Mann Kee Awaaz Pratigya

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Mann Kee Awaaz Pratigya
Genre	Drama Romance
Created by	Spellbound Productions Walkwater Media Ltd
Written by	Pearl Grey Shanti Bhushan Vishal Watwani Ahsan Bakshi
Directed by	Ravindra Gautam Prasad Govandi Santosh Bhatt Jatin Ravasia Gurpreet Rana Arvind Gupta Sandeep Vijay
Creative director	Pearl Grey
Starring	Pooja Gor Arhaan Behll
Country of origin	India
Original languages	Hindi Awadhi
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	767
Production
Executive producer	Pearl Grey
Producer	Pearl Grey
Editor	Sameer Gandhi
Running time	20-22 minutes
Production companies	Spellbound Productions Walkwater Media Ltd
Original release
Network	Star Plus
Release	7 December 2009 (2009-12-07) – 27 October 2012 (2012-10-27)
Related
Mann Kee Awaaz Pratigya 2

Mann Kee Awaaz Pratigya (transl. The Voice from the Mind... Pledge) is an Indian drama television series that aired on STAR Plus.^[1] The series premiered on 7 December 2009 and ended on 27 October 2012.^[2] It starred Pooja Gor and Arhaan Behll. All episodes of the series re-telecasted at Star Bharat from October 2020 to March 2021. A new season of the series, Mann Kee Awaaz Pratigya 2, premiered on 15 March 2021 on Star Bharat, produced by Director's Kut Productions.^[3]

It is the story of a woman Pratigya Saxena who will go to any lengths to fight for her rights. Krishna Singh Thakur belongs to the Thakur family known for their power in Allahabad. The Thakurs, headed by Krishna's father, Sajjan Singh Thakur, are rooted deep in tradition and superstition. The Saxena family, however, are traditional but believe in progressive thinking and educating their daughters Pratigya and Aarushi.

Krishna is Pratigya's secret admirer, and he forces her to marry him. To protect Pratigya, her elder brother Adarsh marries Komal, Krishna's younger sister. Pratigya is not satisfied with her marriage, but over time she realises Krishna's genuine love for her. Angad, Pratigya's stalker from college, demands ₹5 Lakh and her younger sister Aarushi from her father Shyam Saxena as a token of revenge for his insult by Pratigya on many occasions also stating that if his claim is not fulfilled then he will disclose the fact that Pratigya was kidnapped by him to her in-laws leading to the annihilation of her marital life. Though Pratigya owned a pure character but as her father was scared because if the in-laws of Pratigya knew this fact then they would torture her. And due to this he agrees to this deal with Angad. On the other hand, Pratigya's older brother Adarsh overhears this and is involved in a skirmish with Angad. After a while Shyam arrives and tries to handle the situation but eventually in all this Angad falls into a deep trench while trying to hold Shyam's hand leading to his death.

After all this Shyam believes that he is the culprit of Angad's death and surrenders himself to protect Pratigya's marital life. On the other hand, Pratigya along with her elder brother Adarsh get in search of a lawyer to handle Shyam's case but fails to find so, thanks to the powerful influence of her father-in-law Thakur Sajjan Singh who don't want Shyam to come out of the jail because of the upcoming elections of Vidhan Sabha. However, eventually Pratigya and Adarsh succeed in finding a lawyer for Shyam, in Aman Mathur. Aman wins the case and Shyam comes out of jail but eventually, this lefts Krishna in deep shock as he and his family questions Pratigya's character even he leaves his house for many days due to this shock that the one he loved the most deceived him. Pratigya tried her level best to win the trust of Krishna but fails, but on one day when in grief Pratigya is on the verge of leaving him, she discloses her feelings for Krishna that now she has fallen for her and has realized that how much efforts Krishna has made to achieve her love, Krishna re-accepts her and their relation becomes stronger manifolds.

Aman, the erstwhile lawyer of Shyam, wants to marry Aarushi, which Shyam accepts. Jay, the younger brother of Aman, intentionally hits Adarsh with his father's car, causing serious injury and forcing him to walk on a wheelchair. Aman goes to meet the Saxenas along with his parents Sarveshwar Dayal Mathur and his mother, the former who is the IG of Prayagraj and known for strictly following his ideals and values. The Mathurs accept the marriage and are impressed with Aarushi and the Saxenas' behavior. However, Pratigya discovers that Aman Mathur is cheating on the Saxenas as she sees him with another girl many times. With the help of Krishna and his friend Chandu, she confirms the fact. One day before Aarushi's wedding, Krishna and Pratigya find out the address of the girl who was with Aman. The girl discloses the fact that she is Anu and is married to Aman but as her father and brother are in jail, Aman has kept his marriage with her as a secret to his family. On the marriage day, Anu deceives Pratigya and Krishna by declaring that she was an ex-client of Aman and her relation with him is nothing but a brother-sister relation. Pratigya and Krishna try their level best to stop the marriage as they knew the actual truth but eventually the marriage is cancelled by Sarveshwar Dayal himself.

Aarushi marries Shakti to take revenge from her older sister Pratigya for spoiling her marriage and prospective marital life. With time, Aarushi wins the hearts of Sajjan Singh and Thakurain, humiliating Pratigya by giving the example of the former as how an ideal daughter-in-law should be. Pratigya wants to protect Aarushi from her devil brother-in-law Shakti with the help of a Baba who states that "not even the shadow of Shakti should come closer to Aarushi at least for 21 days and she should worship the Lord in the temple for 21 days to prevent the clouds of crisis over the Thakur family." Shakti vows to kill his first wife Kesar to make his marriage with Aarushi as legally valid. He teams up with his parents Sajjan Singh and Thakurain by mixing venom in her milk so that she becomes unconscious and then be buried alive inside a coffin in a pit. When Shakti goes after burying Kesar, Dadi calls Pratigya by screaming her name, breaking her 21-year vow of not speaking. Pratigya immediately arrives and calls Krishna for help, and they rescue Kesar and take her to the hospital where she is cured.

Kesar files a complaint against her husband for poisoning her and misbehaving with her, and the police arrest him. The Thakurs blame Pratigya for all this, and the Saxenas believe that Adarsh's determination towards his ideals and moral values has led to his promotion in his job. Meanwhile, Kesar is pregnant and is sent to her hometown by the Saxenas. Sajjan decides to bring Kesar back and finds her on a bus going to her hometown. Krishna is often taunted by his family, including Pratigya, for not contributing to the welfare of the family. Due to Sajjan's influence, Shakti is bailed and decides not to work until Krishna starts working. Kesar decides to sell her mangalsutra and abort her child to completely detach herself from Shakti and is strictly instructed by Sajjan to not go out until she successfully delivers her child.

On the other hand, Adarsh plans to have dinner with his family in a restaurant but at the end he is stunned to see his boss in the same restaurant as he feared that his boss might tell his father that he has not got his promotion for his hardwork and determination towards his ethics and ideals but due to the robust influence of his father-in-law, i.e., Sajjan Singh. While Aarushi decides to complete her advanced computer course and firstly requests Adarsh for his financial aid, she becomes upset due to Komal's furious reply. Later on, she tells her father that instead of completing computer course she will start giving tuition to children. Whereas in the Thakur Niwas, Krishna lies to everyone that he's got a job, he lies just to send Shakti back to work again as he was upset to see his old father working tirelessly and continuously because of which he suffers a heat stroke as well; all the family members are pompous to hear that Krishna is now employed especially Pratigya. He is speechless to know that she is planning to celebrate Holi with his hard-earned money as in reality, he plays carrom the whole day with his besties Chandu and Tunna.

In the Saxena's house, Naina finds immense money in Komal's cupboard and tells everyone about it and after Adarsh's arrival he is questioned regarding it. Adarsh is furious about this and threatens to burn the money as his family members don't believe in him, meanwhile, Komal stops him immediately and asserts that the money is hers alone. Naina demands to know if Adarsh did something wrong to get the cash. Naina asks Adarsh to swear on her if the money is untainted. Adarsh fulfills his mother's wish and lies that the money is pure and his hard-earned money. As a result, the family is relieved, but Adarsh is disturbed due to his lie.

One day Pratigya received a piece of news that the article she wrote on "Restrictions on Educated Women after Marriage" is published in the newspaper and has received a tremendous response from the public. The Editor of the newspaper rewards her with a token of money and requests her to continue writing for them, she is extremely pleased and decides to first of all tell this good news to her beloved Krishna, but Krishna doesn't pick up her call and then Pratigya decides to meet Chandu in their nook to find out the workplace of Krishna. After arriving at the nook, she is stunned to see that Krishna is playing carrom with Chandu and Tunna in the name of work, as a result she is left heartbroken and returns home. After all this, Krishna is worried that Pratigya would have told about his deeds to all the family members but is shocked to see that instead of taunting him, his family members are praising him for his work. Later on, it is revealed that Pratigya gave her earned money to them by saying that it is the first salary of Krishna, while Krishna feels very guilty about taking credit for Pratigya's work.

During the Holi celebrations, a drunk Adarsh accepts his father-in-law Sajjan Singh as a god and provides his gratitude for promoting him, whereas, the Saxenas are stunned to hear this. And, after this tensions arise between Adarsh and his father Shyam as the latter was a strong follower of ideals and values, this even led to the separation of kitchen by Komal and several war of words between Komal and her in-laws.

Krishna's cousin Radhe misbehaves with Pratigya in the name of applying Gulal on her due to amorousness. In reply, Pratigya slaps him when he crosses his limits. Whereas, a drunk Krishna comes to know about all this when he sees an injury in Pratigya's wrist which was due to Radhe. Krishna vows to kill Radhe and chases him in every corner of the city, whereas Pratigya tries to chase Krishna to prevent him from doing so. In an accident, after Krishna brutally beats Radhe and is about to be shot by him, Pratigya comes in between and collapses. After several days of struggle with life and death she is discharged, and during this time Krishna realizes that how invaluable and inseparable she is for him. And to prove himself and to win her trust, he decides to open a dhaba along with Chandu and Tunna where the main dish would be Pratigya-special Chhole Bhature and Gulab Jamun. On Pratigya's advice, he names his dhaba as "Baba Ka Dhaba".

The show takes a leap when Pratigya and Krishna officially adopt Samar. The show ends with Pratigya giving birth to a daughter, and the whole family celebrates.

• Pooja Gor as Pratigya Saxena Singh Thakur: Naina and Shyam's elder daughter; Adarsh and Aarushi's sister; Krishna's wife; Kriti's mother; Samar's adoptive mother (2009−2012)^[4]
• Arhaan Behll as Krishna Singh Thakur: Sajjan and Sumitra's younger son; Shakti and Komal's brother; Abhimanyu's half-brother; Pratigya's husband; Kriti's father; Samar's adoptive father (2009−2012)^[5][6]

• Parvati Sehgal as Komal Singh Thakur Saxena: Sajjan and Sumitra's daughter; Shakti and Krishna's younger sister; Abhimanyu's half-sister; Adarsh's widow; Kartik's wife; Chinky's mother^[7][8] (2009–2012)
• Shahab Khan as Shyam Saxena: Naina's widower; Adarsh, Pratigya and Aarushi's father; Chinky and Kriti's grandfather (2009–2012)
• Monica Singh as Naina Saxena: Shyam's wife; Adarsh, Pratigya and Aarushi's mother; Chinky and Kriti's grandmother (2009–2011) (Dead)
• Avantika Hundal as Aarushi Saxena: Naina and Shyam's younger daughter; Adarsh and Pratigya's sister; Shakti and Tanmay's ex-wife.
• Ankit Gera / Aniruddh Singh as Adarsh Saxena: Naina and Shyam's son; Pratigya and Aarushi's brother; Komal's husband; Chinky's father^[9] (2009–2011) / (2012) (Dead)
• Drishti Hemdev as Chinky Saxena: Adarsh and Komal's daughter (2011–2012)
• Arya Dhramchand Kumar / Malhar Pandya as Kartik Saxena: Komal's second husband (2012)
• Kunal Karan Kapoor as Angad Yadav: Thug; Pratigya and Komal's foe (2010) (Dead)
• Mrunal Jain as ASP Iqbal Khan IPS Officer: Shyam's student; Pratigya and Aarushi's childhood friend; Krishna and Komal's wellwisher (2009–2012)
• Anupam Shyam as Sajjan Singh Thakur: Sumitra's husband; Shakti, Krishna, Komal and Abhimanyu's father; Chinky, Samar and Kriti's grandfather^[10] (2009–2012)
• Asmita Sharma as Sumitra Singh Thakur: Sankata's sister; Sajjan's wife; Shakti, Krishna and Komal's mother; Chinky, Samar and Kriti's grandmother (2009–2012)
• Jaswant Menaria as Shakti Singh Thakur: Sajjan and Sumitra's elder son; Krishna and Komal's brother; Abhimanyu's half-brother; Kesar and Menaka's husband; Samar's father; Aarushi's ex–husband (2009–2012)
• Kalpna Bohra / Aalika Sheikh as Kesar Shakti Singh Thakur: Shakti's first wife; Samar's mother ^[11] (2009–2012)
• Eklavya Ahir as Samar Singh Thakur: Kesar and Shakti's son; Krishna and Pratigya's adopted son (2011–2012)
• Soni Singh as Menaka Singh Thakur: Shakti's second wife (2011)
• Asha Sharma as Mrs. Saxena: Shyam's mother; Adarsh, Pratigya and Aarushi's grandmother (2009–2012)
• Mohit Malik as Advocate Abhimanyu Singh Yadav: Sajjan and Shakuntala's son; Shakti, Krishna and Komal's half-brother (2011–2012)
• Abhishek Rawat as Tanmay Srivastav: Aarushi's ex-husband; Adarsh's murderer
• Amita Udgata as Mrs. Singh Thakur: Sajjan's mother; Shakti, Krishna, Komal and Abhimanyu's grandmother
• Akhilendra Mishra as Sankata Singh: Sumitra's brother
• Sana Amin Sheikh as Ganga: Sajjan's mistress (2011)
• Deeya Chopra as Anu Mathur: Aman's wife (2011)
• Piyush Sahdev as Advocate Aman Mathur: Sarveshwardayal's second son; Gaurav and Jay's brother; Aarushi's ex-fiancé; Anu's husband (2010–2011)
• Sachin Sharma as Gaurav Mathur: Sarveshwardayal's eldest son; Aman and Jay's brother; Nandini's husband (2010)
• Mayank Arora as Jay Mathur: Sarveshwardayal's youngest son; Gaurav and Aman's brother (2010)
• Chetan Pandit as I.G. Sarveshwardayal Mathur: Gaurav, Aman and Jay's father (2010)
• Sehrish Ali as Roli: Pratigya's best friend; Adarsh's lover (2010)
• Manmohan Tiwari as Radhe
• Prachi Pathak as Maayi
• Kunal Jaisingh as Sarang "Gunga" (2011)
• Kunal Madhiwala as Lucky
• Dinesh Soi as Jugnu
• Vinay Rajput as Tunna
• Pratima Kazmi as Guru Maa
• Sonal Jha as Shakuntala:^[12] Sajjan's mistress; Abhimanyu's mother (2012)
• Nirbhay Wadhwa as Goon
• Raj Premi as Makhnu Singh
• Jaydeep Suri as Chandu
• Abner Reginald as Judge (in Angad Yadav murder case) (2010)
• Ruchi Savarn as Sunehri (2011)
• Chaitanya Choudhury as Abhishek: Neelima's husband; Pratigya's college friend (2011)
• Akanksha Juneja as Neelima: Abhishek's wife; Pratigya's college friend (2011)
• Neha Kaul as Meera: Krishna's one–sided lover (2011)
• Deepak Advani as Mr. Batra: Abhishek and Neelima's boss (2011)
• Deepika Singh as Sandhya
• Sanaya Irani as Khushi
• Manasi Parekh as Gulaal

As a part of promotion of the series before its launch, in December 2009, a campaign was done as Meri Pratigya at Nariman Point in Mumbai where along with lead Pooja Gor, 500 women as a chain to create an awareness on eve-teasing and ill treatment of women.^[13]

Parvati Sehgal who played Komal's role in the show was originally approached for Aarushi's role but got rejected because of a look test but later got selected for Komal's role when she was approached for the second time.^[14]

Falaq Naaz was originally signed to play an uneducated village girl Shakun in the show who was Abhimanyu's wife but things couldn't work out as she chose another show of Star Plus Khamoshiyan later her role got scrapped from the show.^[15] Rohit Khurana was finalized for Krishna's role but rejected it as he was busy with Uttaran at that time.

In mid 2011, Monica Singh playing Naina quit the series and was hoped for coming back after a break. However, as she refused returning, the makers decided to end her character and she agreed to shoot for two days but did not turn up. Thus, her character was mentioned dead in a car accident.^[16]

The series was off aired in October 2012. In early 2013, the series was confirmed returning with a new season based on story of lead character Pratigya and Krishna's daughters.^[17][18] Neha Marda was roped as one of the leads and the pilot episode was shot and approved by the channel but the series was dropped when the discussions between the production house and channel stalled.^[19] However, on 19 February 2021, the series was confirmed returning with a new season on Star Bharat.^[20][21] Mann Kee Awaaz Pratigya 2 premiered on 15 March 2021, is produced by former season producer Pearl Grey along with Rajan Shahi under Director's Kut Productions.^[22]

Based on the backdrop of Uttar Pradesh, Allahabad, the series was mainly filmed at sets in Film city in Mumbai while some sequences were also shot at Allahabad.^[23]

The Indian Express stated, "It's a perfect Hindi heartland show - over-the-top drama and aggressive, regressive as well as progressive in characters and content."^[24]

In November 2010, Deccan Herald criticised, "The serial that broke many a record on Star Plus because of its unique anti-eve teasing storyline, seems to have changed track completely. Today, it’s boiled down to a tale where a woman is humiliated at home, her self respect trampled on by her in-laws and husband instead of portraying her to be a strong woman who stands her ground."^[25]

The Hindu criticised, "From the current crop of serials, a very good example of enthusiastic consumption of a bizarre plot line is the serial “Mann ki Awaaz Pratigya”. The production house, Star TV, bills it a “fight against disrespect of women”. And what does the lead character do? She marries a goon who eve-teases her. Then she tells him that he can win her body but not her love. You fight disrespect by marrying the eve-teaser, taking the battle into his home."^[26]

Pratigya opened with a rating of 3.7 TVR.^[27] As in April 2010, it was one of the top ten Hindi GEC which garnered 4.5 TVR.^[28] As in July 2010, it was at second position with ratings ranging 4 to 5.3 TVR.^[29] In weeks 24 and 25 of 2010, it garnered 4.8 and 5.5 TVRs.^[30][31] In week 4 of 2011, it garnered 5.7 TVR.^[32] As in week 29 of 2011, it dropped to 3.9 TVR while its peak ratings garnered were around 6 TVR in its run time.^[24] In the week ending 27 September 2011, it garnered 4.27 TVR occupying fourth position.^[33] When the ratings dropped ranging between 2 and 2.5 TVR, it was off aired in October 2012.^[34]

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