Banoo Main Teri Dulhann

Banoo Main Teri Dulhann (English: I will become your Bride) (international title: The Vow) is an Indian soap opera that aired on Zee TV from 14 August 2006 to 28 May 2009. It stars Divyanka Tripathi, Sharad Malhotra and Kamya Panjabi in the lead roles. The series deals with the trials and tribulations of an unedcuated small-town woman, Vidya, after she marries Sagar, a rich educated businessman who is mentally ill and childlike after a car accident.

Season 1
Vidya is a kind-hearted and simple girl from Benaras(Varanasi). Similar to Cinderella, she is made to do all the work in her household and is tortured by her uncle, aunt, and Cousin. They also don't allow her to get an education, leaving her illiterate.

A businessman from Delhi, Rajendra Pratap Singh, sees and likes Vidya and decides that she will be his daughter-in-law. On the day of her marriage, Vidya discovers that her new husband is mentally unstable with the mind of a child, due to a terrible car accident six months ago. Thus, the two get off to a rocky start trying to adjust to each other.

Sindoora, Sagar's evil stepsister, wants the family property and had caused the deadly car accident to kill him but was unsuccessful. She attempts to expel Vidya from the house but her kind ex-husband Aniket and young son Bharat support Vidya. Despite Sindoora's efforts, Vidya endears herself to the family, including Sagar.

After learning that a doctor from Singapore can cure Sagar, the couple travels there. Sagar's operation is successful and he becomes normal again but doesn't remember anything before his car accident; thus, he doesn't recall his marriage nor Vidya. Sindoora tries to take advantage of this and turn him against his wife but the couple reconcile and remarry. Sindoora tries again to kill Sagar but Aniket protects him, becoming paralyzed in the process. Gayatri, Sagar's aunt, knows about Sindoora and helps Vidya, encouraging her to learn to read and write. Sindoora sends Aniket to jail by blaming him for Sagar's accident, then attempts to murder Gayatri. She doesn't die but becomes comatose.

Sagar realizes the truth about his stepsister and he and Vidya work to get evidence to incriminate her. This culminates in Sindoora eventually killing the couple. They die together, but not before they are able to hide their evidence, with Sagar saying that the story is not over. Meanwhile, Bharat learns that his mother killed Sagar and Vidya and flees the house.

21 years later
Sagar and Vidya are reborn as Amar and Divya on the night of their death, with their economical statuses swapped from their previous life; Amar grows up poor while Divya grows up wealthy. Amar is actually born as the son of Mahua, Sindoora's younger sister, and her husband Rajiv. Rajiv overhears the priest's future prediction about Sindoora and swaps Amar with a boy named Samrat to keep him safe. Divya grows up to become a modern girl from London while Amar becomes a spunky tour guide, living in Benaras. Divya is Samrat's friend and travels to meet him in Delhi, where the Singh family becomes shell-shocked upon seeing her physical similarity to Vidya.

Amar and Divya meet in Benaras, where their previous incarnations had also met for the first time. Divya has strange flashbacks of her previous birth but does not understand them. The couple falls in love and when Amar comes to Delhi, Rajiv learns that he is his son as does Sindoora. Amar and Divya get married and individually remember their past lives at different times. They also reunite with a now-adult Bharat, who discovers that they are Sagar and Vidya's reincarnations. The three work together to take down Sindoora once and for all, and the show ends with their victory.

Main

 * Divyanka Tripathi Dahiya as Vidya Sagar Pratap Singh / Divya Amar Shukla – Sagar/Amar's wife, Kaushalya's daughter.
 * Sharad Malhotra as Sagar Pratap Singh / Amar Shivdhar Upadhay / Amar Rajeev Shukla AKA Chhota Thakur – Vidya/Divya's husband, son of Rajendra Pratap Singh and Uma Pratap Singh (season 1) / Rajeev and Mahua's son (season 2).
 * Kamya Panjabi as Sindoora Pratap Singh. Rajendra's eldest evil daughter, Bharat's ex-mother, Aniket's ex-wife, the murderer of Sagar and Vidya. She hates Vidya, Divya, Sagar and Amar. (episodes 7–557, 622–700)

Recurring

 * Rajendra Gupta as Rajendra Pratap Singh – Sagar, Sindoora, Mahua and Chandra's father. Uma's husband, died of heart attack. (episodes 1–13)
 * Surinder Kaur as Uma Pratap Singh – Sagar's mother. Rajendra Pratap Singh's 2nd wife. Sindoora, Mahua and Chandra's step-mother (Choti-Ma). (episodes 1–700)
 * Jaya Bhattacharya as Gayatri – Sagar's aunt, Due to a car accident plotted by Sindoora, she goes into coma just like Divya (Vidya). (episodes 266–354)
 * Rajesh Balwani as Aniket – Sindoora's ex-husband and Bharat's father. He knows Sindoora is evil and wants to see Sagar and Vidya together. (episodes 28-419, 515–700)
 * Shyam Sharma as young Bharat – Aniket and Sindoora's son. He ran away from home and returned after 21 years.(episode 28-393)
 * Raj Lathia as Sameer (episodes 100–343)
 * Mohit Malik as adult Bharat Singh aka Mr. B.S. (episodes 515–700)
 * Shamin Mannan as Aditi, Bharat's wife, and Karan's ex-wife. (episodes 516–700)
 * Himanshi Choudhry / Ritu Vashist Vashisht as Mahua Singh – Rajiv's wife and Amar's mother. She eventually vanishes along with her sister Chandra. The character appeared in episodes 7-494 and 495–578.
 * Amrapali Gupta as Radha, Vidya's friend from Benares. (episodes 1–12)
 * Harsh Vashisht as Rajeev Shukla, Mahua's husband. He is later married to Chandra. The character appeared in episodes 278–514, 527,529, 553,571 & 575.
 * Faisal Raza Khan as Kartik, Mahua's ex-husband.
 * Vishal Watwani as Samrat, the false son of Rajeev and Mahua, biological son of Amar's parents. He is Viren and Divya's good friend, and is Divya's ex-fiancé. (episodes 396 through 507)
 * Addite Shirwaikar / Shweta Dadhich as Chandra, Rajendra's daughter. She eventually vanishes along with her sister Mahua. The character last appeared in episodes 7-393 and 396–673.
 * Puneet Vashisht as Harsh, Chandra's ex-husband, in jail now. The character appeared in episodes 1–377.
 * Kamini Kaushal as Dadi Maa, Harsh's grandmother.
 * Suhita Thatte as Kaushalya, Vidya's mother (episodes 1–206), she does not know that her daughter Vidya and son-in-law Sagar were killed by Sindoora
 * Renuka Bondre as Hema Chachi, Shalu's mother. She later vanishes with husband Harish. The character last appeared in episode 562.
 * Snehal Sahai as Shalu, Chinu's wife. Hema's daughter, Kamna's mother and Vidya's cousin. The character last appeared in episodes 393,453, 517 & 537.
 * Manish Naggdev as Cheenu, Shalu's husband, Kamna's father and Sagar's cousin. The character last appeared in episodes 393,453 & 537.
 * Amrin Chakkiwala as Kamna, daughter of Chinu and Shalu. She is pregnant with Samrat's child. They were engaged, but broke up because Samrat kidnapped her held hostage. (episodes 403 to 508)
 * Indraneil Sengupta as Tushar, Sagar's childhood friend. (episodes 128 through 206)
 * Neeta Shetty as Dr. Shivani
 * Soni Singh as Surili, Sagar's ex-girlfriend.
 * Atul Srivastava as DJ, Sagar and Vidya's helper
 * Abhileen Pandey as Chintu, Amar's younger cousin. He is really Samrat's brother. He vanishes.
 * Anokhi Shrivastav as Bindiya, Amar's childhood friend and former fiancée.
 * Aadesh Chaudhary as Viren, Divya and Samrat's old friend, and Divya's fake husband. (episodes 509 to 520)
 * Sachin Shroff as Dr. Shashank. (episodes 677 to 696)
 * Anisha Kapur as Gauri, a village girl who thinks Amar is her fiancée Shivam. (episodes 563 to 655)
 * Omar Vani as Shivam, Gauri's fiancée in which Amar accidentally runs over him and dies. (episodes 562,563,566 & 593)
 * Sonali Verma as Karuna: Bharat's Chhoti Maa. She loved and cared for Bharat after he ran away from home because Sindoora killed Vidya and Sagar.

Special guests

 * From Saat Phere – Saloni Ka Safar:
 * Rajshree Thakur as Saloni Singh
 * Sharad Kelkar as Nahar Singh
 * From Maayka:
 * Neha Bamb as Mahi Sareen
 * Vivan Bhatena as Shabd Sareen
 * From Ghar Ki Lakshmi Betiyann:
 * Kshitee Jog as Saraswati Garodia
 * Romit Raj as Yuvraj Garodia
 * From Rakhi - Ek Atoot Rishte Ki Dor
 * Ayub Khan as Bhai Raja
 * Monalika Bhonsle as Neelima Thakur
 * Sayantani Ghosh as Amrita from Naaginn. (special appearance in episodes 581 and 582)

Development
Producer Neelima Bajpai wanted to name the series as Dulhan but as the copyright was with Yash Raj Films with the same title of a film, Bajpai named the series as Banoo Main Teri Dulhann.

In November 2008, the shootings and telecast of all the Hindi television series including this series and films were stalled on 8 November 2008 due to dispute by the technician workers of FWICE (Federation of Western India Cine Employees). During the strike, the channels blacked out new episodes broadcast and repeat telecasts were shown from 10 November 2008. On 19 November 2008, the strike was called off after settling the disputes, and the production resumed. The new episodes started to telecast from 1 December 2008.

Cancellation
The series was supposed to go off air on 22 May 2009 due to low ratings, but got an extension for four episodes and it ended on 28 May 2009.

Response
The serial started at 14 August 2006, but it became a Superhit TV soap competing the other new Popular TV serials Woh Rehne Waali Mehlon Ki, Stree Teri Kahani, Kashmakash Zindagi Ki, Karam Apnaa Apnaa, and Ghar Ki Lakshmi Betiyann. Banoo Main Teri Dulhann was one of the Popular Television series of 2006 along with other Hit serials Woh Rehne Waali Mehlon Ki, Kashmakash Zindagi Ki, Stree Teri Kahani, Ghar Ki Lakshmi Betiyann.Sharad Malhotra was selected for Best Debut Actor for Indian Television Academy Awards 2007. Sharad Malhotra was also selected for Best Actor (Popular) for Indian Television Academy Awards 2008. Sharad Malhotra and Divyanka Tripathi both bagged Best Jodi in Indian Television Academy awards 2007. Divyanka Tripathi was selected for in Best Fresh Face award at Indian Telly awards for the year 2007. She also bagged Best popular Actress Indian Television Academy Awards for the year 2007. Kamya Punjabi bagged best Negative role award at Indian Telly Awards for the year 2007.

Reception
Rediff stated the performance of the series as slow and steady.