As curtains close on 'Balika Vadhu', we look at twists and turns on long-running TV show

After eight long years of ruling the TRP charts, Balika Vadhu is finally set to make its exit from Indian television. After many ups and downs and twists and turns the show that began on 21 July, 2008 has now called it a day and will telecast its last episode on 31 July, 2008. The show that dealt with some serious social issues like child marriage, widow remarriage, adult education and female foeticide entered the Limca Book of Records in May 2016 for being India’s longest running show after completing over 2000 episodes. But like any show that has run anywhere as long as this daily soap, the actors have constantly changed in this daily drama. Here we take you through some of the major replacements that the show saw over the years. India first saw Pratyusha Banerjee as Anandi in 2010, when she replaced the child artist Avika Gor to play the grown- up character after the show took a five year leap. [caption id=“attachment_2879192” align=“alignleft” width=“825”]  Avika Gor. Image courtesy: News18.com[/caption] Three years later even Banerjee was replaced by  Toral Rasputra to play the protagonist’s role. [caption id=“attachment_2879188” align=“alignleft” width=“825”]  Pratyusha Banerjee. Image courtesy: News18.com[/caption]   Two of the show’s most popular faces quit it in 2014, Anup Soni and Smita Bansal, who played Bhairon and Sumitra — Anandi’s original in-laws and Jagya’s parents. The on- screen couple were shown to leave the city. [caption id=“attachment_2879178” align=“alignleft” width=“825”]  Smita Bansal and Amit Soni. Image courtesy: Twitter/ Annup Sonii[/caption] A year later  Shashank Vyas, who played the role of Jagya, followed suit and was replaced by Shakti Anand. In April this year, with a 15-year leap the show began its second season following the life of Anandi’s daughter, Nandini. The show had new entrants like Mahhi Vij and Ruslaan Mumtaz joining the bandwagon. [caption id=“attachment_2879184” align=“alignleft” width=“825”]  Toral Rasputra. Image courtesy: News18.com[/caption] With that some of the constant faces of the show, Surekha Sikri, Rajeshwari Sachdev and Toral Rasputra, who played the role of Dadisa, Mangala and Anandi, respectively, left the show. There are rumours of Dadisa coming back in the second season, but with so few episodes left, one never knows what is to happen. [caption id=“attachment_2879180” align=“alignleft” width=“825”]  Surekha Sikri. Image courtesy: News18.com[/caption]