Diya Aur Baati Hum

Sandhya and Sooraj live happily with Ved. After many turns, the Rathis find out that Vansh never died, but was raised by Ankur and Ankita, who plotted the whole kidnapping fiasco. Sandhya cuts all ties with Ankur, but lets him keep the child for the sake of Vansh's happiness.

As Sooraj dreams of opening a big hotel and works for it along with Sandhya, she gets appointed for an extremely perilous mission Mahabhali, to track a dangerous terrorist and defeat him in his own territory in West Bengal faking her identity as Sagarika.

Therefore, Sandhya leaves and enact her own death in a train accident. The family presume her dead. Sooraj loses his dreams and mental stability due to the shock of Sandhya's death and refuses to believe it. Santosh starts detesting Sandhya as she holds her responsible for Sooraj's condition.

Santosh wants Sooraj to marry Laalima Agarwal, for whom she believes will be able to help him get better. Meanwhile, Sandhya battles with the difficulties of Mahabhali and eventually manages to sabotage their plan but her identity is exposed. The terrorists capture and almost torture her to death.

Soon, Sooraj finds out Sandhya is indeed alive and joins along on the mision to help Sandhya. After successfully completing the mission, they return home. However, Santosh refuses to forgive Sandhya. Sandhya faces a stiff competition with Laalima, who falls for Sooraj.

But, Sooraj and Sandhya's love wins and Santosh forgives her as Laalima gives up. Later, Sooraj's youngest brother Mohit is shot to death after attempting to molest Laalima by Santosh. With the help of women's rights activists, Sandhya bails her out.

Santosh hates Pakistan because of a tragic accident on the border which took her younger brother's life when they were children. Not knowing Arzoo is from Pakistan, she fixes her alliance with Aryan. At first, Sandhya suspects Arzoo of being a terrorist.

Later, Sandhya not only saves Arzoo from the terrible misunderstanding, but also helps her get accepted by Santosh. Sooraj meets with an accident and gets stuck in a wheelchair. Sandhya decides to run his confectionary shop by leaving her job, much to Sooraj and the family's displeasure.

As Sandhya delivers a daughter named Kanak, Sooraj overcomes his disability and is able to walk to run his shop. Sandhya gets a proposal from commissioner and joins the police again before meeting IPS Arpita Khanna, who considers Sandhya as her rival at first but later becomes among her best allies.

Soon, Vansh discovers the truth of his birth parents but hates them for giving him away. Four terrorists kill Ankur and Ankita and also take the residents of the Rathis' neighbourhood hostage, including them. Sandhya and Sooraj bravely rescue the civilians.

Upon seeing his parents' selflesness and courage, Vansh forgives them and the family is reunited, but not for long. Sandhya and Sooraj unsuccessfully try a trap for the terrorists and punish them. The leader kidnaps Kanak and makes Sandhya and Sooraj eat bomb pills.

Sandhya and Sooraj bid their farewell to family and others by jumping into river before exploding. Sandhya's mangalsutra and Sooraj's chain becomes entangled in the water before the setting Sun, highlighting that even death cannot separate them.

• Deepika Singh as IPS Sandhya Rathi– Kanchan and Arvind's daughter; Ankur's younger sister; Sooraj’s wife; Ved, Vansh and Kanak’s mother. (2011–16) (Dead)
• Anas Rashid as Sooraj Rathi– Santosh and Arun's elder son; Vikram, Mohit, Chavvi's brother; Sandhya’s husband; Ved, Vansh and Kanak’s father. (2011–16) (Dead)

• Neelu Vaghela as Santosh Rathi (Bhabo) –Arun's wife; Sooraj, Vikram, Mohit and Chavi's mother. (2011–16)
• Ashok Lokhande as Arun Rathi (Bhabasa) – Santosh's husband; Sooraj, Vikram, Mohit and Chavi's father. (2011–16)
• Gautam Gulati/Karan Goddwani as Vikram Rathi – Santosh and Arun's second son; Meenakshi's husband; Mishri and Golu's father (2011–14)/(2014–2016)[6]
• Kanika Maheshwari as Meenakshi Rathi (Meena)–Vikram's wife; Mishri and Golu's mother (2011–16)
• Varun Jain as Mohit Arun Rathi– Santosh and Arun's youngest son; Emily's husband; Pari's father (2011–15) (Dead)
• Sehrish Ali as Chavi Arun Rathi– Santosh and Arun's daughter; Dilip's divorced wife (2011–16)
• Aryan Sharma as Young Aryan Rathi (Chotu) (2011–15)
• Rashmi Pitre as Chaturi– Rathi family's house hold help (2011–14, 2016)
• Varun Khandelwal as Ankur Arvind Kothari– Kanchan and Arvind's son; Sandhya's elder brother; Ankita's husband (2011–16) (Dead)
• Urmila Nimbalkar/Shubha Uplopwar/Unknown as Ankita Ankur Kothari- Ankur's wife; Bulbul's mother (2011–13)/(2014–15)/(2016) (Dead)
• Rakesh Kukreti as Arvind Kothari– Ankur and Sandhya's father (2011) (Dead)
• Surbhi Tiwari as Kanchan Arvind Kothari– Ankur and Sandhya's mother (2011) (Dead)
• Urmila Sharma as Daisaa- Rathi's neighbour (2011–16)
• Kanishka soni as Kavita - Daisaa's daughter in law (2011–16)
• Ruchi Savarn as Preeti (2011)
• Nupur Alankar as Kisna (2011)
• Kiran Bhargava as Malti Agarwal – Owner of the night college where Sandhya studied (2012)[7]
• Unknown as Sudha – Meenakshi's younger sister (2012–14)
• Ragini Shah as Maa Sa (2012, 2013, 2016)
• Deepak Gheewala as Dado Sa (2012, 2013)
• Gaurav Sharma as Rajkumar – Maya's brother; A terrorist (2012, 2014) (Dead)
• Satyam Seth as Dilip- Chavi's ex-husband (2013–15)
• Pooja Singh as Emily Mohit/Om Rathi–Mohit's wife; Om's second wife; Pari's mother (2013–16)
• Pallavi Rao as Kajri (2013)
• Eijaz Khan as Abhimanyu Singh (2013)
• Preeti Chaudhary as Kavita Sharma (2013–14)
• Charu Asopa as Roma Reddy (2014)
• Alan Kapoor as IPS Rahul Kapoor (2014)
• Keith Sequeira as Officer Roy (2014)
• Vindhya Tiwari as Prema (2014) (Dead)
• Jyoti Sharma as Disha (2014) (Dead)
• Gurdeep Kohli as Maya/Baijii – Rajkumar's sister; The terrorist leader who hijacks the plane. (2014) (Dead)
• Arjun Punj as IPS Arjun Chaudhary (2014)
• Sonam Lamba as Shalu – One of the passengers in the hijacked plane (2014)
• Manini Mishra as Officer Agrima Singh (2014–15)
• Neil Bhatt as IPS Zakir Siddiqui (2014–15)
• Lavneet Rajput as Young Bulbul Kothari – Ankur and Ankita's daughter. (2014–15)[8]
• Devyansh Tapuriah as Ved Rathi– One of the Sandhya and Sooraj's twin son; Vansh and Kanak's elder brother. (2015–16)[9]
• Ricky Patel as Vansh Ankur Kothari / Vansh Sooraj Rathi (2015–16)
• Reem Sheikh as Mishri Vikram Rathi– Meenakshi and Vikram's daughter; Golu's elder sister (2015–16)
• Sadhil Kapoor[9]/Kiran Mohnani as Golu Rathi – Vikram and Meenakshi's son; Mishri's younger brother (2015)/(2016)
• Drisha Kalyani as Pari Rathi – Mohit and Emily's daughter (2015–16)
• Randeep Rai/Kunal Khosla as Adult Aryan Rathi (Chotu)– Rathi's adoptive son; Arzoo's husband (2015)/(2016)[10][11]
• Shivshakti Sachdev as Bulbul Kothari – Ankur and Ankita's daughter (2015)[8]
• Rituraj Singh as Mahendra Singh – Kabaddi Coach of Sooraj and his team (2015)[12]
• Ridhi Dogra as Kabaddi Coach Aditi (2015)
• Jignesh Mehta as Avinash – One of the players in Sooraj's Kabbadi team (2015)
• Vicky Arora as Ratan – One of the players in Sooraj's Kabaddi team (2015)
• Banty Chopra as Lakhan – One of the players in Sooraj's Kabaddi team (2015)
• Sandeep Nahar as Babban – One of the players in Sooraj's Kabaddi team (2015)
• Arun Singh Rana as Prem – Sooraj's Kabaddi Team Captain (2015)
• Aadesh Chaudhary as Chandrashekhar – Leader of terrorist group Garjana Sangh (Chandu) (2015) (Dead)
• Bharat Singh Jadon as Ashok (2015-2016)
• Amit Dolawat as Himanshu Dubey – Manjari's son (2015)[13]
• Ekta Tiwari as Devi Narayani (2015)
• Vaishali Thakkar as Manjari – Himanshu's mother (2015)
• Shalini Arora as Yashoda (2015)
• Shefali Sharma as Laalima Agarwal – Lokesh's sister (2015–16)
• Akshay Batchu as Lokesh Agarwal – Laalima's brother (2015–16)
• Sarwar Ahuja as IPS Satyadev Tripathi – Head investigator of Mohit's murder case (2015–16)
• Prachi Tehlan as Arzoo Rathi– Aryan's wife.(2016)
• Joyoshree Arora as Resham- Arzoo's grandmother. (2016)
• Rukhsar Rehman as Mehak (2016)
• Deepraj Rana as Gul Mohammad (2016)
• Abhinav Shukla as Om Rathi- Poorvi's first husband; Emily's second husband. (2016)
• Pooja Sharma as Poorvi Om Rathi- Om's first husband. (2016)
• Rishina Kandhari as Arpita Khanna – Sandhya's co-officer (2016)
• Anshul Trivedi as Amit (2016)
• Vishal Jethwa as Chhota Packet – The leader of the terrorist group who subjugate Hanuman street (2016)
• Akhil Kataria as PP (2016)
• Ashish Chowdary as Jimmy (2016)
• Unknown as Rocky (2016)

• Devoleena Bhattacharjee for Dance Performance: as Gopi Modi from Saath Nibhaana Saathiya (2016)[14]
• Gurmeet Choudhary and Debina Bonnerjee for Dance Performance during Holi (2016)[15]
• Ragini Khanna as herself (2014)[16]
• Aamir Khan to promote his show Satyamev Jayate (2012)[17]
• Salman Khan and Sonakshi Sinha to promote their film Dabangg 2 (2012)[18]
• Shahrukh Khan as Quizmaster to promote Chennai Express (2013)[19]

Speaking about the series before its premiere, Nitin Vaidya, the business Head of Star Plus said, "It's undeniable that in India, traditionally the women's role is seen as bride, wife or mother, within the geographical parametres of her home. This show aims at breaking that mould and raising public acceptance to women stepping out of their homes towards self fulfilment. Diya aur Bati Hum is another testimony of Star Plus' programming ethos - 'Rishta Wahi, Soch Nayi'."[20]

Anas Rashid was cast[21] as Sooraj, lead protagonist of the show, Deepika Singh opposite Rashid was cast as Sandhya while Kanika Maheshwari[22] was cast as the main antagonist of the show. Kiran Bhargava[7] entered the show with a reprise roles, the story will be focusing on Sandhya's Dream where she decides to fulfill her dream and joins a night college where the situation will be worse for her. Sooraj and his family is unaware about Sandhya's decision and Kiran[7] is the owner of the night college.

In August 2014, Neelu Vaghela playing Santosh decided quit the series owing health issues and her death sequence was also shot.[23] But the popular demand from both viewers and channel made her to continue and the track was altered.[24]

Due to its fluctuating ratings, it was reported to go off air on 15 August 2016.[25] But, it received an extension for about a month and ended on 10 September 2016.[26] However, before the series was about to end, it was reported to come back with a sequel series owing its popularity.[27] Within seven months, the sequel titled as Tu Sooraj Main Saanjh, Piyaji premiered and aired from 3 April 2017 to 1 June 2018 for 365 episodes.[28]

The series is based on the backdrop of Pushkar, Rajasthan.[29][30] The series is mainly filmed on the sets created in Mira road, Mumbai.[31][32] Some of the scenes were filmed in Rajasthan including Pushkar, Ajmer and Bikaner.[33] The final scene of the series was filmed in Udaipur.[34] In June 2012, the sequence of lead character Sooraj's cooking competition was filmed in Singapore for 10 days.[35] For that, the upcoming episodes were shot well in advance before going there such that shooting did not happen for 12 days after it in India.[36]

From December 2013 for a few months, the main IPS training sequence of lead character Sandhya was shot at Haryana Police Commando Complex in Newal, Karnal and the initial promo of the sequence being shot in a ground at Matunga.[37][38][39] During which, in April 2014 the sequence of a training in Jungle was shot at Ghodbunder road, Thane, Maharashtra.[40]

In March 2015, the storyline took a five years leap.[41] Soon, in the same year, in July, it took a three years leap.[42]

In 2016, the sequences of the character Arzoo in Pakistan was shot at Bhopal which was shown in the series as Pakistan.[43]

Singh and Rashid continuously ran for about 12 hours for filming the last sequence for 2 days.[44]

It was dubbed in Telugu on Star MAA as Eetharam Illalu.[65] In the Tamil it was dubbed under the title, En Kanavan En Thozhan on Star Vijay.[66] However both the versions were discontinued by the respective channels after airing 1,203 and 1,077 episodes.

Internationally it aired in Sri Lanka dubbed into Sinhala as Swapna on Sirasa TV[67] and in Vietnam dubbed in Vietnamese as Vợ tôi là cảnh sát on VTVCab 5 Echannel, although the ending was altered with the family celebrating.[68][69] It also airs in Afghanistan in Pashto on Lmar TV as د مینې ډيوه.[70] On 2 January 2017 Diya Aur Baati Hum started airing also in Slovakia as Sandhya - svetlo môjho života.[71] It also began airing on CVM Television in Jamaica on 1 May 2017, as Made For Each Other. It also began airing on TV1 in Lithuania as "Mano gyvenimo šviesa".[72] In Indonesia, the series is dubbed in Indonesian under the title Sandya, and aired on Indosiar.[73]

It also aired in Romania as Destine Implinite,[74] Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Bulgaria as Svetlinata Na Moya Jivot, in Estonia as Hingesugulased Macedonia, Russia as Svet Tvoey Lyubvi, Kazakhstan, Sri Lanka, Thailand as Likhit rak ni pheux thex, Vietnam, Uganda, Nigeria, Lithuania, Georgia as Dinastia, Cambodia as Veasna Kon Brosa Srey, Indonesia and Pakistan and was watched by more than 148 million viewers worldwide.[75]

The series was remade in other languages in India in

• Marathi as Mansicha Chitrakaar Toh on Star Pravah[76][77]
• Malayalam as Parasparam on Asianet[78]
• Bengali as Tomay Amay Mile on Star Jalsha[79][80]
• Kannada as Akashadeepa on Asianet Suvarna[81]

However the Bengali, Marathi and Kannada versions were stopped after 992, 377 and 700+ episodes, while the Malayalam version has completed 1,524 episodes which was more than the original version on Asianet. It was one of the top rated and longest ran serial on Malayalam Television and received lot of Awards and appreciation.[78]