Katha Ankahee (transl. A story untold) is an Indian television drama series that premiered from 5 December 2022 to 1 December 2023 on Sony TV. It streams digitally on SonyLIV. Produced by Sunjoy Waddhwa under the banner of Sphere Origins, it is the official Hindi adaptation of Turkish series One Thousand and One Nights, which was inspired from Arabian Nights. It starred Aditi Sharma and Adnan Khan.
Contents
Plot
Katha Singh, a single mother with unwavering determination, faced the most challenging battle of her life as she fought for her son Aarav, who was diagnosed with a severe case of blood cancer. Struggling to meet the overwhelming medical expenses and receiving no support from her in-laws, Katha found herself at crossroad.
Meanwhile, Viaan Raghuvanshi, a successful architect, carries the scars of his past. His father's abandonment of his mother, Teji, for another woman had left Viaan with deep emotional trauma. He had developed a cynical view of women, perceiving them as gold diggers as a result of his mother's attempt to paint his father as a gullible and a cheating husband.
Katha works at Viaan and his best friend Ehsan's company Earthcon Private Limited. Apart from a few small slip-ups and initial misunderstandings, Katha manages to impress everyone with her talent and resourcefulness. Ehsan starts getting attracted to her and tries to impress her but get no response from Katha's end apart from friendship. Driven by her son's desperate need for treatment, Katha turns to her boss, Viaan, seeking financial assistance. However, she never mentions the reason for which she needs money, as she had posed as a single unmarried woman in her job application due to an old, unfair company policy that no one had paid attention to. This ask for a large amount of money leads to Viaan considering her as another potential gold digger. Viaan perceived Katha as a woman with integrity. So, instead of a simple offer of help, Viaan proposed an unthinkable condition to test her - that Katha spend a night with him in return for the money. It was a heart-wrenching decision for Katha, but her love for Aarav pushed her to reluctantly accept, knowing that his life hung in balance.
With Aarav's treatment successful and his health gradually improving, Katha's joy was overshadowed by a deep resentment towards Viaan. She couldn't shake the bitterness she felt, while Viaan convinced she's a gold-digger continued to treat her rudely at work driving her to eventually resign. Yet, as fate would have it, circumstances began to unfold, revealing the complexities of their intertwined lives. Katha's estranged father-in-law, Kailash Garewal, starts to recognise his past mistakes and sought reconciliation with Katha. This unexpected development ignites resentment in Reet, Kailash's other daughter-in-law, who disapproves of the renewed bond. Meanwhile, Viaan's mother Teji and Ehsan's mother Farah, meet Katha at a party thrown by the Garewals and discover the story of her son's cancer treatment. When they inform this to their sons, the two are shaken in disbelief while Viaan's wrenched in guilt to his core at his own misdeed.
8 months later
Katha has moved on in her life and has left EarthCon Private Limited. She lives with Aarav who has now developed anger issues and is undergoing therapy for the same. She works for an event management firm. Viaan, after spending eight months in prison, returns home as proven innocent. Ehsan has got engaged to Vanya while Katha has got engaged to Dr. Raghav Sehgal, Aarav's therapist.
After coming out of prison, it is shown that Viaan has written a book full of Shayaris named Katha Ankahee as a token of his love to Katha and is famous. Dr. Raghav and Viaan unknowingly become good friends and simultaneously Viaan tries to find Katha and reconcile. Katha is aware of Viaan's search and tries to avoid him as she is afraid of bad consequences that might happen to Aarav after his and Viaan's face off. She believes that their love did not stay strong to overshadow their awful past and it is their destiny to fall apart. But eventually, Katha and Viaan meet at a singles party, as Katha was a part of event organiser and Viaan had accompanied a friend. Later Viaan gets to know that Katha is Dr. Raghav's fiancee.
Viaan firmly believes that Katha does not love Dr. Raghav and it is a compromised alliance from her side. Viaan stays positive and much hopeful that one day, Katha and Aarav would come back to his life. Dr. Raghav visits Viaan at his office and is mesmerised to see a model of 'Monument of Love' that was made by Viaan to Katha long back when they were together. Looking at that Raghav is thrilled to build a similar monument and offer it to Katha and wants her expertise on the project too, unknowing the truth. Katha reluctantly agrees and acts cold towards Viaan to give him an impression that she loves Raghav. But Viaan reminds her of their promises and their best times. He requests her to trust him and he would convince Aarav with honesty to calm his anger and make everything alright. But Katha is too afraid of giving Viaan a chance and thinks it would be a final nail in the coffin to ruin everything completely.
Meanwhile Vanya and Ehsan debate because Vanya is hopeful as Viaan but Ehsan is logical as Katha. Viaan uses an opportunity to face Aarav at Raghav's house and Aarav gets anger attack. Confused at Aarav's sudden intense anger and unreasonable behaviour, Raghav asks Katha to tell truth. Katha in ruins, at the heated moment asks Viaan to move on and be away from her and Aarav's life. Devastated, Viaan decides to leave to Paris with his mother permanently. Still being in love with Katha and Aarav, he sends a letter to Aarav citing his apology. Vanya informs Katha about Viaan's decision and Katha is shattered. Katha loves Viaan and wants to be with him but in denial as she is unable to gain courage to fight for their love.
Cast
Main
Aditi Sharma as Katha Singh Raghuvanshi – Architect at EarthCon Private Limited; Part-time yoga instructor; Aditya's widow; Viaan's wife; Aarav's mother. (2022–2023)
Adnan Khan as Viaan Raghuvanshi – CEO of EarthCon Private Limited; a writer and poet; Teji and Viraj's son; Vanya's half-brother; Ahsan's best friend and brother-figure; Katha's second husband; Aarav's step-father. (2022–2023)
Recurring
Azinkya Mishra as Aarav Garewal – Katha and Aditya's son; Viaan's step-son (2022–2023)
Manish Raisinghan as Dr. Raghav Sehgal – Pari's son; Ruhi's father; Katha's ex-fiancé; Aarav's therapist (2023)
Samar Vermani as Ehsan Contractor – President of EarthCon Limited; Salim and Farah's son; Viaan and Katha's best friend; Vanya's husband (2022–2023)
Manika Mehrotra as Vanya Datta Contractor – Viraj and Seema's daughter; Teji's step-daughter; Viaan's half-sister; Ehsan's wife (2023)
Reeta Prajapati as Falguni – Katha's neighbour (2022–2023)
Bidisha Ghosh Sharma as Teji Raghuvanshi – Maya's sister; Viraj's widow; Farah's friend; Viaan's mother; Vanya's step-mother; Aarav's step-grandmother (2022–2023)
Himanshu Manek as Jitesh "Jeetu Bhai" Patel – EarthCon Private Limited's oldest employee; Meenu's husband
Preeti Amin as Neerja aka Dodo – Aarav's donor (2022–2023)
Priyamvada Singh as Farah Contractor – Salim's widow; Teji's friend; Ehsan's mother (2022–2023)
Vinay Rohrra as Aditya "Adi" Garewal – Kavita and Kailash's elder son; Yuvraj's brother; Katha's first husband; Aarav's father (2022–2023) (Dead; flashback)
Gireesh Sahdev as Kailash Garewal – Kavita's husband; Aditya and Yuvraj's father; Kiara, Aarna, Aarav and Yohaan's grandfather (2022–2023) (Dead)
Jyoti Gauba as Kavita Garewal – Kailash's widow; Aditya and Yuvraj's mother; Kiara, Aarna, Aarav and Yohaan's grandmother (2022–2023)
Production
Casting
Initially, Mohit Malik was in talks to play the male lead "Viaan", but couldn't join due to his prior commitments. Gashmeer Mahajani was also approached to play the male lead, but he refused. He later revealed that he regretted rejecting the role.
Aditi Sharma as Katha, and Adnan Khan as Viaan were signed as the lead. Samar Virmani and Sheen Dass was cast as the other leads. In November 2022, it was confirmed Vishal Gandhi had a cameo appearance in the show.
Development
The series was announced by Sphere Origins for Sony Entertainment Television in October 2022. It is the remake of Kanal D's popular Turkish soap opera Binbir Gece.
The series marks the comebacks of Adnan Khan and Aditi Sharma into fiction after the COVID-19 pandemic and their first collaboration.
Filming
The series is set in Mumbai. Shooting began in November 2022 and mainly shot at the Film City, Mumbai.
Release
The teaser of the series was released on 14 October 2022. It replaced Yashomati Maiyaa Ke Nandlala from 5 December 2022.
However, on 30 October 2023, after Punyashlok Ahilyabai ended, the series' timeslot was changed with Dabangii taking over the series' previous timeslot.
Reception
Times Of India commented on Sharma and Khan for "seamlessly fit[ting] into their parts", and particularly noted the dialogue, the costuming and "[e]ven the Mumbai apartments" in which the production is filmed, but nonetheless faulted the program as "too slow with very few cheerful moments".
