Uttaran

Set in Mumbai, Ichcha is the daughter of a poor widow Damini, who begins working at Jogi Thakur Mansion as a maid. Jogi's daughter Tapasya befriends Ichcha, and they share a sister-like bond. Sumitra influences Tapasya to see Ichcha differently. Tapasya gets jealous when Divya and Jogi care for Ichcha as their child, unaware that Jogi was responsible for Ichcha's father Rajendra's death.

Tapasya is a rich spoilt brat. Simple, Ichcha wants to open a school to give free education to poor kids. Tapasya's parents arrange their daughter's marriage with Veer Singh, who belongs to a reputed and wealthy family. But Tapasya never shows interest towards the marriage as she is in relationship with Siddharth (Sid). Slowly Veer and Iccha fall in love and their families agree to their marriage. Insecure seeing Veer shower Ichcha with expensive gifts, Tapasya fakes a suicide attempt and begs Ichcha to let her marry Veer. Ichcha agrees, and Veer marries Tapasya. That same night, Veer learns the truth, and Tapasya claims Ichcha forced her to marry him, believing she is not right for him. The next day, Veer lashes out Tapasya in front of her family and forces Ichcha to tell the truth. Meanwhile, his elder brother Vansh, a drug addict falls for Ichha looking at her caring nature.

Veer, unaware of Vansh's love, tries to divorce Tapasya and marry Ichha, who tries to distance herself from him. Tapasya tries to get Iccha killed with the help of Sid. Veer saves Iccha, but not before she gets shot and is hospitalized; Sid is then arrested. Tapasya tricks Gunvanti who gets Vansh and Ichha married. A heartbroken Veer pretends to be happy with Tapasya. Vansh overhears Sid slamming Tapasya for ruining Iccha's life. Tapasya, however, misleads Vansh, indirectly blaming him for Ichha's sufferings. As a result, he kills himself. Iccha holds Veer responsible for Vansh's death, and Gunvanti, in turn, blames Ichha. Veer explains how Tapasya tried to kill Ichha and made Vansh commit suicide, by displaying a video revealing the day's actions shot by Sid, who wanted to take revenge from Tapasya. Shocked, Jogi disowns her. Ichha goes to Vrindavan. There, Veer arrives to unite with her, and they get married; the family accepts them.

Tapasya meets Raghuvendra Rathore, who falls for her, but she betrays him in game of poker. He leaves her due to her disloyalty. Pregnant with his baby, she returns to Veer's family and delivers Mukta, whom she unintentionally abandons. Veer and Ichha raise her, unaware she is Tapasya's daughter. They also adopt an orphan and name him Kanha. Ichha delivers a boy but Sumitra and her son Pushkar steal him.

They bribe the nurse to tell Ichha that the boy was stillborn. Raghuvendra bumps into and takes the baby from Pushkar. He and Tapasya adopt the baby, named Yuvraj. Sid creates misunderstandings between Rathore and Tapasya, causing Tapasya to leave Rathore. Rocky Shah, Vansh's lookalike, enters the Bundela mansion as Vansh and falls for Iccha. Jogi rescues Iccha from him, accidentally kills Rocky and is bailed out by Rathore. Veer reveals Gunvanti to be behind all this, and Gunvanti admits to holding a grudge against Iccha for adopting the two children and not giving birth to her own son, whom she wants as an heir to the family. They later find out that Yuvraj is Iccha's real son and give Mukta to Jogi in exchange for Yuvraj. Pregnant again, Ichha saves Veer from the cruel Avinash, who attacks him. Veer loses his memory. Ichha kills Avinash and is jailed for 18 years. Ichha delivers a girl in prison, and tells Damini to raise the baby, named Meethi.

Meethi and Mukta are best friends just like their mothers. Ichcha returns. Kanha, whom Damini raised is a successful CEO, happily married to Surbhi. Yuvraj and Meethi were brought up by Gunvanti and Damini respectively, and Gunvanti instigated him against Ichcha. Sumitra tells Meethi that Ichcha is alive but lies that she ruined Tapasya's life. Initially in denial, Meethi develops a negative opinion of Ichcha when she learns she was in prison for murder. Kanha reveals Ichcha was imprisoned for murder but omits that she killed Avinash to save Veer. Despite Damini and Kanha's efforts, Meethi disbelieves them and rejects Ichcha. Sumitra brainwashes Mukta, who grows close to Yuvraj.

Later, he tries to rape Mukta, but Ichcha saves her. Mukta realizes she misunderstood her and Meethi. Yuvraj is arrested and finds out Ichcha is his mother. His hatred for her further intensifies as she testifies against him in court, and he is incarcerated for 5 years. Veer who has still no memories, lives with Gunvanti and Amla. Reformed after living in US for years, Tapasya comes back and restores his memory. Vishnu encourages Meethi, who finally accepts Ichcha.

Eventually, Veer and Ichcha unite. Meethi marries Vishnu on Ichcha's arrangement. He is actually Avinash's son, Akash, who wants revenge. Mukta discovers his truth and tries to locate the real Vishnu, a humble blue-collar worker for an NGO, to expose Akash. He orders his goons to kidnap and kill Mukta. Fortunately, Raghuvendra saves her. At Akash and Meethi's wedding, Mukta tries to expose him but no one except Sumitra believes her.

Meanwhile, Ichcha and Tapasya risk their life to save Mukta from Veer's uncle Tej, who shoots Tapasya. Fatally, Ichcha gets hit by a truck. Both of them survived by the grace of God. Later, Raghuvendra gets the evidence to expose Akash. Surbhi turns out as Akash's maternal cousin sister. His mom, Ekadashi orders him to kill Meethi but he falls in love with her. Meethi leaves the house. Tapasya throws the pregnant Surbhi out.

Surbhi repents for her actions and dies after delivering Ajitesh. Kanha forgives her and promises to raise Ajitesh. As Vishnu and Mukta love each other, they marry and soon have a son, Manav. Meethi and Akash unite. She is accepted by his family. After undergoing a plastic surgery, Yuvraj returns as Mukta's boss for revenge. He kidnaps her. While saving her, a pregnant Meethi miscarries and disowns Yuvraj before Ekadashi banishes her. She travels to Srinagar.

Caught up in a terrorist attack by Asgar, Meethi slips into a river and is transported by the current across the border to Gilgit. Ashfaq saves her; he falls in love with and helps her in returning to India. He bids her a tearful goodbye. Akash and Meethi unite. She adopts Rani as Nandini is imprisoned because she saved Akash from and murdered his old enemy. Meethi and Akash also adopt Tamanna, whom Rani hates. Sumitra reforms.

Eventually, Sumitra and Damini convince Mukta and Meethi to unite, and in the end, reflect the everlasting friendship of Ichcha and Tapasya.

• Tina Datta as
  • Ichcha Singh Bundela (nee Bharti): Damini and Rajendra's daughter; Tapasya's best friend; Vansh's widow; Veer's second wife; Mukta and Kanha's adoptive mother; Yuvraj and Meethi's mother; Avinash's murderer; Ajitesh's paternal grandmother; Rani and Tamanna's adoptive maternal grandmother (2009 - 2013)
    • Sparsh Khanchandani as Child Ichcha Bharti (2008 - 2009)
  • Meethi Chatterjee (nee Singh Bundela): Ichcha and Veer's younger daughter; Yuvraj's sister; Mukta and Kanha's adoptive sister; Akash's wife; Ajitesh's paternal aunt; Rani and Tamanna's adoptive mother (2012 - 2015)
• Rashami Desai as Tapasya Rathore (nee Thakur) (formerly Singh Bundela): Divya and Jogi's daughter; Ichcha's best friend; Veer's ex-wife; Raghuvendra's second wife; Ambika's step mother; Mukta's mother; Yuvraj's adoptive mother; Manav's maternal grandmother (2009 - 2013)
  • Ishita Panchal as Child Tapasya Thakur (2008 - 2009)
• Nandish Sandhu / Vikas Bhalla as Veer Singh Bundela: Gunvanti and Umed's younger son; Vansh's brother; Tapasya's ex-husband; Ichcha's second husband; Mukta and Kanha's adoptive father; Yuvraj and Meethi's father; Ajitesh's paternal grandfather; Rani and Tamanna's adoptive grandfather (2009 - 2012) / (2012 - 2013)
• Gaurav Chopra as Raghuvendra Rathore: Ex-husband of Malvika; Tapasya's second husband; Ambika and Mukta's father; Yuvraj's adoptive father; Maternal grandfather of Manav (2010 - 2013)
• Mrunal Jain as Akash Chatterjee aka fake Vishnu Kashyap: Avinash and Ekadashi's elder son; Brother of Sankrant; Surbhi and Nirbhay's cousin brother; Meethi's husband; Ajitesh's maternal uncle; Rani and Tamanna's adoptive father (2013 - 2015)
• Sreejita De as Mukta Kashyap (nee Rathore): Tapasya and Raghuvendra's daughter; Step daughter of Malvika; Ambika's half-sister; Ichcha and Veer's adoptive daughter; Yuvraj and Meethi's adoptive sister; Vishnu's wife; Manav's mother (2012 - 2015)
• Ajay Chaudhary as Vishnu Kashyap: Mukta's husband; Manav's father (2013 - 2015)
• Bharat Chawda as Yuvraj Singh Bundela (after plastic surgery): Ichcha and Veer's elder son; Meethi's brother; Tapasya and Raghuvendra's adoptive son; Mukta and Kanha's adopted brother; Ajitesh's uncle; Rani and Tamanna's adoptive maternal uncle (2015)
  • Sourabh Raaj Jain as Yuvraj Singh Bundela (before plastic surgery) (2012 - 2013)
• Rohit Khurana as
  • Vansh Singh Bundela: Gunvanti and Umed's elder son; Veer's brother; Ichcha's first husband; Mukta and Kanha's adoptive uncle; Yuvraj and Meethi's uncle (2009 - 2010) (Dead)
  • Rocky Shah: Vansh's lookalike (2011 - 2012) (Dead)

• Vaishali Thakkar as Damini Bharti: Rajendra's widow; Ichcha's mother; Yuvraj and Meethi's grandmother; Kanha's adoptive grandmother; Rani's step-great-grandmother; Ajitesh and Tamanna's adoptive great-grandmother (2008–2015)
• Sunil Chauhan as Rajendra Bharti: Damini's husband; Ichcha's father; Yuvraj and Meethi's grandfather; Kanha's adoptive grandfather; Rani's step-great-grandfather; Ajitesh and Tamanna's adoptive great-grandfather (2009) (Dead)
• Pragati Mehra / Pyumori Mehta Ghosh as Divya Thakur: Pushkar's cousin; Jogi's wife; Tapasya's mother; Ichcha's foster mother; Mukta's grandmother; Ambika's step-grandmother; Manav's great-grandmother (2008–2015)
• Ayub Khan as Jogi Thakur: Divya's husband; Tapasya's father; Ichcha's foster father; Mukta's grandfather; Ambika's step-grandfather; Manav's great grandfather (2008–2015)
• Pratima Kazmi as Sumitra Devi Jaiswal: Pushkar's mother; Tapasya's grand-aunt; Mukta's great-grandaunt; Manav's great-great grandaunt (2008–2015)
• Arun Singh Sharma as Pushkar Jaiswal: Sumitra's son; Rohini's husband (2008–2012)
• Akanksha Awasthi as Rohini Jaiswal: Pushkar's wife (2009–2013)
• Akhil Mishra as Umed Singh Bundela: Baldev's son; Tej's half-brother; Gunvanti's husband; Vansh and Veer's father; Yuvraj and Meethi's grandfather; Kanha's adoptive grandfather; Rani's step-great-grandfather; Ajitesh and Tamanna's adoptive great-grandfather (2009–2013)
• Beena Banerjee as Gunvanti Bundela: Umed's wife; Vansh and Veer's mother; Yuvraj and Meethi's grandmother; Kanha's adoptive grandmother; Rani's step-great-grandmother; Ajitesh and Tamanna's adoptive great-grandmother (2009–2015)
• Shamim Sheikh as Baldev Singh Bundela: Umed and Tej's father; Vansh and Veer's grandfather; Meeti and Yuvraj's great-grandfather; Kanha's adoptive great-grandfather; Rani's step-great-great-grandfather; Ajitesh and Tamanna's adoptive great-great-grandfather (2009–2013)
• Monalika Bhonsle as Chanda Sachdev: Vansh and Veer's cousin (2009–2013)
• Pawan Mahendru as Kasa Seth: Bundela family's maid (2009–2014)
• Sunil Sinha/Kiran Karmarkar as Tej Singh Bundela: Baldev's son; Umed's half-brother (2009–2013)
• Sharhaan Singh as Siddharth Verma: Tapasya's ex-boyfriend (2009–2012)
• Rishina Kandhari as Malvika: Raghuvendra's ex-wife; Ambika's mother (2014–2015)
• Vividha Kirti as Ambika Rathore Chatterjee: Malvika and Raghuvendra's daughter; Tapasya's step-daughter; Mukta's half-sister; Sankrant's wife (2013–2015)
• Varun Toorkey as Sankrant Chatterjee: Ekadashi and Avinash's younger son; Akash's brother; Surbhi and Nirbhay's cousin; Ambika's husband (2013–2015)
• Gaurav S Bajaj as Aman Verma: Meethi and Mukta's colleague and former love (2012)
• Chaitanya Choudhury as Kanha Singh Bundela: Jignesh's son; Ichcha and Veer's adopted son; Yuvraj and Meethi's adopted brother; Surbhi's widower; Ajitesh's father (2012–2014)
• Pranitaa Pandit as Surbhi Yadav Bundela: Agarth and Kadambari's daughter; Nirbhay's sister; Akash and Sankrant's cousin; Kanha's wife; Ajitesh's mother (2012–2013) (Dead)
• Raj Singh Verma as Avinash Chatterjee: Prasad's son; Ekadashi's husband; Akash and Sankrant's father; Rani's grandfather; Tamanna's adoptive grandfather (2011–2012) (Dead)
• Krutika Desai Khan as Ekadashi Yadav Chatterjee: Agarth, Gomati and Pavitra's sister; Avinash's widow; Akash and Sankrant's mother; Rani's grandmother; Tamanna's adoptive grandmother (2012–2015)
• Arishfa Khan as Rani Chatterjee: Nandini's daughter; Meethi and Akash's adoptive daughter; Tamanna's adopted sister (2014–2015)
• Unknown as Tamanna Chatterjee: Khanna's daughter; Akash and Meethi's adopted daughter; Rani's adopted sister (2015)
• Rumi Khan as Nirbhay Yadav: Agarth and Kadambari's son; Surbhi's brother; Akash and Sankrant's cousin; Kajri's husband (2013)
• Arti Singh as Kajri Yadav: Nirbhay's wife (2013–2014)
• Girija Shankar as Agarth Yadav: Ekadashi, Gomati and Pavitra's brother: Kadambari's husband; Nirbhay and Surbhi's father (2013)
• Neena Singh as Gomati Yadav: Ekadashi, Agarth and Pavitra's sister (2013–2015)
• Hetal Yadav as Pavitra Yadav: Ekadashi, Agarth and Gomati's sister (2013–2014)
• Sonica Handa as Amla: Veer's nanny (2012–2013)
• Rajesh Khera as Maharani (2014)
• Tiku Talsania as Colonel Swarnik Agnihotri (2014)
• Krip Suri as Asgar Rizvi: Saba, Nusrat, and Ashfaque's brother; Zubeida and Fida's husband (2014)
• Gaurav Vasudev as Babar (2014)
• Sahil Phull as Ashfaque Rizvi: Saba, Nusrat and Asgar's brother (2014)
• Anchal Sabharwal as Fida: Asgar's second wife (2014)
• Shriya Jha as Nandini "Chameli" Sharma: Akash's ex-lover; Rani's mother; Sri Karna's daughter (2014–2015)
• Madhura Naik as Nilofer Naaz: Ashfaque's wife; Khalid's sister (2014)
• Mansi Sharma as Saba Mehrami: Nusrat, Asgar and Ashfaque's sister (2014)
• Samikssha Batnagar as Zubeida Ahmed: Asgar's first wife (2014)
• Rakesh Pandey as Rizvi Gulzar: Saba, Nusrat, Asgar and Ashfaque's father; Mumtaz's husband (2014)
• Charu Rohatgi as Mumtaz Begum: Saba, Nusrat, Asgar and Ashfaque's mother; Rizvi's wife (2014)
• Amrin Chakkiwala as Nusrat Rizvi (2014)
• Vineett Kumar/Rrajvir Singh as Khalid: Saba's husband; Nilofer's brother (2014)
• An unknown actor as Mushtaq Ansari Sahab (2014)
• Baby Farida as Anjum Jalalan (2008–2014)
• Usha Bachani as Jailaxmi Khurana (2009)
• Aastha Chaudhary as Madhuran Sethi (2011)
• Sharad Kelkar as Satyaveer Singh (2011)
• An unknown actress as Kuki Arora (2009)
• An unknown actress as Jyoti Bhatia: Lali's sister; Thakur family's maid (2008–2010)
• Shivshakti Sachdev as Lali Thakur: Jyoti's sister (2009)
• An unknown actor as Maharaj Karvansh: Thakur family's maid (2008–2009)
• Priya Marathe as Ruby Shekhawat: Rocky's fiancée (2011–2012)
• Harsha Khandeparkar as Sanchi Singh (2011)
• Apurva as Kinjal (2010)
• Nikita Sharma as Masoom (2010)
• Arun Bali as Godman (2014)
• Vikas Sethi as Inspector Abeeran Mattoo (2010)
• Nikhil Arya as Inspector Suryakant Tarte (2011–2012)

• Vidya Balan from Kahaani (2012)
• Gurmeet Choudhary as Yash Scindia from Punar Vivaah - Zindagi Milegi Dobara (2012)
• Kratika Sengar as Aarti Scindia from Punar Vivaah - Zindagi Milegi Dobara (2012)
• Vivian Dsena as RK from Madhubala Ek Ishq Ek Junoon (2013)
• Drashti Dhami as Madhu from Madhubala Ek Ishq Ek Junoon (2013)
• Ranveer Singh from Lootera (2013)
• Sonakshi Sinha from Lootera (2013)
• Eijaz Khan as Vikrant Suryavanshi from Punar Vivaah - Ek Nayi Umeed (2013)
• Karan Grover as Raj Jakhotia from Punar Vivaah - Ek Nayi Umeed (2013)
• Srishty Rode as Sarita Suryavanshi from Punar Vivaah - Ek Nayi Umeed (2013)
• Parul Chauhan as Divya Jakhotia from Punar Vivaah - Ek Nayi Umeed (2013)
• Ashish Sharma as Rudra Prantap Ranawat from Rangrasiya (2014)
• Sanaya Irani as Paro from Rangrasiya (2014)
• Harshad Arora as Zain Abdullah from Beintehaa (2014)
• Preetika Rao as Aaliya Zain Abdullah from Beintehaa (2014)
• Dipika Kakar as Simar Prem Bharadwaj from Sasural Simar Ka (2014)
• Dheeraj Dhoopar as Prem Bharadwaj from Sasural Simar Ka (2014)
• Avika Gor as Roli Siddhant Bharadwaj from Sasural Simar Ka (2014)
• Manish Raisinghan as Siddhant Bharadwaj from Sasural Simar Ka (2014)
• Shabir Ahluwalia as Abhishek "Abhi" Prem Mehra from Kumkum Bhagya (2014)
• Sriti Jha as Pragya Arora Mehra from Kumkum Bhagya (2014)
• Karan Veer Mehra as Naren Karmarkar from Pavitra Rishta (2014)
• Ankita Lokhande as Ankita Deshmuskh Karmarkar from Pavitra Rishta (2014)
• Karan Patel as Raman Bhalla from Yeh Hai Mohabbatein (2014)
• Divyanka Tripathi as Ishita Iyer Bhalla from Yeh Hai Mohabbatein (2014)
• Avinash Sachdev as Shlok Agnihotri from Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon? Ek Baar Phir (2014)
• Shrenu Parikh as Astha Shlok Agnihotri from Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon? Ek Baar Phir (2014)
• Gautam Rode as Saraswatichandra "Saras" Vyas from Saraswatichandra (2014)
• Jennifer Winget as Kumud Vyas from Saraswatichandra (2014)
• Sidharth Shukla as Shiv Balika Vadhu (2014)
• Toral Rasputra as Anandi Balika Vadhu (2014)
• Shashank Vyas as Jagdish Singh Balika Vadhu (2014)
• Sargun Mehta as Ganga Balika Vadhu (2014)
• Shakti Arora as Ranveer Raghvela from Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi (2014)
• Radhika Madan as Ishani from Meri Aashiqui Tum Se Hi (2014)

The show initially starred Sparsh Khanchandani as young Ichcha with Ishita Panchal as young Tapasya in December 2008 to June 2009.^[4]

It later took a generation leap and from June 2009 to March 2012, it focused on the characters of Ichcha, Tapasya, Veer and Vansh played by Tina Datta, Rashami Desai, Nandish Sandhu and Rohit Khurana respectively.^[5][6] Sandhu quit the show as he doesn't want to be the part of 18 years leap and was replaced by Vikas Bhalla in 2012.^[7]

Another 18-year leap was introduced in March 2012 and then the story centered around the life of Meethi, Mukta, Yuvraj, Akash and Vishnu portrayed by Tina Datta, Sreejita De, Saurabh Raj Jain, Mrunal Jain and Ajay Chaudhary until its end in January 2015.^[8]

Uttaran's premiere had a 3.25 target rating point (TRP) and it became one of the top-rated Hindi GEC, and the second most watched program of Colors TV after Balika Vadhu at the time.^[9][10][11] It was one of the show that helped Colors TV to briefly gain first position in Hindi GEC, breaking the nine-year run of Star Plus. From 2008 until the first quarter of 2012, Uttaran maintained its top position mostly on the ratings charts.^[12]

The series has won the following awards:

• Uttaran at IMDb
• Uttaran on Voot