Mera Balam Thanedaar

Mera Balam Thanedaar is an Indian Hindi-language television series produced by Shashi Sumeet Productions. It is an official remake of Colors Marathi series Raja Ranichi Ga Jodi,^[1] and starring Shagun Pandey and Shruti Choudhary.^[2] It premiered on 3 January 2024 on Colors TV.

Plot[edit]

The story revolves around two individuals with contrasting morals: Bulbul Rajawat, a spirited teenager who believes that lying for a greater good is an act of kindness, and IPS Veerpratap "Veer" Singh, a police officer who despises lies and is dedicated to combating the treacherous underage marriage practice in his community.

Bulbul comes from a complicated family of five. Her morally complicit father, Devendra Rajawat, belongs to a formerly noble clan and is plagued by ego issues, desiring to maintain a prestigious reputation in society, but distressed by the reality of his financial situation. Devendra resorted to gambling, and in the process, gets entangled in debt to his friend, Mangal Chauhan. Meanwhile, Bulbul's mother, Geeta Devendra Rajawat, is a housewife who struggles to manage the household due to her husband's financial problems. She discreetly sells pickles for a living with Bulbul's help. Bulbul has an older sister, Drishti Rajawat, who has been promised in marriage to Veer since childhood after Veer's mother was helped by the Rajawat family in the past. Although arrangedly engaged, Drishti and Veer are in love with each other. Drishti is preparing for her wedding with Veer while simultaneously applying to study abroad in London, which she is hiding from her family. Bulbul's elder brother, Amber Rajawat, is attending university in a different city.

Veer's family situation is similarly complex. He lives with his father, Vardhan Singh, while his mother has already passed away. Veer's elder brother, Vishesh Singh, is a credible news anchor, and much like Veer himself who values honesty with strong hatred towards even the smallest lies. Veer has an elder sister, Vani, who became mentally unbalanced after a seemingly challenging marriage and pregnancy. Vani has a son with her estranged husband, Rajat Chundawat, named Vyom Singh. Veer claimed paternity to Vyom, who grew up believing Veer as his biological father while sometimes questioning his maternity.

Veer's family has a long-standing enmity with their neighbor, the Chundawat family, headed by the matriarch Bhavani Chundawat. Bhavani has cursed the Singh family in various opportunities, proclaimed that Lakshmi, symbolizing women's blessings in the form of daughter-in-law, will never enter their house. Bhavani is a powerful local politician who commands respect in society and has a significant numbers of supporters. She is the mother of Vani's deceased husband, Rajat Chundawat, and the paternal grandmother of Vyom. Bhavani has a living son, Inspector Rana Chundawat, who is Veer's enemy in the law enforcement. Rana is working on the same problem of underage marriages as Veer, but embodies the opposite integrity.

Veer was on duty in Krishnagarh, attempting to apprehend a human-trafficker named Ratan Chauhan who is forging birth certificates and selling underage girls as brides—when he first crossed paths with Bulbul, who was cosplaying as a police officer to intimidate a shop owner who had not paid the promised amount for her mother's pickles. At one point, Veer was chasing Ratan Chauhan, who ran in Bulbul's direction, and upon seeing Bulbul in a police uniform, Veer asked Bulbul to catch the criminal. However, as Bulbul was only a fake police officer, she was unable to complete the task and instead only threw a toy gun at Ratan. Veer soon discovered that Bulbul was a liar and impersonator, although she managed to escape him.

Bulbul encountered Veer again when she was decorating the rooftop of her house for Drishti's engagement ceremony. Veer mistook Bulbul as Drishti from behind and proposed to her on one knee. They were both surprised to see each other, but later received clarification from Drishti about their identities to each other. Prior to that, Bulbul had never seen Drishti's fiancé, and Veer was also unaware that Drishti has a sister.

Since that encounter, fate has been playing tricks on both of them. Many pre-wedding rituals for Drishti accidentally befall Bulbul instead, some of which occurred without anyone even noticing. But, Veer harbors a deep distrust towards Bulbul due to several lies she has told in order to protect her family. He tolerates her presence simply because she is Drishti's sister. Unbeknownst to Veer, Bulbul is actually his secret hero who constantly reports and helps him in his work against underage marriages. Meanwhile, Bulbul was also unaware that she has unknowingly been Veer's ally in his cause until later on.

However, the situation take a dramatic turn when Bulbul's father, Devendra, is persuaded by his friend Mangal to involve Bulbul in "Samuhik Vivah", a mass marriage program orchestrated by Bhavani for the impoverished community to gain their votes. In exchange, Mangal promises to release Devendra from his debt if he marries Bulbul off to Mangal's son, Ratan Chauhan. Devendra, who views daughters as burdens, eagerly agrees to give Bulbul's hand in marriage to Ratan and send her away, also to relieve himself of his debt to Mangal. However, there is a significant problem: Bulbul is actually a minor, a fact which Bulbul herself is unaware of, as her parents falsified her birth certificate to obtain a government benefit when she was younger.

Against Bulbul's will, she is engaged to Ratan, and is set to marry him in the mass marriage where many other underage girls with fabricated birth certificates will also be wedded. Upon learning the horrifying plight of Bulbul, Veer attempts to intervene, but Bulbul is relenting after emotionally blackmailed by Devendra, and at the same time, Ratan is backed by the influential Bhavani, who utilizes her power and her son, Inspector Rana, to impede Veer's efforts and fails his attempts to save Bulbul and other underage brides from the mass wedding. The fate of Bulbul's and the other underage brides rests on Veer's shoulders, but also on Bulbul's decision to either stand up against the injustice or succumb to it.

Cast[edit]

Main[edit]

• Shruti Choudhary^[2] as Bulbul Rajawat Singh: Devendra and Geeta's younger daughter; Drishti and Amber's younger sister; Veer's wife (2024–present)
• Shagun Pandey^[2] as IPS Veerpratap "Veer" Singh: Vardhan and Sulakshana's younger son; Vishesh's younger brother; Drishti's ex-fiancé; Bulbul's husband (2024–present)

Recurring[edit]

• Srishti Singh as Drishti Rajawat: Bulbul and Amber's elder sister; Devendra and Geeta's elder daughter; Veer's ex-fiancée (2024–present)
• Rishi Khurana^[3] as Devendra Rajawat: Patriarch of the Rajawat family; Bulbul, Drishti and Amber's father; Geeta's husband (2024–present)
• Aastha Chaudhary^[3] as Geeta Devendra Rajawat: Bulbul, Drishti and Amber's mother; Devendra's wife (2024–present)
• Jeevansh Chaddha^[4] as Amber Rajawat: Bulbul's elder brother and Drishti's younger brother; Devendra and Geeta's son (2024–present)
• Rajendra Chawla^[3] as Vardhan Singh: Patriarch of the Singh family; Sulakshana's husband; Veer and Vishesh's father (2024–present)
• Vijay Bhatia^[3] as Vishesh Singh: Veer's elder brother; Vardhan and Sulakshana's elder son (2024–present)
• Neelu Vaghela^[5] as Bhavani Chundawat: Matriarch of the Chundawat family; Rajat and Rana's mother; enemy of the Singh family; Ratan's sponsor (2024–present)
• Ayush Anand as Inspector Rana Chundawat: Bhavani's younger son; Rajat's younger brother; Veer's enemy (2024–present)
• Supriya Shukla as Sulakshana Singh: Vardhan's wife; Vishesh and Veer's mother (2024–present)
• Siddharth Dhanda^[6] as Ratan Chauhan: Mangal's son; Bulbul's ex-fiancé (2024–present)
• Ankita Tiwari as Sneha: Bulbul's friend (2024-present)
• Maitri Bhanushali as Divya: Bulbul's friend (2024–present)

Adaptations[edit]

References[edit]