a village in Haryana's Rewari district. The initially tense relationship between Virendra's kids and Purvi eases after a while and Purvi makes repeated efforts to bring them and their father closer. While the family is on a picnic Vaibhav, Virendra's half-brother, rapes Priyashi, Purvi's sister, for revenge for a past incident and Anjali, Purvi's and Virendra's sister-in-law records the event. A series of incidents leads to Virendra losing his trust in Purvi and he initially refuses to believe her allegations against his brother, however, she eventually succeeds in exposing Vaibhav's doings. Virendra asks Priyu to decide the punishment but she decides to marry Vaibhav instead. Virendra enforces her wish and arranges the marriage, despite Anjali's plotting to prevent the event. From then on, Vaibhav wants to take revenge on his brother and hires a hitman to shoot him during a land auction. Purvi manages to save Virendra, but he later gets attacked by goons that were likewise hired by his brother. Priyu finds out about Vaibhav's intentions during their honeymoon and informs Purvi, leading to the hired goons getting caught. After this, Purvi, in a desire to receive better education, enrolls in a nearby college where she has to conceal her wealthy status to avoid ridicule. Meanwhile, Vaibhav decides to punish Priya for her betrayal but, with the intent to scare her, accidentally kills her by pushing her from a cliff. Purvi was suspecting that Vaibhav planned to hurt his sister and finds strong indications for this in his house and through witnesses. When they confront him, Vaibhav purposefully provokes Virendra to shoot him for his murderous act, hoping that his brother gets jailed. He succeeds and Virendra ends up imprisoned, while Vaibhav, wearing a bulletproof jacket, manages to escape with a disguise and attempts to leave the country with the help of Anjali. However, Purvi manages once again to uncover her brother-in-law's scheming and thereby frees her husband from imprisonment. To a great surprise, Priyu is still alive and reveals that it has been her plan all along to get Vaibhav accused of her murder. Priyu shoots Vaibhav. Prakashi then swears to wreck havoc in Purvi's life for ruining Vaibhav's life. She with Anjali tries many things to separate Purvi from Virendra, but eventually fails as Purvi succeeds every time. Purvi is horrified by the visual she gets while flying a drone and gets furious when she learns that Anjali is the perpetrator of the crime. After Purvi visits the cave, she gets restless and wakes up in the middle of the night due to a nightmare where she sees a woman in chains. She swears to expose her but fails. It is revealed that the woman in chain is none other than Virendra's first wife Sakshi who was assumed dead 5 years ago. Virendra soon falls in love with Purvi and so does she. Virendra and his family travel to Goa for his destination wedding with Purvi. On the other hand, Prakashi knits a devious plan to ruin their wedding day. As an ecstatic Purvi and Virendra take their wedding vows, the two are taken aback when Juhi and Manas notice Sakshi at the wedding venue and rush towards her. Purvi is shocked to find Sakshi during her wedding with Virendra and is devastated as the wedding gets called off. Virendra is caught between two worlds as Sakshi's return changes the dynamics of the whole family, leaving Purvi to pretend to be a helper in the house and Virendra seeing Purvi in such a light. Virendra explains to Sakshi everything that went by during her absence and how he ended up marrying Purvi. Purvi gets ready to leave, but Sakshi asks her to stay and thanks to her for looking after the family in her absence. Further, Sakshi realises that Purvi is not wrong and rather a victim of fate. Purvi pushes Virendra away from her when he tries to get closer to her. Elsewhere, Sakshi takes a big decision in front of the Panchayats and announces that Purvi will share the same position as hers. While Virendra is away on business, Sakshi makes Purvi perform some strange rituals that end up making her feel dirty, hurt and humiliated. An infuriated Virendra stops the ritual and prevents Purvi from being subjected to further embarrassment. Disturbed by his outburst, Sakshi confronts him regarding his feelings for Purvi. He says that he has started liking Purvi. Sakshi locks her room and doesn't answer when the family knocks on the door. Purvi then brings a reserve key and opens the door, where they find Sakshi lying unconscious due to her cut wrist. Purvi asks Virendra to continue his life with Sakshi and leave her alone, but Virendra rejects to do so. Watching no change in Virendra's stance, Purvi ultimately demands a divorce. Sakshi comes up with a plan to bring Purvi closer to Vipul and sends them to run an errand in a tampered car. However, her plan goes awry due to turbulent weather.

Purvi finds herself in a dilemma when Sakshi persuades her to marry Vipul in a bid to make Virendra get over his feelings for Purvi. When Sakshi asks for Vipul's opinion, he gives his consent to marry Purvi. As Purvi's Haldi ceremony begins, Virendra wins the competition against Vipul and gets the first chance to apply Haldi on her. However, the ceremony comes to a shocking halt when her father refuses to bless the marriage. Purvi expresses her love for Vipul as he takes a firm stand for her. Later, Virendra prevents Purvi from applying turmeric on Vipul. During the wedding ceremony of Purvi, Virendra gets blind drunk and attempts to confront her and Vipul. In a shocking turn of events, Virendra meets with a tragic accident and falls unconscious. After Purvi signs the divorce papers, Virendra helps her get ready for the wedding. Later, Virendra learns that the divorce process is delayed, and he rushes back to the wedding venue and carries Purvi away. After Virendra stops Purvi's wedding to Vipul, she decides to run away from her home, but Virendra stops her. Considering the recent developments, Purvi makes a heartfelt confession. Sakshi discloses the hard-hitting truth about her return after five long years and reveals that she conspired with Prakashi and Anjali to throw Purvi out of the house. She gave Prakashi and Anjali her property to throw Purvi out of the house. Virendra abandons Sakshi and tells her she is not the same person he knew five years ago. He abandons Sakshi, Prakashi and Anjali and takes all the property back. .

Cast

Main

• Priyal Mahajan as Purvi Singh: Savita and Mahesh's elder daughter; Priyashi and Duddu's sister; Virendra's second wife; Veer, Nandini, Juhi and Manas' step-mother (2020–present)
• Amar Upadhyay as Virendra Pratap Singh: Prakashi's step-son; Yogi's brother; Vaibhav's half brother; Sakshi and Purvi's husband; Veer, Nandini, Juhi, and Manas' father (2020–present)
• Ankit Gera as Daksh Singh Shekhawat: Chandani's brother (2021—present)

Recurring

• Toral Rasputra as Sakshi Virendra Pratap Singh: Virendra's first wife; Veer, Nandini, Juhi and Manas' mother (2021)
• Madhuri Pandey as Chandani Singh Shekhawat: Daksh's elder sister (2021-present)
• Mohit Hiranandani as Veer Pratap Singh: Sakshi and Virendra's elder son; Purvi's elder step-son; Nandini, Juhi and Manas' brother; Sudha's husband (2021–present)
• Rishika Nag as Nandini Pratap Singh: Sakshi and Virendra's elder daughter; Purvi's elder step-daughter; Veer, Juhi and Manas' sister; Aarav's first wife (2021–present)
• Anushka Sharma as Juhi Pratap Singh aka Khargosh: Sakshi and Virendra's younger daughter; Purvi's younger step-daughter; Veer, Nandini and Manas' sister (2020–present)
• Ritwik Gupta as Manas Pratap Singh aka Genda: Sakshi and Virendra's younger son; Purvi's younger step-son; Veer, Nandini and Juhi's brother (2020–present)
• Supriya Shukla as Prakashi Singh: Bheem's sister; Vaibhav's mother; Virendra and Yogi's stepmother; Veer, Nandani, Juhi and Manas' step grandmother; female antagonist (2020–present)
• Abhay Bhargava as Bheem: Prakashi's elder brother; Virendra and Yogi's step-uncle; Vaibhav's uncle (2020–present)
• Meenakshi Sethi as Nani: Daksh and Chandani's grandmother(2021-present)
• Shraddha Jaiswal as Anjali Yogi Pratap Singh: Jyoti's sister; Yogi's wife (2020–present)
• Tushar Kawale as Yogi Pratap Singh: Prakashi's step-son; Virendra's brother; Vaibhav's half-brother; Anjali's husband (2020–present)
• Akshay Jawrani as Karan: Chaurasiya's son; Senior to Purvi in college (2021)
• Ved Bharadwaj as Mahesh: Savita's husband; Purvi, Priyashi, and Duddu's father (2020–present)
• Meena Mir as Savita: Mahesh's wife; Purvi, Priyashi, and Duddu's mother (2020–present)
• Dhwani Gori as Priyashi Aarav Singh : Savita and Mahesh's daughter; Purvi and Duddu's sister; Vaibhav’s widow , Aarav's second wife (2020–present)
• Kajal Chauhan as Sudha Veer Pratap Singh : Purvi's friend ;Veer's wife (2020–present)
• Vyon Mehta as Duddu: Savita and Mahesh's son; Purvi and Priyashi's brother (2020- present )
• Neha Jurel as Jyoti: Anjali's sister (2020–present)
• Sanjay Swaraj as Kanji Bhai: A bride dealer who fixed Purvi's molkki (2020)
• Naveen Sharma as Vipul: Purvi's former love interest (2020- present)
• Neha Dandale as Bhuri: a worker at Virendra's house (2020–present)
• Manish Khanna as Chaudhary Charan Singh: Virendra's enemy, Aarav's father, male antagonist (2021–present)
• Abhishek Singh Pathania as Aarav Singh: Chaudhary Charan Singh's son, Nandini's boyfriend turned husband, Priyashi husband (2021–present)
• Shivam Khajuria as Naveen: Priyashi's former love interest (2020)
• Pranav Kumar as Vaibhav Singh: Prakashi's son; Virendra and Yogi's younger half-brother; Priyashi’s ex-husband (2020–2021)
• Unknown as Vikas: Aarti's husband (2021)
• Priyanka Zemse as Aarti: Sakshi's friend (2021)
• Trupti Mishra as Radhika: Aarti's younger sister (2021)

Production

Development

The filming of the series began in October 2020.

The series addresses the social issue of Bride buying custom prevailing in Haryana, with the story on the lines of the 2009 series Bandini which was also produced by Balaji Telefilms.

My character explores the harsh realities of the real world. I hope people connect with it and bring in change for the betterment of society. The main reason why I have picked up this character is that it challenges my set of skills as an actor, as there are no similarities between our lives. I was born and brought up in Delhi hence the word Molkki was alien to me. Going through the whole research and hearing the unheard sounds of life it's already been a beautiful experience in its own way. Yes, being an uptown girl playing a character that was born and brought up in rural areas requires a lot of research, study, and understanding of the way of their culture.

— Priyal Mahajan

"I have always experimented with my looks based on the characters that I portray on screen. My character in Molkki, Virendra Pratap Singh has a Haryanvi look and has a big, long mustache, hence I decided to grow a mustache to get into the character and according to me it also suits my personality."

— Amar Upadhyay

Release

The first promo of the series is released on 7 October 2020.

Reception

ThePrint stated the series tackled the issue of brides for sale when a girl, Purvi, is forced into marriage with the sarpanch who is twice her age, for money. ThePrint also said that the series was "as real as it gets" and that "the serial is set in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh where such marriage transactions are only too often the tragedy".

Influence

On 15 June 2021, the villagers of a small village in Rajasthan were inspired seeing the series and they decided to put a ban for Molkki Pratha in their village. Actor Amar Upadhyay later confirmed the same and was proud to change the thinking of people with their show

External links

• Molkki on IMDb
• Molkki on Voot