Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai

Genre	Soap opera
Written by	Saba Mumtaz Bhavna Vyas Ghazala Nargis Munisha Rajpal] Zama Habib Bandana Tiwari
Directed by	Romesh Kalra Rishi Mandial Ram Pandey
Creative director(s)	Vivek Bahl
Starring	Hina Khan Karan Mehra `Shivangi Joshi Mohsin Khan `Pranali Rathod Harshad Chopda `Karishma Sawant
Opening theme	Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai by Alka Yagnik
Country of origin	India
Original language(s)	Hindi
No. of episodes	3622
Production
Executive producer(s)	Vivek Jain
Producer(s)	Rajan Shahi
Cinematography	Arjuni Rao
Editor(s)	Sameer Gandhi
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	20–22 minutes
Release
Picture format	576i HDTV 1080i
Original release	12 January 2009 (2009-01-12) – present
Chronology
Related shows	Yeh Rishtey Hain Pyaar Ke
Other websites
Hotstar
Director's Kut Production

Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai (transl. What is this relationship called?), popularly known as YRKKH is an Indian Hindi-language romantic family drama television series that airs on StarPlus and streams on Disney+ Hotstar. It premiered on 12 January 2009 and is the longest running Indian television soap opera. Produced by Rajan Shahi under the banner of Director's Kut Productions, it formerly starred Hina Khan, Karan Mehra, Shivangi Joshi and Mohsin Khan. Since October 2021, it stars Pranali Rathod and Harshad Chopda.

Plot

Akshara and Naitik, both from large Marwari joint families based in Udaipur get married. Initially, they struggle to understand each other but gradually come to understand, support, and love each other. Soon, their son, Naksh is born. Naitik falls into a coma due to an accident.

4 years later

Akshara starts working in the family business. Naitik recovers from the coma and struggles to bond with a mischievous Naksh. Naitik's mother Gayatri dies after falling off a cliff post, and his sister Rashmi gives birth to a daughter and names her Gayatri. Akshara and Naitik's daughter Naira is born. Mahendra dies and Kaveri blames Akshara for it and disowns her. Akshara and Naitik move out with their children.

10 years later

They relocate to Cape Town. Naksh returns to Udaipur and convinces Kaveri to forgive an innocent Akshara. Eventually, the family is reunited. Naksh falls for Tara, a hockey player. However, their wedding gets called off due to some misunderstandings. Out of fear of being wrongly blamed for her friend Sukanya's death, Naira flees from Udaipur.

7 years later

Naira lives in an orphanage in Rishikesh and has grown up to be headstrong but insecure and arrogant. Akshara reaches there to fund the orphanage and finds Naira. Kartik Goenka arrives in Udaipur and a love triangle is formed between him, Gayatri, and Naira. Kartik realizes his love for Naira while Gayatri has feelings for Kartik. Naira finally accepts Akshara.

Kartik confesses his love for Naira while the latter is initially confused about her feelings but later realizes her love for Kartik. Akshara dies by falling off a cliff in a car crash.

Kartik and Naira get married. Kartik hates his father Manish and his step-mother Swarna as he remarried her post his mother's death as he thinks that they were having an extra-marital affair in their office and were responsible for her suicide. Naksh and Keerti get married. Initially marrying for Naira's sake, he begins to love Keerti. Kartik reconciles with Manish and accepts Swarna as his mother after his mother's depression and hallucinations were revealed to be the reason for her suicide. Naira fulfills her parent's dream of opening a dance academy and names it "Akshara Dance Academy" as a tribute to her mother. Swarna's son, Shubham dies of a drug overdose and Naira is blamed for hiding his drug addiction. Naira leaves as Kartik and Swarna refuse to trust her.

2 years later

Naira lives in Mumbai with Naitik. Kartik is the professor of the same class for which Naira signs up. Eventually, Kartik and Swarna realize their mistakes and reunite with Naira. Naira undergoes surgery due to a brain clot after which Naira and Kartik remarry. She enters the family business after Manish suffers a heart attack. Kartik feels insecure about Naira's busy routine. Naira finds out she is pregnant. Kartik questions Naira about her relationship with her business partner, Mihir. Naira rebukes him and storms out of the house without informing her pregnancy and meets with an accident. She is presumed to be dead by the family.

5 years later

Naira lives in Goa with their son Kairav. Soon everyone learns that Naira is alive and Kairav is Naira and Kartik's son. Despite trying to get away from each other, Kartik and Naira become closer. Soon they realize their love and reunite.

A year later, Naira gives birth to a daughter and names her Akshara. More family drama leads to Naira and Kartik moving out with Kairav and Akshara. Later, the family is reunited but meets with an accident. Naira falls off a cliff and dies. Kartik is left heartbroken.

Soon, Kairav meets a boxer named Sirat who is Naira's lookalike, which makes Kairav to think that his mother has returned. After several demands from Kairav, Kartik brings Sirat and her grandmother to the Goenka house. Sirat reveals her former love Ranveer. Kartik realizes that Sirat and Ranveer had a misunderstanding, caused by Ranveer's father, Narendranath, and gets them married. Sirat falls for Kartik. Ranveer falls ill and asks Kartik to take care of Sirat. Ranveer dies and Narendranath holds Sirat responsible and gets her arrested on murder charges. Kartik bails her out and Sirat goes away from Kartik.

Sirat changes her name to Simran and Kartik convinces her to return to Udaipur. Sirat and Kartik expose Narendranath and she is acquitted of all charges. Sirat and Kartik confess their love to each other and get married. They have a daughter, Aarohi. Sirat resumes her boxing training for a championship and qualifies for the Asian Championship.

8 years later

Akshara discovers that not Sirat, but Naira is her real mother. Sirat's mother, Sheela returns and manipulates Aarohi against the family. Kartik dies in a plane crash leaving the entire family in shock. Sirat slips down the stairs and falls to her death. Aarohi holds Akshara responsible for Sirat's death and starts detesting her.

12 years later

Akshara has grown up to be a kind and family-loving girl. She is a singer and musician. Aarohi aspires to be a doctor and still hates Akshara. Dr. Abhimanyu Birla is a practicing surgeon at Birla Hospital and Medical Institute. A love triangle is formed between the three. However, Aarohi and Abhimanyu's marriage is fixed after Akshara refuses to accept his love for Aarohi's sake. But soon Akshara and Abhimanyu confess their love in front of their families. Both families reach Jaipur and Akshara and Abhimanyu get married in a grand ceremony.

Later it is revealed that Harshvardhan was having a secret extra-marital affair with Dr. Avni Rathore and Neil is their illegitimate son. Manjari had brought Neil home through adoption. Manjari and Harshvardhan head for a divorce but Harshvardhan reforms himself and they reconcile.

Soon a fire breaks out at Birla Hospital and Abhimanyu suffers a pinched nerve in his right hand. Akshara contacts a renowned physiotherapist, Dr. Kunal Khera, for his treatment. Meanwhile, Anisha proposes to Kairav for marriage but Akshara learns about her having an affair with a married man and her plan to continue the affair post-marriage and confronts her for the same which Kairav overhears. Kairav refuses to marry Anisha for her betrayal and asks her to reveal the truth to the families. Anisha, who lacks the courage to tell this truth, commits suicide and the Birla family blames Kairav and Akshara for her death thinking Kairav murdered her and Akshara attempting to save him from murder charges. Later Dr. Kunal asks Akshara to sing secretly for his sister, Maya for a year in lieu of Abhimanyu's surgery to which she agrees.

1 year later

Akshara now lives incognito in Mauritius with Kunal and Maya and remains depressed due to her separation with Abhimanyu, who has misunderstood her and became a ruthless person. Akshara and Kairav come back to India and eventually Kairav is proven innocent. Abhimanyu and Akshara reunite and remarry. Neil and Aarohi elope and get married due to which Manish disowns her. Akshara successfully restores her lost identity as Maya's voice and resumes her singing career.

Later, Akshara gets pregnant with twins while Aarohi is exposed for faking her pregnancy. However, Aarohi gets pregnant for real and Neil gives her second chance. In a bid to save some girls from kidnapping, Neil is beaten up by goons and Akshara miscarries. Before dying, Neil makes Abhimanyu promise to take care of Aarohi and his child. Akshara is blamed for Neil's death and Abhimanyu divorces her. Distraught, Akshara leaves the house and is helped by Abhinav. She finds that one of her twins is still alive. Manish requests Akshara to return to Goenkas', but she refuses and legally marries Abhinav.

6 years later

Akshara lives in Kasauli as a jam entrepreneur with her son, Abhir and Abhinav, who works as a tourist guide. On the other hand, Aarohi has became matured and Abhimanyu has taken the fatherly responsibility of her daughter, Ruhi while both works as senior doctors of Birla Hospital. Abhir considers Abhinav as his father while Ruhi is aware that Neil is her father. Manjiri starts forcing Abhimanyu and Aarohi to marry for Ruhi's sake despite their refusals while Akshara and Abhinav are forcing the same by their neighbour, Neelima. Soon, Abhimanyu visits Shimla for a medical meeting but gets stuck in Kasauli and ends up meeting Akshara, Abhinav and Abhir. Initially shocked, He decides to move on from Akshara accepting her new life. Akshara decides to return to Udaipur on Suhasini's insistence.

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