Alif Laila (Hindi: अलिफ़ लैला) is a TV series based on the stories from One Thousand and One Nights. It was produced by Sagar Films (Pvt. Ltd.). It was made in two seasons. The first season was aired on DD National and season two on ARY Digital. Popularity of the show lead to it being broadcast in Bengali on BTV, and ETV. The show started re-airing from 2012 on every weekdays on Dhamaal TV and its sister channel Dabangg TV.
The plot line of the series starts right from the very beginning when Scheherazade starts telling stories to Shahryar. Alif Laila contains both the well-known and the lesser-known stories from One Thousand and One Nights which are mentioned here. Actual word is "Alf Laila" meaning thousand nights.
Prologue to The Story of King Shahryar and Queen Scheherazade.
The Merchant and the Djinn
The Old Man and the Two Black Dogs
The Old Man and the Goat
The Fisherman and the DjinnDouban the Physician
Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor
Prince Jalal Talib and Malika Hamira (a.k.a. Prince Jalal Talib and the Three Pearls)
Prince Jamal Saakib and Princess Mahapara
The Night Adventures of Harun al-Rashid, Caliph of Baghdad [Second season starts from here]
The Story of the Three Qalandars, Sons of Kings, and of Three Ladies of Baghdad (a.k.a. The Story of the Porter and the Three Ladies of Baghdad)
The Story of the Blind Baba Abdallah Zaman
The Story of Sidi-Nouman
The Story of Jishan and Sofonisba
Hasan the Bearded
The Story of Two Brothers Jalal and Belal
Prince Afat and Firoza vs Firoz
Epilogue to The Story of King Shahryar and Queen Scheherazade.
The episodes of Alif Laila was released on both VCD and DVD format. The DVD release was marketed as 20 volumes consisting of 143 episodes, while the VCD released as 50 sets. There also been DVD and VCD releases of single story arcs.
Alif Laila was the winner of Most Outstanding T.V. Serial awarded by India Cine-goers Academy.
Girija Shankar as Sultan Shahryār
Damini Kanwal Shetty as Queen Scheherazade
Shah Nawaz as Royal Vizier (Prologue), Sinbad the Sailor, clone Badrous (Sinbad arc), dacoit Asfandyaar (Ali Baba arc)
Shweta Rastogi as daughter of Royal Vizier (Prologue)
R.K. Dutta as Trader (Trader & Genie arc), shape-shifter Cheema (Jalal Talib arc)
Pramod Kapoor as merchant Sirajuddin Shareef Zardaari (Trader & goat arc), prince Gulfaam/Shah Khurram of Mehrabaad/sorcerer Misri (Sinbad arc), sorcerer Azgar (Jalal Taalib arc), King Baazik (Two Brothers arc)
Mulraj Razda as hakim Douban
Neela Patel as fisherman's wife (Fisherman & Genie arc), Aladdin's mother (Aladdin arc), Shah of Baghdad's consort (Sinbad arc), Queen Zamaani of Shahristaan (Jalal Talib arc)
Navdeep Singh as Aladdin (Aladdin arc)
Papiya Sengupta as princess Gulafsha of Naglistaan
Sanjeev Sharma as Haasim (Ali Baba arc), Daniel (Jalal Talib arc)
Vilas Raj as African magician Zingaalu Zungla (Aladdin arc), pirate Qehermaan/evil shadow Hamzaad (Sinbad arc), shape-shifter Jhingaal (Jalal Talib arc)
Pinky Parikh as Duraksha (Trader & goat arc), Fairy Zeba Zeemi Shaheen (Aladdin arc), Marjina (Ali Baba arc), princess Badroulbadour and witch-queen Taaguti (Sinbad arc)
Sulakshana Khatri as witch Asbela (Sinbad arc), princess of corpses Asjaar Salatiya (Jalal Talib arc)
Jyotin Dave as King of Naglistaan (Aladdin arc), Police chief (Ali Baba arc), Shah of Baghdad (Sinbad arc), King of Shahristaan/dervish (Jalal Talib arc)
Sunil Pandey as Sabeer Ahmed (Three Brothers arc), Ali Baba (Ali Baba arc), dacoit Gufraan (Sinbad arc), vizier Sarbaakh (Two Brothers arc)
Tarakesh Chauhan as merchant Qaasim (Ali Baba arc), Balgavaan, Hafiz (Sinbad arc), prince Jalal Talib bin Sheikh Abdul Majeedi of ShahHarounabad (Jalal Talib, Two Brothers arc)
Radha Yadav as Dilshad (Ali Baba arc), mother of kidnapped child (Sinbad arc)
Jharna Dave as Naubahar (Ali Baba arc), sorceress Zubeidaa (Sinbad arc)
Paulomi Mukherjee as lady Shahzamaani (Sinbad arc)
Ashwini Sidhwani as fairy Maarukh (Sinbad arc)
Sunil Nagar as Sultan Bakht, lady Gazala's lover, Fairy-king of Nigaristaan (Sinbad arc)
Payal Mehta as lady Gazala (Sinbad arc), princess Mahapara of Cheestaan (Two Brothers arc)
Kumar Hegde as shape-shifter Halkaash (Sinbad arc), genie-lord Aatish Fishaani (Jalal Talib arc), court magician Hattat (Two Brothers arc)
Mona Parikh as lady Kulussun (Sinbad arc), princess Tayyabah of Shahristaan (Jalal Talib arc)
Lata Haya (née Lata Nagar) as Queen Malika-e-Aliyah (Sinbad arc), witch-queen Hameera (Jalal Talib arc)
Sanjeev Siddharth as genie Dara (Jalal Talib arc)
Anupama Pardesi as courtesan Gulroo/serpent-princess Bargamaayi (Sinbad arc)
Swati as fairy Shaheedi (Sinbad arc)
Neha Grewal, Hetal Panchal, Heena as fairies (Jalal Talib arc)
Mukul Nag as prince Jamal Saakib of ShahHarounabad (Two Brothers arc)
Arvind Raosaraya as magician Gaaradgar (Two Brothers arc)
Aslam, Gyan, Amar, Shirke, Muniraj, Kaleem, Ajay, A. Sodhi, Ramesh Ambavale, Akhtar, Vinod, Nagesh played minor roles in every story arc.
Composer Ravindra Jain composed the main theme of the show along with 'Aankh vida par', 'Allah hu' for scenes during the Merchant/Genie arc; 'Sard Shabo ki Tanhaai mein' for a scene during Trader/Goat arc; 'Chini Haseena aayi hai' for a scene during Aladdin arc; 'Josh-e-Junoon mein' (qawwali) for a scene during Ali Baba arc; and 'Dil mera Bekaraar tha', 'Bando nahi Ghabraana tum', 'Ae mere Khuda', and 'Dhoka hua' for scenes during Sinbad arc. Suraj Kiran composed 'Mehbooba Mehbooba' for a scene during Sinbad arc. Composer Nazir Mahate composed 'Jundala Jundala', 'Rabbe zul Jalal', 'Bachna Humaare Panje se', 'Shaitaaniyat ka daur hai', 'Ae Pyaare Mehmaan tera Shukriya', and 'Rehm ae Allah mere' for scenes during Jalal Taalib arc. Bollywood singers Suresh Wadkar, Asha Bhosle, Kavita Subramaniam, Mohd. Aziz, Mitali Choudhary, Chetna, Usha Mangeshkar, Satish Dehra, Sushil Kumar, Vasi Raza, etc. lend their voices to the Arabic-themed songs for the first season.
