Molkki
Genre	Social Drama
Created by	Ekta Kapoor
Written by	Dheeraj Sarna
Screenplay by	Saba Mumtaz Shilpa Jathar Sonali Jaffar
Story by	Gajra Kottary Advait Kottary
Directed by	Muzammil Desai
Creative director	Shivangi Babbar
Starring	Priyal Mahajan Amar Upadhyay Anushka Sharma Rithvik Gupta
Opening theme	"Molkki" by Priya Dubey
Composer	Vinod Ghimare
Country of origin	India
Original language	Hindi
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	322
Production
Producers	Ekta Kapoor Shobha Kapoor
Editors	Vikash Sharma Vishal Sharma
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	22–24 minutes
Production company	Balaji Telefilms
Original release
Network	Colors TV
Release	16 November 2020 (2020-11-16) – 11 February 2022 (2022-02-11)
Related
Molkki - Rishton Ki Agnipariksha

Molkki (lit. 'one who has a price') is an Indian Hindi-language television drama series produced by Ekta Kapoor under Balaji Telefilms. It was broadcast on Colors TV and ran from 16 November 2020 to 11 February 2022. It starred Priyal Mahajan, Amar Upadhyay.^[1]

Premise

The series is set in the Rewari district of Haryana, and focuses on molkki pratha.

The story revolves around Purvi, a 19-year-old girl who becomes the molkki bride of 42-year-old chief Veerendra Pratapsingh, a widower and father of two children. She fights for her and other molkki brides' rights, as well as fulfil her responsibilities as wife, daughter-in-law, mother, and chieftess of Rewari.

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 Veerendra Pratapsingh, a widowed father of two children and head of a village in Haryana's Rewari district. The initially tense relationship between Veerendra'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, Veerendra's half-brother, rapes Priyashi, Purvi's sister, for revenge for a past incident and Anjali, Purvi's and Veerendra's sister-in-law records the event. A series of incidents leads to Veerendra 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. Veerendra asks Priyashi to decide the punishment but she decides to marry Vaibhav instead. Veerendra 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 Veerendra, but he is later attacked by goons who were likewise hired by his brother. Priyashi finds out about Vaibhav's intentions during their honeymoon and informs Purvi, leading to the hired goons being 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 Priyashi for her betrayal but, with the intent to scare her, accidentally kills her by pushing her from a cliff. Purvi suspected 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 Veerendra to shoot him for his murderous act, hoping that his brother is imprisoned. He succeeds and Veerendra is 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 uncovers her brother-in-law's scheming and thereby frees her husband from imprisonment. But Priyashu is still alive and reveals that it has been her plan all along to have Vaibhav accused of her murder. Priyashi shoots Vaibhav. Prakashi then swears to wreak havoc in Purvi's life for ruining Vaibhav's life. She with Anjali repeatedly tries to separate Purvi from Veerendra but fails. Purvi is horrified by the visual she gets while flying a drone and is angered when she learns that Anjali is the perpetrator of the crime. After Purvi visits the cave, she feels 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 chains is none other than Veerendra's first wife Sakshi who was assumed dead five years ago. Veerendra soon falls in love with Purvi and so does she. Veerendra 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 Veerendra 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 Veerendra and is devastated when the wedding is cancelled. Veerendra 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 Veerendra seeing Purvi in such a light. Veerendra explains to Sakshi everything that happened during her absence and how he ended up marrying Purvi. Purvi prepares to leave, but Sakshi asks her to stay and thanks her for looking after the family in her absence. Further, Sakshi realizes that Purvi is not wrong and rather a victim of fate. Purvi pushes Veerendra 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 Veerendra is away on business, Sakshi makes Purvi perform some strange rituals that end up making her feel dirty, hurt, and humiliated. An infuriated Veerendra 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. So Sakshi cuts her wrist. Purvi asks Veerendra to continue his life with Sakshi and leave her alone, but Veerendra rejects to do so. So Purvi demands a divorce.

Purvi finds herself in a dilemma when Sakshi persuades her to marry Vipul in a bid to make Veerendra overcome his feelings for Purvi. When Sakshi asks for Vipul's opinion, he gives his consent to marry Purvi. As Purvi's Haldi ceremony begins, Veerendra wins the competition against Vipul, earning 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, Veerendra prevents Purvi from applying turmeric on Vipul. During the wedding ceremony of Purvi, an intoxicated Veerendra attempts to confront her and Vipul. In a shocking turn of events, Veerendra meets with a tragic accident and falls unconscious. After Purvi signs the divorce papers, Veerendra helps her prepare for the wedding. Later, Veerendra learns that the divorce process is delayed, and he rushes back to the wedding venue and carries Purvi away. After Veerendra stops Purvi's wedding to Vipul, she decides to run away from her home, but Veerendra 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. Veerendra 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. Purvi leaves the house, but unfortunately, she meets with an accident and loses her memory.

Cast

Production

Reception

ThePrint stated the series tackled the issue of brides for sale when 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".^[6]

Influence

On 15 June 2021, the villagers of a small village in Rajasthan were inspired after seeing the series, and they banned molkki pratha in their village. Actor Amar Upadhyay later confirmed the same and was proud to change the thinking of people with their show.^[7]

Sequel

A reboot of the show named Molkki - Rishton Ki Agnipariksha, aired on the same channel start from 13 February 2023.^[8] It stars Ashish Kapoor and Vidhi Yadav.^[9] and Molkki - Rishton Ki Agnipariksha is the mark the TV debut of Vidhi Yadav. The sequel failed to get good viewership and ended within a month.^[10]

References

External links

• Molkki on IMDb
• Molkki on Voot
• Official website

Telefilms television series