Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii () is an Indian soap opera which ran on Star Plus from 16 October 2000 to 9 October 2008. One of the longest running Indian television soap opera, the series was created by Ekta Kapoor and produced by her company Balaji Telefilms, starring Sakshi Tanwar and Kiran Karmarkar in the lead roles.
The show explored the lives of Parvati and Om Agarwal, members of a Marwari joint family. Parvati is portrayed as the ideal daughter-in-law of the Agarwal family, while Om is depicted as the ideal son. The story revolves around Vishwanath Agarwal’s sons and their descendants.
The show also featured Ali Asgar as Kamal Agarwal, Anup Soni as Suyash Mehra, and Shweta Kawatra / Achint Kaur as Pallavi Agarwal in significant supporting roles. Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii consistently ranked among the top three Indian television shows during its run.
Plot The show is based mostly on the lives and struggles within a joint family. The story, spread over three generations, focuses mainly on Parvati, who is married to Om, and her journey as the ideal wife, daughter-in-law, mother, and grandmother. It depicts how sometimes one must stand against their loved ones to do what is morally right. The story ends on the day of Dussehra with the family celebrating and highlighting the triumph of good over evil.
It all begins with the happy Agarwal family. Vishwanath Agarwal comments on how he has always treated the daughters and daughters-in-law of the house with the same love and respect. He gives his oldest daughter-in-law, Parvati, his "mala". She says that she doesn’t think she should receive it, but he insists, saying that he thinks of her as the cord that goes through the chain holding all the beads together.
These happy times are soon disrupted when Vishwanath’s third son, Ajay Agarwal, refuses to marry the daughter of reputed businessman Mr. Bhandari. Babuji tells Ajay that he can either marry Pallavi Bhandari or leave the Agarwal house for good. Ajay opts to leave and, in a time of turmoil, Kamal steps forward to save the family and Pallavi from humiliation by agreeing to marry her.
The day Pallavi enters the house, Parvati is busy shifting a glass structure from one place to another. Pallavi walks in, and both collide. The structure collapses, shattering into a million pieces. Pallavi smiles secretly, hoping that from this day forth, whatever goes wrong in the house will go wrong because of her.
Pallavi begins her venomous attack on the Agarwals and makes Parvati’s life a living hell. Soon, due to Pallavi’s conspiracies, Parvati, Om, and Shruti leave the house. Before long, however, Parvati and Chhaya run their own conspiracy against Pallavi, who is eventually caught red-handed. Chhaya reveals that she and Parvati planned everything so the family could see Pallavi’s true nature. Kamal later leaves Pallavi at her father’s house, saying that’s where she belongs. Parvati and Om return home and are finally happy again, but Parvati later brings Pallavi back, saying that family must always stay together.
Time goes on, and Om brings home his friend’s blind daughter, Khushi Kantilal Shah, after her father passes away. The family vows to take care of her. However, on the night of her celebration party, she is raped. Parvati discovers that Om’s cousins, Devin and Rohan Garg, are responsible. Unfortunately, the men of the family believe Devin and Rohan, and Ajay even fights the case for them.
During the court case, Parvati motivates Avantika to continue fighting for justice, reminding her that when one must choose between “Dharma” and “Karma,” one’s actions (Karma) define their true Dharma. Eventually, Anamika produces a letter from Devin confessing to the crime, and Devin and Rohan are sentenced.
Not long after, Pallavi takes her revenge and throws the family out. Living in poverty, Om suffers a nervous breakdown. In desperation, Parvati begs Pallavi for money, appearing to surrender to her. Pallavi, unaware of Parvati’s plan, accepts her back. Parvati secretly works with Chhaya to regain the family’s honor, but when exposed, no one believes her, and she leaves the house heartbroken. Eventually, Om brings her back, and the family reconciles.
Twenty years later, Kamal’s son Krishna returns from abroad, and Shruti falls in love with Aryan Doshi. On the day of Shruti’s wedding, Parvati discovers that Monalika is carrying Aryan’s child. After a series of events involving face transplants, mistaken identities, and family conflicts, Parvati’s identity is revealed, and the family briefly reunites.
Later, new characters such as Sasha, Machan, Neel, and Rob (the Gargs) enter the story, claiming inheritance rights. The Agarwals lose everything, and Krishna’s reckless decisions worsen their downfall. Om’s extramarital affair with Trishna, his tragic death, and Parvati’s revenge against Suyash Mehra further twist the narrative.
Eventually, it’s revealed that Trishna and Rajeshwari were behind Om and Krishna’s deaths. Parvati is framed and imprisoned. Before leaving, she advises her granddaughter Pragati to take care of the family.
After twenty years, Trishna controls the Agarwal household, tormenting everyone. A new woman, Jhanki Devi — identical to Parvati — arrives. Over time, it is revealed that Jhanki is Parvati herself, who survived and returned to restore justice. She exposes Trishna, reunites with Om (who had survived but lost his memory), and reclaims peace for the family.
In the end, good triumphs over evil — Trishna is arrested, Om and Parvati reunite, misunderstandings are cleared, and the Agarwal family returns to happiness, with Parvati watching over them once again.
Cast Sakshi Tanwar as Parvati Om Agarwal / Parvati Suyash Mehra / Janki Devi / Swati Dixit / Ambika Sharma Kiran Karmarkar as Om Vishwanath Agarwal / Rishabh Rai Choudhary Mohnish Behl / Anup Soni as Suyash Mehra Shweta Kawatra / Achint Kaur as Pallavi Bhandari / Pammi Balraj Nanda Lily Patel as Rukmani Kedarnath Agarwal / Dadi Jyotsna Karyekar as Nani Deepak Qazir as Vishwanath Kedarnath Agarwal / Babuji Nayan Bhatt as Krishna Vishwanath Agarwal / Maaji Neelam Mehra as Vandana / Vandy Masi Aruna Irani as Narayani Devi Ali Asgar as Kamal Vishwanath Agarwal Tina Parekh as Shruti Sameer Kaul Shweta Basu Prasad as young Shruti Om Agarwal Naveeda Mehdi as Khushi Sachin Sharma / Sameer Sharma as Krishna Kamal Agarwal Poorva Gokhale / Rujuta Deshmukh / Pallavi Subhash Chandran as Advocate Gunn Krishna Agarwal Malavika Shivpuri as Mansi Garg Aamir Ali / Mazher Sayed as Sameer Kaul Abhay Vakil / Bobby Bhonsale as Parth Mita Vashisht as Trishna Kamal Agarwal Deepak Bajaj as Nikhil Mehra Smita Bansal as Nivedita Kamal Agarwal (dead) Ananya Khare / Rajeshwari Sachdev / Tisca Chopra as Ambika Sharma / Mallika Sanjay Doshi Romanchak Arora / Sandeep Rajora as Neeraj Vishwanath Agarwal Aparna Jaywant as Mitali Vishwanath Agarwal Kapil Soni as Vishal Oberoi Sheetal Thakkar as Preeti Vishal Oberoi Kiran Dubey as Rajeshwari Suyash Mehra Jaya Seal as Swati Dixit Rinku Dhawan as Chhaya Vikram Abdul Shaibaz as young Suyash Mehra Manav Gohil / Prakash Ramchandani as Vikram Gautam Chaturvedi as Gaurav Vishwanath Agarwal Neelam Sagar / Surbhi Tiwari / Suchita Trivedi / Jaya Mathur as Shilpa Gaurav Agarwal Rajeev Paul as Deven Garg Karishma Randhawa / Addite Shirwaikar Malik / Arunima Sharma as Sonu / Sunaina Mehta Prabhat Bhattacharya as Advocate Ajay Vishwanath Agarwal Kusumit Sana / Sweta Keswani / Nivedita Bhattacharya as Avantika Ajay Agarwal Manish Goel as Tushar Smita Kalpavriksha as Sonali Tushar Priya Wal as Aditi Agarwal Aashish Kaul as Rohan Garg Alihassan Turabi as Aryan Sanjay Doshi Kavita Kaushik as Manya Doshi Samar Jai Singh as Harpreet Gill Amit Rampal as Sanjog Harpreet Gill Gargi Sharma as Gurbani Harpreet Gill Lucky Raajput as Manohar Shabbir Ahluwalia as Saumil Umesh Dixit Chetan Hansraj as Shashank (Sasha) Garg Reena Kapoor as Srishti Kanika Maheshwari as Neelima Garg Diwakar Pundir as Sambhav Khanna Rupali Ganguly as Gayatri Om Agarwal Tannaz Irani as Mita Shivangi Sharma as Gauri Ishaan Kaul Adita Wahi / Preeti Gupta as Mayuri Shikhar Mehra Rohit Bakshi as Shikhar Suyash Mehra Archana Bhatt Malkani as Pragati Agarwal / Pragati Akash Sharma Jeetu Malkani / Nivaan Sen as Pranay Kaul Shalini Chandran as Maithili Pranay Kaul Jatin Shah as Vikramaditya (Adi) Mehra Shraddha Musale / Praneeta Sahu as Malishka Akshita Kapoor as Tanu Kaul Urmila Tiwari as Sunaina Rai Chaudhary Parul Juneja as Neha Varun Mehta Varun Khandelwal as Varun Mehta Gaurav Gupta as Ronit Agarwal Ali Merchant as Bharat Agarwal Mandar Degvekar as Tiny Agarwal Barsha Chatterjee as Shivangi Ishaan Kaul Suhaas Ahuja as Sharath Raj Nanda / Sissy Panchi Bora as Prachi Mishra (guest appearance) Madhura Naik as Tanya Nanda / Sam Rocky Verma as Manager Waghale Sanjeet Bedi as Advocate Kothari Shraddha Nigam as Advocate Ambika Garima Bhatnagar as Garima Rai Chaudhary Mukul Dev as Vijay Agarwal Hrishikesh Pandey as Advocate Natkarni Anang Desai as Balraj Nanda Tarana Raja as Siri Sai Ballal as Avantika's father Salim Shah as Inspector Krishna Kanth (K.K.) Sushmita Mukherjee as Romilla Nanda Shubhavi Choksey as Advocate Rishika Rai Chaudhary Rajeev Bharadwaj / Karan Patel as Vigyaat Agarwal Puneet Vashisht as Viraj Agarwal Harsh Chhaya as Sandeep Sickand Poonam Joshi as Chhavi Surekha Sikri Jayati Bhatia as Dr. Shweta Kundan Waghmare Vivek Mushran as Bhushan Kaul Bharat Chawda as Ishaan / Chotu Manasi Varma as Monalika Agarwal Kwaljeet Singh as Machan Garg Raj Singh Arora as ACP Ashutosh Suyash Mehra / Ashutosh Parvati Mehra / Ashu Rituraj Singh as Sanjay Doshi Sikandar Kharbanda as Yash Garg Indira Krishnan as Anjana Harpreet Gill Bhuvnesh Mann as Ankit / Akash Sharma Sanjeev Tyagi as Mr. Malhotra
Cameo appearances Shweta Tiwari as Prerna Sara Khan as Sadhna Parul Chauhan as Ragini Sanaya Irani as Gunjan Arjun Bijlani as Mayank Aditi Bhagwat as Ashlesha
Production Development Initially, Kahanii was offered to Zee TV. However, when they declined the offer, it was picked up by Star Plus.
Sakshi Tanwar was initially offered the role of a sister in law Parvati by Ekta Kapoor while playing the role of a sister in law in Karam which she rejected as she thought her role of a sister in law could not be the lead. Even when she was given narration of the story she rejected again as it required her to play the role of a mother to a teenager. Then, when Kapoor reduced the age of the characters in story by ten years, Tanwar rejected again as she was not willing to shift from Delhi to Mumbai for her daily soap shooting considering her routine would become affected. After discussions with Kapoor she decided to shoot for 15 days in Mumbai in a month for it so that the other days she could stay in Delhi.
When the ratings of the series slightly declined, Kapoor decided and on 15 November 2006, the story took a generation leap of 18 years.
Filming Kahaani was initially shot at sets of Balaji House in Andheri. Then, in January 2003 it was shifted to Sankraman Studio, studio number eight A at Goregaon and later changed into killick nixion studio set number 6. In September 2007, due to the dipping viewership, considering the current set location unlucky and the previous set Sankraman lucky, Kapoor decided and shifted it back there. Some sequences of the series was also shot at foreign locations in Australia.
Crossover On 19 June 2006, Kahaani had a crossover with Kkavyanjali. In 2007 and 2008, the series had a crossover with Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi.
Reception Critical reception The series was critically acclaimed during its premiere for showcasing the concept of an actual joint family and the challenges faced by the newer generations within such a system. The way in which the storyline was presented was widely appreciated.