RadhaKrishn is an Indian Hindi-language television drama series that premiered on 1 October 2018 on Star Bharat and is also digitally available on Disney+ Hotstar. After a successful run of more than 5
years, it went off the air on 21 January 2023. The series is a fictionalised version based on the life of Hindu deities Radha and Krishna. It is produced by Siddharth Kumar Tewary, Rahul Kumar Tewary and Gayatri Gill Tewary for Swastik Productions and is directed by Rahul Kumar Tewary. The roles of Krishna and Radha are played by Sumedh Mudgalkar and Mallika Singh. It completed 1145 episodes and is listed among longest running television series of India and also became the longest ran religious series. It is also the longest running drama series on Star Bharat to date.
A prequel of RadhaKrishn, titled Jai Kanhaiya Lal Ki, was telecast from 19 October 2021 to 4 July 2022.
Contents
Plot
Chapter 1: Radha-Krishn's teenage
Krishn's devotee, Sridama curses Radha-Lakshmi in Goloka to forget Krishn for 100 years and live on Earth. This was a part of cosmic play as it was time for Krishn-Vishnu to make his entry into the mortal world to save Bhudevi from evil. Radha and Krishna are reborn in Barsana and Mathura respectively.
Krishn is destined to kill his evil maternal uncle, Kansa. Meanwhile, Ayan, Radha's friend loves Radha and he tries to separate Radha from Krishn. Krishn defeats Vyomasura, a demon whose marriage was fixed with Radha. Krishn removes all humanly weaknesses like bhaya (fear), moha (greed), krodha (anger),irshya (envy), ahankara (pride), grihna (hatred) and heenbhavna (lack of self-confidence) out of Radha. In the process, she becomes closer to Krishn but is forced to marry Ayan. Later she realises that this marriage is merely an illusion as she can't marry anyone except Krishna because she is the incarnation of Lakshmi and Krishn is none other than Vishnu, Lakshmi's consort. Radha understands that her marriage is fake and eternally, she is Krishn's consort after Brahma completes Brahma Kalyāna (heavenly wedding) of Radha and Krishn in Goloka.
Ugrasena is crowned king. Now, Krishn, Balarama and the Yadavas move to Dwaraka, their new home. Balarama marries Revati (Jyotishmati) in her earlier life, who loved Balarama as Shesha. Elsewhere, Krishn marries Rukmini. Later, Krishna also marries Satyabhama and Jambavati. He then kills the evil Narakasura and his general Mura.
Chapter 2: Mahabharata
The Pandavas have escaped the lac-palace incident which was organised by their evil cousins – the Kauravas, headed by Duryodhana and his brother Dushasana, their uncle Shakuni and Duryodhana's friend Karna. He helps Panchala king Drupada arrange a Swayamvara for his daughter Draupadi, who was born from a yajna. The third Pandava prince Arjuna wins Draupadi's svayamvara and marries her, however circumstances force Draupadi to marry all five Pandavas. The Pandavas receive a new kingdom Indraprastha, faraway from Hastinapura due to the conflict with the Kauravas.
Krishn's sister Subhadra elopes with Arjuna, whereas Krishn kills the Pundra king Paundraka Vasudeva, an impostor. The second Pandava Bhima also kills the Magadha king Jarasandha. Pandavas soon perform Rajasuya Yagna where they gain supremacy over all of Aryavarta, where Krishn's cousin Shishupala interrupts the ceremony, only to be killed by Krishn. Later, Duryodhana organises a dice game with Shakuni wherein Pandavas lose all their wealth and are humiliated, while Krishna saves Draupadi from getting disrobed in the court by Dushasana. Later, the Pandavas and Draupadi are exiled for 13 years. Upon their return starts the Kurukshetra War, where Arjuna receives from Krishn, the knowledge of Bhagavad Gita. Shikhandi (who got a boon from Lord Shiva to kill Bhishma in her previous birth as Amba) kills Bhishma. Dhrishtadyumna kills Dronacharya, Arjuna kills Karna. Sahadeva kills Shakuni, whereas Bhima kills all the 100 Kauravas, with the war ending with the death of Duryodhana. Gandhari curses Krishn that the Yadava clan will be similarly destroyed. On the other hand, Krishn turns Ayan into a better person.
Chapter 3: Punarmilan
Krishn returns to Dwaraka. Pradyumna returns to Dwaraka and marries Rukmavati, and a son Aniruddha is born to them. To Jambavati and Krishn, a son Samba is born, who is termed to be the reason for the Yadava destruction as cursed by Gandhari. Samba grows up to be short-tempered but loves his family, especially his mother; however, he hates Radha. Later, Samba, Aniruddha, and Balaram's sons Nishath and Ulmuk are sent to Gurukula along with Radha and return after a few years, as teens.
Aniruddha is kept in captivity at Shonitapura, the kingdom of Banasura, by his daughter Usha. This soon results in a war between Krishn and Banasura, wherein Shiva has to fight for Banasura due to his boon, resulting in a faceoff between Krishn and Shiva. Krishn defeats Shiva and punishes Banasura for kidnapping his grandson. Soon, Aniruddha is married to Usha while Samba is married to Hastinapur's Kaurava princess, Lakshmanaa, Duryodhana and Bhanumati's daughter. As Samba had previously joined hands with Banasura, he is cursed with leprosy by Krishn.
When Samba steals the Siamantak mani, Dwarka is plunged into darkness. With Samba praying to the moon, and Radha praying to the sun. This leads to Samba being cursed by Ganesha. Later, Radha helps him recover.
Because of Samba's evil ploy, Radha loses her memory. Krishn shows her their childhood memories and she eventually remembers him.
When Krishn ends up disrupting Bali's yagya, he is forced to declare his end. Radha, disturbed by this, get the boon of dying before Krishn from Saraswati.
Samba tricks Yamuna into awakening Shani. However, even his Vakra Drishti has a positive effect on Radha and Krishn.
Radha and Krishn then play Dwarka's Last holi.
Shankhchuda (rebirth of Sridama) enters the story and has a loving wife, Tulasi, who is his strength but he only uses her. With the help of Tulasi and her devotion to him, Shankhchuda got immense strength and he vows to destroy the whole universe. Krishn disguises himself as Shankhchuda and goes to Tulasi to break her devotion. After Shankhchuda is killed, Tulasi feels cheated. She curses Krishn to become a stone (sālagrāma). Radha enables Banke Bihari. He helps Tulasi realise the truth.
Cast
Main
Sumedh Mudgalkar as Krishna / Vishnu / Matsya / Kurma / Varaha / Narasimha / Vamana / Parashurama / Rama / Mohini / Gopala-Krishna / Govind Dev / Madhava / Manmohan / Banke Bihari / Paundraka / Achyuta / Srinivas / Venkatesh (2018–2023)
Runav Shah / Hazel Gaur as young Krishna (2018–2020) / (2022)
Mallika Singh as Radha / Mahalakshmi / Sita / Bhumi / Ashta Lakshmi / Alakshmi / Shitala /Kolhapur Mahalakshmi / Madhavi / Vallabh / Kishori / Bhargavi (2018–2023)
Myra Rajpal as young Radha (2018–2020)
Basant Bhatt as Balarama / Lakshmana / Shesha / Baldevi / Ananga Manjari / Govindraja / Bharya (2018–2023)
Recurring
Himanshu Soni as Krishna of Goloka (2018)
Shivya Pathania as Radha of Goloka (2018)
Tarun Khanna as Shiva / Hanuman (2018–2023)
Piyali Munsi as Parvati / Sati / Siddhidatri / Durga /Mahakali / Bhadrakali (2018–2023)
Zalak Desai as Rukmini / Lakshmi /Padmavathi (2019–2023)
Nisha Nagpal / Shalini Vishnudev as Saraswati (2020–2021) / (2021–2023)
Amardeep Garg as Brahma (2018–2023)
Kumar Hegde as Narada (2018–2023)
Raman Thukral as Ganesha (2019–2023)
Kunal Bakshi / Manish Bishla / Meer Ali as Indra (2019) / (2019–2022) / (2022–2023)
Jiten Bisht as Varuna
Sunil Bhargav as Surya (2020-2022)
Himanshu Bamzai as Yama (2020)
Aahil Khan as Vayu (2020)
Abhishek Mishra & Akash Mishra as Ashwini Kumars (2020)
Raj Logani as Shani (2021)
Harsh Vashisht as Sridama of Goloka, Demon Shankhachur (2018–2023)
Raja Kapse as Ugrasena (2018–2020)
Falaq Naaz as Devaki (2018–2023)
Soundtrack
The original music of the series is composed by Surya Raj Kamal with the background score by Jitesh Panchal and Sushant Pawar. Lyrics are penned by Shekhar Astitwa, Neetu Pandey Kranti, Vikas Chauhan, Dr. Kannan, and others. The shlokas, mantras, and excerpts from various Hindu mythology scriptures and texts like Bhagavata Purana and Brahma Vaivarta Purana have been transformed into various themes. Popular devotional songs like Shri Krishna Govind Hare Murari, Govind Bolo Hari Gopal Bolo, and Bolo Jai Kanhaiya Lal Ki have also been recreated. Some shlokas, bhajans, songs, and background music from Swastik's another magnum opus series Mahabharat are also used in the series. Surya Raj Kamal has composed more than 20 original compositions for Raasleela of Radha-Krishn. Star Bharat in December 2018 uploaded a video consisting of 14 songs from the series till that date.
Production
Development
The series is one of the most expensive series on Indian Television as ₹150 crore is said to have been spent by Swastik Productions. Shooting took place in Umargam (Umbergaon), a suburb in Gujarat, India. The series was mainly shot in front of a green/blue screen.
Shibhapriya Swas is the set and costume designer who was inspired from their descriptions in scriptures, as well as different paintings. Surya Raj Kamwas is the music director of the show who composed various themes. There were approximately 500 members of the crew.
Casting
In 2017, Chahat Pandey was first cast as the lead Radha opposite Sumedh Mudgalkar while Madirakshi Mundle and Siddharth Arora as Goloka RadhaKrishna. They also starred in the show's first teaser, however, were replaced by Mallika Singh, Shivya Pathania and Himanshu Soni due to creative differences.
Shooting
the show’s crew of 180 people were stranded at the show’s shoot location Umargam from March till May 2020 due to COVID-19 lockdown in India.
Reception
In the first week of December 2018, it was at fifth position with 6.6 million impressions.
Prequel
A prequel show was launched, highlighting the early days of Lord Krishna. It was titled as Jai Kanhaiya Lal Ki and premiered on 19 October 2021 and ended on 4 July 2022.