Best of Luck Nikki is a Disney Channel India sitcom, which premiered 3 April 2011.The series is an Indian adaptation of the American teen show Good Luck Charlie. The plot is similar to the American version (with some exceptions).
The series was created by Phil Baker and Drew Vaupen, who wanted to create a program that would appeal to entire families, as opposed to kids and teens only. It revolves around a family, the Singhs, as they try to adjust to the birth of their fourth child, Nikki Singh. In each episode, Dolly Singh creates a video diary containing advice for Nikki about their family and life as a teenager. Dolly tries to show Nikki what she might go through in the video diary so she can always know how to figure things out when she gets older, when she wouldn't be around. In the third season Nikki's younger sibling Bobby was born. The show went on hiatus on 8 November 2015 and later showed the left episodes at 9:00pm every on Disney Channel (India). The show went on hiatus to give space to Vicky and Vetaal Season 2 which aired on 15 November 2015. Possibly all the episodes are over.
Best of Luck Nikki Season 4 was cut off short due to extremely low TRPs. There are possibilities of a film, Best of Luck Dolly, which may air on 2017 but this is not confirmed.
Plot
The series revolves around the Singh family, who are still adjusting to the birth of their fourth child, Nikita (Nikki) Singh. When parents Himani, a nurse, and Avatar Singh, an electrician, return to work, they ask their three older children, Rohan, Dolly and Sunny for help raising their little sister. At the same time, Dolly, Rohan, and Sunny try to deal with school and typical teen-aged social challenges in their life.
The events of each episode become material for a video diary Dolly is making for her younger sister. Dolly hopes the videos will provide useful advice for Nikki after they have both grown up and Dolly has moved out. Also at the end of each video, she states, "Best of luck, Nikki".
Season 1 revolves around a 15-year-old Dolly who is a studious girl, with her best friend Pam, and has a crush on her classmate Ritesh, a 9-year-old Sunny who is notorious both in school, the neighbourhood and at home, and an 18-year-old Rohan who is hy and lags behind academically. His best friend is the equally lazy Popi who has a crush on Dolly. Himani is temporarily on leave from work due to Nikki's birth and Avtar is busy with his electrical business.Himani is reaveled to be with 5th child.
Season 2 jumps to a 16-year-old Dolly who has now broken up with Ritesh and is dating Rahul, her former enemy, and Pam who is dating Jatin. Himani is active at work and struggles to manage her lazy and troublesome family while Avtar deals with his business. Sunny has to cope with hiding his school pranks from his parents and Rohan is shown to attend college with Popi.
In Season 3, Avtar is going on with his business, while Dolly is in Rohan's college with Pam and is dating college jock, Ayaan. Rohan and Popi move out and live in a one-room apartment while Sunny is now 12 years old and repeatedly getting caught with their neighbour Roli Aunty, and his teachers. At the end of the season, Avtar's mistake demolishes their house and they are seen to be living in a hotel room while searching for a new house.
In Season 4 In the starting they are shown livingb in a one-room apartment with a lots of struggle and then their home is constructed again there is a new addition in the family, Bobby. Dolly is successfully interning with several companies and has broken up with Ayaan, and started dating Aavishkar, while Rohan has taken up culinary education. Sunny is now grown up and shortly romantically involved with neighbour Roli Aunty's granddaughter Riya, while Himani is revealed to be pregnant again.
Opening sequence
The opening sequence is similar to Good Luck Charlie, but with Hindi lyrics and characters. The credits are given in the order as follows- Sheena Bajaj, Gurdip Punjj, Anannya, Aakash Nair, Gireesh Sahedev and Murtuza Kutianawala.
A completely new opening sequence is used for Season 4 of Best of Luck Nikki where the entire cast is seen taking selfies together and the background music used is "Aaja Sang, Baby". The main cast characters shown in the opening sequence are the same as shown in previous seasons, with the addition of Bobby.
Main characters
Dolly Singh is played by Sheena Bajaj. Dolly, Nikki's only sister, is the second-oldest Singh sibling. Feeling that she will not be around as much when Nikki is grown, she produces and directs video diaries for her, hoping they will give her advice that will help her be successful as a teenager. She produces these video diaries at the end of every episode, and at the end of every video diary she says "Best of Luck Nikki". Her best friend is Pam. She dated Ritesh in season one, but they broke up after she caught him two-timing both her and a pretty, dim-witted brunette named Maya, breaking her heart. She and Maya later become friends. She and Rahul get together in season two. Throughout the show Dolly has had numerous boyfriends. Dolly shows much care towards her brothers, such as saving Rohan from falling out of the treehouse window, or offering to help Sunny deal with Guri, who has given him a black eye. She and Rahul get together in "Can You Keep A Secret?". In Good Luck Charlie, Dolly is the equivalent of Teddy Duncan who is played by Bridgit Mendler.
Himani Singh is played by Gurdip Punjj. She is Avatar's wife and the mother of Rohan, Dolly, Sunny, Nikki and Bobby. She worked as a hospital nurse and is often portrayed as dutiful, protective and comedic. She loves her family and does everything to care for and protect them. She appears out-of-her-element when she isn't nurturing them, especially Nikki, but as the series progresses, she begins to feel assured that her youngest children are in good hands and trusts that her husband and 3 eldest children can look after Nikki and Bobby. She is notoriously conceited and enjoys bragging about her accomplishments, be they admirable, real, or otherwise. Himani used to be on the local news team and was also a poet in her high-school days. A running gag on the show is that she was involved in virtually every extracurricular activity at Arya Collge of Arts and Science but still earned a nursing degree. She lets special opportunities, such as being on TV or singing in front of a group, go to her head. She has a habit of taking any chance of any publicity that may shine on her family to focus onto her, but this never works out well; usually she ends up being cut from the project or tossed out of certain groups. Himani seldom accepts her children's misbehavior. It is revealed in the special No. 3, that she is pregnant again with her fifth child. In the middle of the third season, Himani quit her nursing job to be a stay-at-home mother to Nikki and Bobby. In Good Luck Charlie, Himani is the equivalent of Amy Duncan who is played by Leigh-Allyn Baker.
Sunny Singh is played by Aakash Nair. He is the middle Singh sibling, being both the younger brother of Rohan and Dolly and the older brother of Nikki and Bobby till Season 3. From the beginning Sunny doesn't approve of Nikki's arrival and is the last one of the family to get used to her, but finally he reaches the point of reluctantly assisting in her care and demonstrating some fondness of her. He is a prankster and troublemaker, often sarcastic and lazy, but can also be dutiful and determined at times. He is front-man when it comes to the Singhs' running rivalry with their neighbor Roli Aunty, who is often the target of Sunny's pranks and stunts—which is the only time the family doesn't mind them. Although he doesn't like Roli Aunty, he ends up dating a relative of Roli Aunty, Riya. A running gag in the show is that he insults Avatar's weight, Himani's cooking, Rohan being a goofball, Dolly being a "goody-goody," and occasionally Nikki. He also likes to harass and tease Roli Aunty, whom he finds annoying. He also won the right to name his baby brother Bobby; in one episode, he tried to impress a girl by making video diaries for Bobby, ending them with "Good Luck, Bobby!". It has been revealed that Sunny was a calm and docile baby. In Good Luck Charlie, Sunny is the equivalent of Gabe Duncan who is played by Bradley Steven Perry.
Nikki Singh is played by Anannya Kolvankar. Nikita "Nikki" Singh is the title character and the second-youngest Singh sibling. She is generally portrayed as being happy. It sometimes takes a few tries to get her to do the right thing. Nikki can also be mischievous at times. Many of the Singh family's adventures revolve around Nikki. Both her older brothers, Rohan and Sunny, are often seen using Nikki for their own benefit, although Rohan shows that he cares about her deeply. Sunny seems to dislike Nikki the most although, in some episodes, he is seen being quite fond of her. Himani thinks of Nikki as the perfect baby. It was revealed in "Nikki is 1", that it was Dolly's idea to nickname her Nikki. Nikki speaks more often in later episodes of seasons two and three. Bobby was born on her birthday; she responded to this by "I like this present." In season three, her personality begins to develop, as she is seen as sneaky and mischievous, such as pretending to like a doll Himani bought for her to like Bobby, then throwing it away when she was not looking; and also telling Himani's "friends" what she really thinks of them, causing her to lose them all. Also, she can be seen as not liking Bobby as in the episode "The Extravagant Couch" when she asks Avatar if Bobby is going to stay at the hotel and he says no and Nikki asks if they can talk about it. In Good Luck Charlie, Nikki is the equivalent of Charlie Duncan who is played by Mia Talerico.
Avatar Singh is played by Gireesh Sahedev. He is the father of Dolly, Rohan, Sunny, Nikki, Bobby and husband of Himani. He owns an electrical company, "Avatar Bijlee Company". He sometimes refers to his business as the best one in the city. He loves Electricity and attends the Electrical Convention every year. Avatar is the coach of Sunny's basketball team, but he was temporarily replaced by his wife. It is also mentioned in "Winter Vacation (Part 1)" that Avatar and Himani are not religiously married because they were scammed by a person who impersonated a Pandit; they have a religious marriage with all 4 children present. His childhood dream was to be a professional boxer, which he showed in his company's commercial. Avatar gets made fun of a lot throughout the series because of his weight, usually by Sunny. He is barely more intelligent than the Electrical appliances he uses, and breeds much resentment among his kids by being very "cheap" and "tight" with his money. He wants his family to know him as a "fix-it" man, though his projects never seem to work out. He is slightly afraid of Himani, but he calls it a "strong respect". He has two positions of authority when it comes to the children: going outings and barbecuing. He can be lazy but is determined to spend quality time with his wife and children. He has issues with his mother-in-law. It is revealed he has apologized to Himani at least 100 to 200 times, while Amy just soaks it up. In "Baby in Air," it is revealed that he dropped all of his kids including Bobby. In multiple episodes Avatar brags about having his own band in high school, "Avatar Beats", which made a grand total of one record (an LP, no copies). He can still play bass guitar and occasionally sits in with Rohan and Popi. Late in the third season, Avatar began exercising and dropped a massive amount of fat, replacing most of it with muscle. After Amy and the kids staged an intervention to stop his more-revealing wardrobe choices, he admits the catalyst for his getting back in shape was someone in the park mistaking him for Bobby's grandfather. In Good Luck Charlie, Avatar is the equivalent of Bob Duncan who is played by Eric Allan Kramer.
Rohan Singh is played by Murtuza Kutianawala. He is the eldest Singh sibling. He and Dolly often fight, although they care about each other, and he usually gets along well with his younger brother Sunny. He often appears awkward, somewhat careless, and childish, but on numerous occasions has been known to be resourceful, creative, and intelligent. He has also been shown to be a good cook, and Avatar once tricked Himani (who isn't a very good cook) into working later so that Rohan would cook. He and his best friend Popi have their own band. Rohan occasionally uses his younger sister Nikki for his personal gain, like when he uses her to make big tips while working for Kukkad Nukkad by saying that his mother was in the hospital when she actually worked there (customers just assumed she was ill). He dated Dolly's friend Maya, who has his type of scatterbrain, but they broke up in "Rohan in the City", when Maya had to move to Mumbai because of her father's new job. He was originally intended to be named Rohan Singh, but Avatar was nervous as he was writing on his birth certificate, resulting in the legal name of "Rona Ping" instead of the intended "Rohan Singh". Despite Avatar trying to correct this in the season two episode "Can You Keep a Secret?", he accidentally changed the intended name to "Rohini Singh". In season three, Rohan moves into an apartment shared with Popi, but is still in the Singh house a lot. In Good Luck Charlie, Rohan is the equivalent of PJ Duncan who is played by Jason Dolley.
Bobby Singh is played by Lakshay Dhamija in Season 4 but is uncredited in Season 3. He is the fifth Singh sibling. He was born in the back of an ice-cream truck Avatar and Himani were riding in on the way to the hospital and Dolly helped deliver him. He and Nikki share the same birthday but she is three years older. Sunny came up with his name, and Sunny started to make a video diary for him to impress a girl. At the end he says "Good Luck, Bobby". Lakshay Dhamija was selected for the role in season four. In Good Luck Charlie, Bobby is the equivalent of Toby Duncan who is played by Logan Moreau.
Mostly recurring characters
Parminder Kaur Dhillon (Pam) is played by Tanya Abrol. She is Dolly's best friend, and is one of the major recurring characters in the series. She is seen spending most of her time with Dolly at the Singh's residence and often accompanies her on her dutiful, or personal, excursions. Pam is energetic and witty and has proven to be quite intuitive; although she does not receive the best grades in school. She is passionate, if not obsessed, about clothes, money, popularity, boys, and texting; but on numerous occasions has proven to be a loyal and comforting friend. She briefly dated Popi when they were younger, and now never misses a chance to insult him, but went to the school dance with him so she and Dolly could have a ride in "Dance Off". It is revealed that she loves country music and animal-print clothes. At one point, it is implied that Pam has (or had) an addiction to chocolate. In Good Luck Charlie, Pam is the equivalent of Ivy Wentz who is played by Raven Goodwin.
Popi is played by Yash Mittal. He is Rohan's best friend. He is slender, comedic, and has a desperate, misguided & very one-sided attraction to Dolly, though Dolly constantly rejects him. Popi accompanies Rohan on the drums in his band, and sometimes assists Rohan on his problematic excursions. He has a nephew named Himen, he claimed, was better than Nikki, until Nikki beat Himen in a "baby basketball game" by winning. He is also an incredible dancer, with skills matched only by Ritesh. He once went out with Pam when they were younger. In his mind, he sees himself as being suave, sophisticated, and very attractive to girls. In season three, Popi and Rohan get an apartment together. In Good Luck Charlie, Popi is the equivalent of Emmett who is played by Micah Stephen Williams.
Roli Aunty is played by Sulakshana Rohini Khatri. She is the Singhs' strict and easily annoyed neighbor. In "The Curious Case of Mr. Surinder", she was mistakenly accused of killing her husband. She wanted the Singhs' tree, which housed Rohan and Dolly's tree house, cut down; but the family fought back. Roli Aunty is often suspicious of Sunny, because his pranks and troublemaking are often directed towards her. She is often antagonistic towards the Singhs but is fairly tolerant of Nikki. She was also a big fan of the fictional television show when she was younger. She loves her son and her cat more than her husband, and some wonder why she married Mr. Surinder if she hated him so much. It is also revealed that she has a granddaughter named Riya who ends up dating Sunny. In "It's an Avatar Singh's Birthday", it is revealed that she and Mr. Surinder had recently divorced. In the same episode, she flirted with the Singh kids' grandfather, but broke up with him not much later. It is revealed that in "Make Room for Baby" that she does not know about the Internet. In Good Luck Charlie, Roli Aunty is the equivalent of Mrs. Dabney who is played by Patricia Belcher.
Ayaan is played by Abhishek Sharma. He is Dolly's ex-boyfriend. At first, they started dating after they met each other in the same college. It is revealed in "Singh's Dream House", that he and Dolly broke up when Ayaan moves out to go to college in Mumbai. In Good Luck Charlie, Ayaan, Rahul and Ritesh are the equivalent of Spencer (Shane Harper) with whom Teddy (Bridgit Mendler) had on and off relationship. He is the equivalent of Spencer Walsh who is played by Shane Harper.
Aavishkaar is the newest employee at Avatar's company Avatar Bijlee Company. He moved from Ahmedabad and was first seen in "Rat-A-Dolly". In "Nikki 5, Bobby 2" Dolly helped him break up with his girlfriend in Ahmedabad. In Good Luck Charlie Aavishkaar is the equivalent of Beau Landry who is played by Luke Benward.
Riya Gill is played by Ahsaas Channa. Riya Gill is Roli Aunty's grand daughter and later Sunny's girlfriend. They went on a date, but it did not go so well. Roli Aunty did not like them being together, but later approved. In Good Luck Charlie Riya is the equivalent of Lauren Dabney who is played by Jaylen Barron.
Guri Malhotra is played by Saniya Anklesaria. She is Sunny's tomboyish bully-turned-friend. She was introduced in "Boys Meets Girls", bullying Sunny before revealing she has a crush on him. Since that episode, she appears friendly with Sunny, assisting him with certain situations with an occasional wise-crack and insult at his expense. In Good Luck Charlie Guri is the equivalent of Jo Keener who is played by G. Hannelius.
Ritesh is played by Shaheer Sheikh. He was Dolly's ex-boyfriend. At first, they started dating after they begin studying together. He cheated on her in the episode "Girl Bites Dog", and Dolly broke up with him. In Good Luck Charlie, Ayaan, Rahul and Ritesh are the equivalent of Spencer (Shane Harper) with whom Teddy (Bridgit Mendler) had on and off relationship. He is the equivalent of Spencer Walsh who is played by Shane Harper.
Rahul is played by Kishan Savjani. He was Dolly's ex-boyfriend. At first, she didn't like him and used to call him "Rakshas Rahul" but they eventually start dating in "Can You Keep A Secret?" and are not seen together in the Season 3 premiere "Make Room for Baby" indirectly shown broke up. In Good Luck Charlie, Ayaan, Rahul and Ritesh are the equivalent of Spencer (Shane Harper) with whom Teddy (Bridgit Mendler) had on and off relationship. He is the equivalent of Spencer Walsh who is played by Shane Harper.
Seasons
Best of Luck Nikki episodes are similar to the Good Luck Charlie episodes for the first two seasons but are not fully shown on TV whereas are uploaded fully on YouTube. The episodes on TV are aired just for 20 to 25 minutes whereas the episodes on YouTube are of 30 to 35 minutes duration. Because of this time slot adjustment problems Best of Luck Nikki Season 3 and 4 episodes are already edited and made, avoiding certain parts which are then clubbed up to form a new episode, that is the reason why Best of Luck Nikki has more episodes and an extra season, unlike Good Luck Charlie, which has just 97 episodes, 1 movie and 4 seasons. For example, episode 86 of Best of Luck Nikki has parts from three different episodes of Good Luck Charlie, namely, "Study Buddy" (when PJ reads a book to Charlie), "Doppel Date" (when Teddy decides to date a new guy post-Spencer) and "Teddy's Choice" (where Bob accidentally buys Gabe a girl's shirt).
Episodes
Season 1 (2011)
Season 1 of Best of Luck Nikki started airing on Disney Channel India on April 3, 2011 with the episode "Study Date". The season ended with the airing of "Happy Holi!" (Special) on March 8, 2012.
Season 2 (2012)
Season 2 of Best of Luck Nikki started airing on Disney Channel India on June 3, 2012, with the episode "Let's Potty". The season ended with the airing of "Happy New Year!" (Special) on January 1, 2013.
Season 3 (2013)
Season 3 of Best of Luck Nikki started airing on Disney Channel India on July 7, 2013 with the episode "Make Room for Baby". The season ended with the airing of "All Fall Down" (a double episode) on December 8, 2013.
Season 4 (2015 Part 1) + (2016 Part 2)
A first look at Best of Luck Nikki Season 4 was revealed in the Goldie Ahuja Matric Pass episode "Happy Father's Day!" (aired on June 21, 2015), which was a crossover episode between Goldie Ahuja Matric Pass and Best of Luck Nikki; however, it is not counted as a Best of Luck Nikki episode. Season 4 of Best of Luck Nikki started airing on Disney Channel India on August 2, 2015 at 10 a.m. and was slightly different from Good Luck Charlie as Hemani was shown pregnant with a sixth child; in Good Luck Charlie, there was no sixth child in the Duncan family. Gurdip Punjj was actually pregnant while shooting Season 4 and the cast and crew revealed that they took special care of her while shooting. Season 4 aired on August 2, 2015 with "Singh's Dream House" and ended on April 20, 2016 with "Final Project".
Best of Luck Dolly
A film is suggested to premiere in the year 2017 named "Best of Luck Dolly" featuring Dolly's marriage. There are possibilities but no confirmations. It will be based on Alia Bhatt's movie "Shaandar". It will be the final show of Singh Parivaar.
Cut Off Scenes
Best of Luck Nikki had many cut-off scenes as in the Good Luck Charlie. Mostly in the Season 4 which was on hiatus didn't show the episode "Sixth Singh Sibling" though it is not related to Good Luck Charlie. Many like "Meeting Tia and Jassie" and "Bye-Bye Nikki" which was a special episode did not air on television.
