Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon

Plot

This story depicts the mesmerizing love-hate relationship between the unlikeliest of people who embark upon a beautiful and unforgettable journey. We follow Khushi Kumari Gupta (Sanaya Irani) who is a simple, naive and cheerful young woman brought up in a stereotypical and patriarchal house rooted in traditions and values. She eventually meets Arnav Singh Raizada (Barun Sobti) who is the complete opposite of her. He is a shrewd, arrogant and ruthless businessman who only cares for his own family, especially his older sister. Although he has a very harsh exterior, it is largely due to a damaged past.

The story begins in Lucknow when Khushi accidentally falls into Arnav's arms in one of his fashion shows upon their first meething. There upon also begins Arnav's venegful quest to humiliate and mistreat Khushi at every step thereafter as he considers her to have ruined his show on purpose. Since he deliberately spreads the footage of this mishap in the media the now mortified Khushi is forced to shift to her Aunt's house along with her sister in Delhi which also happens to be the city where Arnav resides

Arnav is a stern business tycoon and has been living with his maternal family consisting of his beloved sister Anjali, and her infidel husband Shyam, uncle Manohar, aunt Manorama, cousin Aakash and his grandmother Devyani, after his mother's suicide. Khushi, on the other hand, is a chirpy girl from a lower middle class nuclear family. They come across each other on several occasions, and after many initial fights, start warming up to each other.

The antagonist in their story is Arnav's brother in-law, Shyam, who wishes to marry Khushi. Misunderstanding, Arnav marries Khushi in turn, to save his sister's marriage, during Aakash and Payal's wedding. Shyam is later exposed by the duo, who finally confess their love to each other, marry and live happily ever after.

Casting, production and distribution

The show has been produced and directed by Gul Khan under the banner of 4 Lions Films. Barun Sobti was cast as Arnav Singh Raizada after the original choice, Karan Singh Grover, opted out of the role to focus on his film career; and Sanaya Irani replaced Shraddha Arya who had originally been cast as the female lead. Daljeet Kaur Bhanot, Deepali Pansare & Akshay Dogra got finalised to play supporting roles to the main leads. Other supporting cast include Jayshree T., Tuhina Vohra, Abha Parmar, Utkarsha Naik, Sanjay Batra and many other actors. Abhaas Mehta and Sana Makbul entered the show as antagonists of the show. Sana later quit the show in December 2011.

Sequels and franchise

In 2013, the soap opera was renewed for a second season, Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon?...Ek Baar Phir (English: What Do I Call This Love?... Once Again) with a brand new plot, starring Avinash Sachdev (Shlok Agnihotri) and Shrenu Parikh (Aastha Shlok Agnihotri).

In 2015, Hotstar launched a finite web series of eight episodes titled Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon? — Ek Jashn with the original cast and the characters. The story was about the life of Arnav and Kushi after three years of marriage. The series was produced by Entertainment Mafia.

Broadcast and remake

The series inspired several international remakes, which include Bohjena Se Bohjena and Aragini. The show airs in Vietnam under the title, Mối tình kỳ lạ on HTV3. The show airs in Jamaica on one of the two free-to-air channels in the country which is CVMTV as Strange Love and also in Namibia and is dubbed in English.

It has been dubbed into Tamil as Idhu Kadhala, Telugu as Chuppulu Kalisina Shubhavela, Malayalam as Mounam Sammadham, Turkish as "Bir Garip Ask" and Arabic as Men Nazra Thanya. The french dubbed version La Promesse airs on Reunion 1ere.

Reception

The background score "Rabba Ve" for Arnav and Khushi was well received by audiences as well as critics. The character of Arnav Singh Raizada was very popular and gave a huge fan following to Barun Sobti such that when Sobti announced his break from the show due to health problems, his fans made it sure that the show was shut down on a happy note rather than any replacement. The onscreen chemistry between Sobti and Sanaya Irani resulted in several awards for best on-screen couple. The show also had very high TRPS. Fans are still crazy for the show and are eagerly waiting for Barun Sobti and Sanaya Irani to come back in their respective roles. The show has also been ranked no. 1 in many polls by fans led by several websites. Whereas, Arnav and Khushi's Jodi has been ranked no. 1 in the Best Jodi Category in several polls. Barun Sobti has been named as the most awaited comeback by an actor and Most Handsome Leading Man while Sanaya Irani has been named as the Most Beautiful Leading Lady. Many dialogues from the show have received tremendous popularity from fans like Barun Sobti's "What the", "I Love You Dammit" or Sanaya Irani's "Hey Devi Mayya", "Aaj Mausam hai Suhana song" or Utkarsha Naik's "Hello Hi Bye Bye" or Abha's "Haye re Nand Kishore" or Karan Goddwani's wrong hindi. The other actors from the show especially Akshay Dogra, Daljeet Kaur and Utkarsha Naik have also garnered extreme popularity due to their roles and the actors still remain best friends. The show has several fan pages and has been critically acclaimed show by the critics as well as the audience as it was not a typical 'saas bahu' show. It is one of the most popular show even after the end of the show 4 years back and will always remain special for its fans.