Shakti - Astitva Ke Ehsaas Ki

Soumya is a simpleton. Nimmi has bore Maninder a second daughter Surbhi, who gets all love and attention in the family. Soumya is hated by Maninder and his mother Nalini, but loved by Nimmi. Later Nalini misleads Surbhi that Soumya destroyed and cut all her favorite toys. Believing Nalini, Surbhi pushes Soumya into a river but she is rescued and forgives her despite being aware that she did this to her.

Soumya and Surbhi have grown up. Surbhi decides to teach lesson to a spoilt troublemaker, Harman Singh. Wanting to take revenge, Harman decides to kidnap Surbhi but ends up kidnapping Soumya. To avoid social embarrassment, Harak orders Harman to marry Soumya and they get married. Soon, Harman develops feelings for her.

Soumya learns that she is a transgender. When she tells Harman, he is enraged. Preeto finds out about Soumya and exiles her to a transgender society. She asks Harman for a second wife. He disagrees. Nimmi dies of a heart attack, and Harman having rescued Soumya brings her back to his house. His family refuse to accept her.

Preeto convinces Soumya to get Harman and Surbhi married, to which Surbhi agrees. Harman weds Surbhi but refuses to give her Soumya's place. Kareena tries to create problems in Soumya's life but in vain. Surbhi realizes Harman and Soumya are made for each other. She files for a divorce.

Soumya and Harman adopt an orphan Aditya. Preeto reveals that she was married to Nihaal but after a year of their marriage, he chose mocking and left her, after which Harak wed Preeto and she later bore him Harman and Raavi. She tells Soumya's truth to the orphanage, and they take away Aditya.

Soumya and Harman leave the house but Preeto permits them to stay together. Refused by Harman to reveal her truth to the city everytime, Soumya begins feeling that Harman loves her beauty. She decides to live according to her identity and leaves for Bangkok with Mallika's help.

Harman learns about Soumya's whereabouts and decides to re-win her. Maharani kidnaps Soumya and tries to sell her, but Harman comes to save her and she realizes that his love is true for her. Surbhi and Varun get married. Misunderstandings between Harak and Preeto due to Mohini lead Preeto to leave the house.

Soumya rescues her due to which she gets acceptance by Preeto. When she decides to reveal Soumya's truth, Harak blackmails to divorce her. Maharani returns to ruin Soumya's life, but falls into a river and goes missing. All things sort out as Preeto returns to her family.

Kareena causes problems between Harman and Soumya before Harman meets with an accident. He decides to marry Jasleen and Soumya leaves for his happiness, but he realizes his love for her and Jasleen calls off the wedding. Harman is too late to stop Soumya as she visits Ludhiana.

Soumya meets toy shopkeeper Sameer Singh and they become friends, and she helps him in managing his shop. Unhappy with her marriage to Ballu, Raavi files for divorce and indulges in an affair with Jeet. She gets pregnant and they marry. Sameer starts falling for Soumya before learning the truth.

Sameer's mother Gopika, believing Soumya is gold digger for his shop, kidnaps her. Sameer saves Soumya after meeting Harman. Soumya and Harman reunite. Veeran, Varun and Ballu beat Soumya and Harman and throw them in river. They are taken to the hospital but lose their memory.

With no previous memories of one another, their relationship starts off as mutual disliking but later, they become friends. Ballu gets Jeet arrested falsely and blackmails Raavi. Harak finds out Harman and takes him back. While on Harak's orders, Sameer returns, telling Soumya that he is her fiancé and brings her to his home.

Lavneet falls for Harman and tries to kill Soumya. She kidnaps Harman, and Raavi follows her but gets stabbed by her and miscarries. Harman and Soumya elope, developing attraction. Soon, they recall everything and unite. Pregnant, Surbhi returns from Delhi. Varun attacks her and she dies after giving birth to Soham.

On her deathbed, Surbhi asks Soumya to accept and take care of Soham. Varun tries to win Soham's custody with Sukhwinder's help. Soumya and Harman defeat Varun through help from Rajat and get him reunited with Sneha. Later Soumya brings a man to her in-laws family and he turns out to be Nihaal.

As Preeto asks Nihaal to leave, he dies of heart attack and she is forced to do widow rituals. Preeto holds Soumya responsible for it and starts detesting her again. Soumya takes away Soham to live with transgenders and searches for work. She gets the job of being caretaker for Sunil Bansal's son Vedant.

Hating Soumya at first, Vedant falls for her and confesses it; she rejects him. He falsely frames Harman to get him jailed and asks Soumya to fake marrying him in exchange of his freedom. Helpless, Soumya agrees. Harman feels that Soumya has cheated on him and marries Mahi in jealousy.

Harman is suffering liver problems due to excessive drinking and blames his family when he learns about Mahi's . Vedant's sister Rekha, brother-in-law Vidhaan and nephew Rohan arrive on a holiday from London. Rohan develops a strong bond with Soumya.

When Rekha learns Soumya's truth she leaves along with Vidhaan and Rohan. They meet with an accident, where Rohan is saved but Rekha and Vidhaan die. Shattered, Vedant tries to forcefully marry Soumya. Sunil informs Harman who rescues Soumya and assaults Vedant.

Vedant pushes Harman off a cliff and is arrested. Harman is declared dead. Devastated, Soumya promises Sunil that she will raise Rohan as her nephew. Mahi delivers a transgender named Heer and wants to disown her. Preeto and Soumya stop and threaten her to hide this.

Heer and Soham grow up, with Rohan. Heer is a bubbly young girl, loved by Soumya and Preeto but hated by Mahi. Vedant escapes to exact revenge on and take away Soumya, but is arrested again. Shanno gets to know about Heer being a transgender. Mallika also reveals Heer's truth to Harak.

Heer falls unconscious. Harak tries to shoot her. Soumya, to save her comes in between and falls into a river. Harak is arrested. Dr. Gayatri saves and gives Soumya a place in her house, while Reet gets admission in Heer, Rohan and Soham's school and they become friends.

As Harak learns Soumya is alive, he plans to kill her but Gayatri shifts to Maninder's new house mistakenly with Soumya and Reet for a few days, on Preeto's insistence. Maninder and Nalini realise their misdeeds towards Soumya. Eventually, Soumya recovers and unites with her family.

Harak meets Preeto through police and asks her to send Soumya away from their life in exchange of Heer's acceptance. Soumya agrees and somehow goes out of the country, leaving Heer, Rohan and Soham tearful. Shanno tells Varun and a plan of him works, as Soumya meets with accident and dies.

Heer has become beautiful and chirpy, fiercely protected by Soham and Rohan. She misses Soumya. Virat proposes Heer for an agreement who mistakes this as real before learning the truth but they become friends and develop feelings for each other. They express their love and plan to marry.

Sant Baksh finds out Heer's truth and gets Virat engaged to Jharna. Heer tries to break the engagement in disguise. As all plans fail and still the families refuse to accept them together, Virat and Heer visit a temple and marry. Sant Baksh severes all ties with Virat and throws him out of the family.

In actual Sant Baksh and Parmeet, who want Virat to reform after being homeless, join Preeto and Harak, as they all want to separate the couple.

• Mahira Khurrana as Young Soumya Singh (2016)
• Rubina Dilaik as Soumya Singh: Nimmi and Maninder's daughter; Surbhi's sister; Harman's first wife; Soham and Heer's adoptive mother (2016–2020) (Dead)[4]
• Vivian Dsena as Harman Singh: Preeto and Harak's son, Raavi's brother; Soumya and Mahi's husband; Surbhi's former husband; Soham's adoptive father; Heer's father (2016–2019) (Dead)[5]
• Sumaiya Khan as Young Heer Singh (2019–2020)
• Jigyasa Singh as Heer Singh: Mahi and Harman's daughter; Soumya's adoptive daughter; Virat's wife (2020–present)
• Simba Nagpal as Virat Singh: Parmeet and Sant Baksh's son; Daljeet and Simran's brother; Heer's husband (2020–present)

• Kamya Panjabi as Preeto Kaur Singh: Payal's daughter; Sukha's sister; Harak's wife; Nihaal's former wife; Harman and Raavi's mother (2016–present)
• Sudesh Berry as Harak Singh: Nihaal and Veeran's brother; Preeto's husband; Harman and Raavi's father (2016–present)
• Reena Kapoor as Nimmi Kaur Singh: Anjana's daughter; Mahinder wife; Soumya and Surbhi's mother (2016) (Dead)
• Ayub Khan as Mahinder Singh: Nalini's son; Nimmi's husband; Soumya and Surbhi's father (2016–2019, 2019–2020) (Dead)
• Sareeka Dhillon as Mahi Singh: Harman's third wife; Heer's mother (2019–present)
• Gauri Tonk/Jasveer Kaur as Parmeet Singh: Sant Baksh's wife; Virat, Daljeet and Simran's mother (2020–present)
• Parag Tyagi as DSP Sant Baksh Singh: Baksh's son; Parmeet's husband; Virat, Daljeet and Simran's father (2020–present)
• Garima Jain/Pooja Singh as Raavi Singh: Preeto and Harak's daughter; Harman's sister; Ballu's former wife; Jeet's wife; Chintu's mother; Rohan's adoptive mother (2016–present)
• Roshni Sahota/Iti Kaurav as Surbhi Varun Singh: Nimmi and Maninder's daughter; Soumya's sister; Harman and Varun's former wife; Soham's mother (2016–2019) (Dead)
  • Tasheen Shah as Young Surbhi Singh (2016)
• Lakshya Handa as Varun Singh: Nihaal, Harak and Veeran's nephew; Surbhi's former husband; Sweety's husband; Soham's father (2016–2019, 2019–2020)
• Avinash Mukherjee as Soham Singh: Surbhi and Varun's son; Harman and Soumya's adoptive son (2020–present)
  • Vivaan Sharma as Young Soham Singh (2019–2020)
• Meherzan Mazda as Rohan Singh: Rekha and Vidhaan's son; Raavi's adoptive son; Soumya's adoptive nephew (2020–present)
  • Unknown/Meet Mukhi as Young Rohan Singh (2019–2020)
• Aakash Talwar as Daljeet Singh: Parmeet and Sant Baksh's son; Virat and Simran's brother; Gurwinder's husband (2020–present)
• Ekroop Bedi as Gurwinder Singh: Daljeet's wife (2020–present)
• Rachana Mistry as Simran Singh: Sant Baksh and Parmeet's daughter; Virat and Daljeet's sister (2020–present)
• Bhuvan Chopra as Veeran Singh: Harak's brother; Shanno's husband; Sindhu's father (2016–present)
• Aarya Rawal as Shanno Singh: Veeran's wife; Sindhu's mother (2016–present)
• Nidhi Bhavsar/Vaani Sharma as Sindhu Singh: Veeran and Shanno's daughter; Ankush's wife (2019–present)
  • Mahek Thaakur as Young Sindhu Singh (2016–2017)
• Mamta Luthra as Nalini Singh: Maninder's mother; Soumya and Surbhi's grandmother (2016–2019, 2019–2020) (Dead)
• Kanwarjit Paintal as Baksh Singh: Sant Baksh's father; Virat, Daljeet and Simran's grandfather (2020–present)
• Unknown as Anjana Singh: Nimmi's mother; Soumya and Surbhi's grandmother (2016–2019) (Dead)
• Ekta Singh as Saaya/Mallika: Transgender; Milkha's sister (2016–present)
• Chhavi Awasthi as Chameli: Transgender (2017–present)
• Prerna Panwar as Nutan: Transgender (2020–present)
  • Unknown as young Nutan (2020)
• Kishori Shahane as Sharmani: Transgender (2016–2017)
• Kajol Saroj as Kareena: Transgender; Soumya's enemy (2016–2018, 2019)
• Prakash Ramchandani as Nihaal Singh: Harak and Veeran's brother; Preeto's former husband (2019) (Dead)
• Anand Goradia as Maharani: Transgender (2017, 2017–2018, 2019)
• Sahil Uppal as Vedant Bansal: Sunil's son; Rekha's brother;, Soumya's fake husband (2019)
• Rajesh Puri as Sunil Bansal: Harak and Harman's business rival; Vedant and Rekha's father (2019)
• Shweta Sinha as Rekha Bansal Singh: Sunil's daughter; Vedant's sister; Vidhaan's wife; Rohan's mother (2019) (Dead)
• Emir Shah as Monty: Harman's friend (2016)
• Mahi Sharma as Kalsi: Soumya and Surbhi's best friend (2016–2017)
• Shiwani Chakraborty as Mahima: Harman's former fiancée (2016)
• Sara Khan as Mohini: Harak's former mistress (2017–2018, 2018)
• Sonyaa Ayodhya as Jharna Narula: Uttam's daughter; Virat's former fiancé (2020)
• Naveen Saini as DIG Uttam Narula: Jharna's father (2020)
• Krutika Desai Khan as Payal Singh: Preeto and Sukha's mother (2018)
• Sonal Handa as Jeet Singh: Motilal's son; Jasleen's brother; Raavi's husband (2018)
• Amrita Prakash as Jasleen Kaur Singh: Motilal's daughter; Jeet's sister; Harman's childhood friend (2018)
• Hemant Choudhary as Motilal Singh: Jasleen and Jeet's father; Harak's friend (2018)
• Dheeraj Gumbar as Sumit Kapoor (2018)
• Sahil Mehta as Sameer Singh (2018)
• Tiya Gandwani as Lavneet Kaushal (2018)
• Alka Mogha as Gopika Singh: Sameer's mother (2018)
• Unknown as Dr. Samay Kaushal: Lavneet's father; Tanvi's husband (2018)
• Unknown as Dr. Tanvi Kaushal: Lavneet's mother; Samay's wife (2018)
• Unknown/Rishikesh Ingley as Balwinder "Ballu" Sodhi: Raavi's former husband; Kishan's son; Chintu's father (2017–2018)
• Unknown/Unknown as Kishan Lal Sodhi: Ballu's father (2016–2017, 2018)
• Unknown/Unknown as Chintu Sodhi: Raavi and Ballu's son (2017–2018)
• Abigail Jain as Riya (2019)
• Rohit Roy as Nishant Bhalla (2019)
• Mouli Ganguly as Shruti Bhalla (2019)
• Jaswant Menaria as Sukhwinder "Sukha" Singh: Payal's son; Preeto's brother; Sunaina's husband; Garry's father (2019)
• Shivani Gosain as Sunaina Singh: Sukha's wife; Garry's mother (2019)
• Rohit Chandel as Gurmeet "Garry" Singh: Sunaina and Sukha's son (2019)
• Unknown as Vidhaan Singh: Rekha's husband; Rohan's father (2019) (Dead)
• Nikita Sharma as Archana Kapoor (2019)
• Rushad Rana as Advocate Navjot Chaddha (2019)
• Ronit Roy as Advocate Rajat Singh (2019)
• Preetika Chauhan as Sneha (2019)
• Roopal Tyagi as Manasvi Mehat (2019)
• Tanvi Kishore as Sweety Singh: Varun's wife (2019)
• Ayaz Ahmed as Arjun (2019)
• Hitanshu Jinsi as Ankush Singh: Sindhu's husband (2019)
• Preeti Puri as Dr. Gayatri Mathur (2019)
• Avisha Shahu as Reet Mathur: Gayatri's daughter; Heer, Rohan and Soham's friend (2019)

• Salman Khan to promote Big Boss 10 (2016)
• Parineeti Chopra and Ayushmann Khurrana to promote Meri Pyaari Bindu (2017)
• Jay Soni as Bakool Vasavda from Bhaag Bakool Bhaag (2017)
• Helly Shah as Devanshi Upadhyay from Devanshi (2017)
• Piyush Sahdev as Pavan Bakshi from Devanshi (2017)
• Swarda Thigle as Dr. Saachi Mishra from Savitri Devi College & Hospital (2017)
• Vikram Sakhalkar as Dr. Kabir Kapoor from Savitri Devi College & Hospital (2017)
• Meera Deosthale as Chakor Singh from Udaan (2017)/(2018)
• Sahil Uppal as Kunal Singhania from Ek Shringaar-Swabhiman (2017)
• Sangeita Chauhan as Meghna Solanki from Ek Shringaar-Swabhiman (2017)
• Sidharth Shukla as Parth Bhanushali from Dil Se Dil Tak (2017)
• Rashami Desai as Shorvori Bhattacharya from Dil Se Dil Tak (2017)
• Jasmin Bhasin as Teni Negi from Dil Se Dil Tak (2017)
• Arjun Bijlani as Deep Raj Singh from Ishq Mein Marjawan (2018)
• Aalisha Panwar as Aarohi Kashyap from Ishq Mein Marjawan (2018)
• Ritvik Arora as Ahaan Dhanrajgir from Tu Aashiqui (2018)
• Sanjay Dutt and Aditi Rao Hydari to promote Bhoomi (2017)
• Krystle D'Souza as Roopa from Belan Wali Bahu (2018)
• Harshad Chopda as Aditya Hooda from Bepannah (2018)
• Jannat Zubair Rahmani as Pankti Sharma from Tu Aashiqui (2018)
• Affan Khan as Young Roopendra Singh Vaghela to promote Roop - Mard Ka Naya Swaroop (2018)
• Ankita Lokhande on Ganesh Chaturthi (2018)
• Mouni Roy on Ganesh Chaturthi (2018)
• Gauhar Khan on Ganesh Chaturthi (2018)
• Shashank Vyas as Roopendra Singh Vaghela from Roop - Mard Ka Naya Swaroop (2018)
• Avika Gor as Anushka Sangwan from Laado 2 (2018)
• Rashami Desai as herself (2018)
• Drashti Dhami as Nandini from Silsila Badalte Rishton Ka (2018)
• Aashish Kaul as Milkha Singh Khanna– Mallika's brother (2019)
• Kunal Jaisingh as Reyansh Khurana from Pavitra Bhagya (2020)

First promo of the series was released on 10 April 2016. It was launched on 30 May 2016 at 8:00 pm on weekdays.

The production and airing of the show was halted indefinitely in late March 2020 due to the Covid-19 outbreak in India.[6] Because of the outbreak, the filming of television series and films was halted on 19 March 2020 and expected to resume on 1 April 2020 but could not and the series was last broadcast on 31 March 2020 when the remaining episodes were aired.[7][8] After three months, the production of the series resumed on 23 June 2020.[9]

After a 10 year-leap in June 2016, child actors Mahira Khurrana and Tasheen Shah were replaced by Rubina Dilaik and Roshni Sahota respectively. Vivian Dsena was roped in as the male lead. Besides them Kamya Panjabi, Sudesh Berry, Garima Jain, Bhuvan Chopra, Aarya Rawal, Mahek Thaakur and Lakshya Handa joined the cast.

In November 2016 Reena Kapoor quit the series and her character Nimmi was killed off. It had a crossover with Sasural Simar Ka in April 2017 and Savitri Devi College & Hospital in June 2017. In August 2017 Anand Goradia was chosen to play Maharani. In November 2017 Sara Khan bagged the series as Mohini. Three months later, Jain stepped out of the show and was replaced by Pooja Singh. Later Amrita Prakash was roped in to play Jasleen. Some other new cast entered including Sahil Mehta, Hemant Choudhary, Alka Mogha and Sonal Handa.

Afterwards Krutika Desai Khan played Payal but she later quit the show. The same month Sahota too quit. During Soumya and Harman's memory loss story, Tiya Gandwani joined the cast as Lavneet Kaushal whereas Mehta and Mogha returned. In very late of December 2018 Iti Kaurav replaced Sahota as Surbhi, but quit after a short 10 episodes in January 2019, before Jaswant Menaria, Shivani Gosain and Rohit Chandel joined the cast. In March 2019, Rohit Roy, Ronit Roy, Mouli Ganguly and Roopal Tyagi were cast and Aashish Kaul appeared in a special appearance.

Next month, Nidhi Bhavsar and Hitanshu Jinsi entered. In May 2019, Nikita Sharma and Prakash Ramchandani were seen in the series. In June 2019, Sahil Uppal entered in a negative role along with Rajesh Puri. In July 2019, Sareeka Dhillon became a part of the show. Next month, Shweta Sinha was cast for a short appearance and Dsena quit because of not wanting to play a father, as a 5 year leap was confirmed.

In September 2019, child actors Sumaiya Khan, Vivaan Sharma and Meet Mukhi were cast in the series. In October 2019, Mamta Luthra, Handa and Ayub Khan returned while Preeti Puri and Avisha Shahu became a part of the show. Initially the 16 year leap was planned for November 2019, but got extended to January 2020. Dilaik quit the show, and several actors joined the cast, with Jigyasa Singh and Simba Nagpal as new leads. Others included Avinash Mukherjee, Meherzan Mazda, Parag Tyagi, Gauri Tonk, Kanwarjit Paintal, Aakash Talwar, Vaani Sharma, Ekroop Bedi and Rachana Mistry. In February 2020, Sonyaa Ayodhya, Prerna Panwar and Naveen Saini were roped in. In late June 2020 actress Gauri Tonk quit the show and was replaced by Jasveer Kaur.