Shaitani Rasmein

Shaitani Rasmein (transl. Satanic Rituals)(International Title: Evil Affairs) is an Indian Hindi-language series starring Naqiyah Haji, Vibhav Roy and Shefali Jariwala. It premiered on 15 January 2024 on Star Bharat and is digitally available on Disney+ Hotstar. It is a romance thriller with a wedding theme, as well as supernatural elements.

Plot
Nikki, an orphan city girl from Goa marries the young, charming, and handsome Piyush. Just before their wedding is concluded, a bunch of guards gate crash the wedding and claim that Piyush is the prince of Bhurangarh and is needed back home. Nikki, who was unaware of Piyush having a family questions him to which he explains that his family is very complicated. Nikki thinks nothing of it as she has longed for a family and convinces Piyush to drop their plan of going to London and meet his family instead. Hesitant, Piyush agrees and they leave for Bhurangarh.

Upon arrival, Nikki feels a weird and different aura around her but is happy that Piyush's family accepts her. It is then revealed that Piyush's family worships a satanic force, Malik, to protect everyone from his wrath. Under the pretext of traditional wedding rituals, Nikki is made to perform satanic rituals Shaitani Rasmein, such as sacrificing a goat, taking a dip in a dark pool, which is one of her greatest fears, and taking a pot from a deep, dark waterless well. When Nikki tries to escape, Piyush stops her and locks her in their bedroom. When she questions him about the rituals, he does not give her a straight answer, infuriating her, but pleads with her to cooperate so that they leave sooner.

Back in Goa, Nikki's governess, Anita, is brutally killed by Kapalika, Malik's assistant and lover, using black magic, after she tries contacting Nikki, but in vain. At first, Nikki refuses to perform any rituals as they scare her but ends up performing them anyway, after much persuasion from Sumitra, Piyush's mother, Arohi, his sister-in-law, and Piyush. Veronica, Nikki's childhood friend, arrives in Bhurangarh in search of Nikki and reveals Anita's death. Out of jealousy, Veronica decides to separate Piyush and Nikki, as Piyush was in a relationship with her before falling in love with Nikki. Her schemes fail and ends up killed by Kapalika, who also kills Arohi's unborn child.

To protect the family, Nikki continues performing the satanic rituals, empowering Malik. After Nikki performs an engraving ritual, Malik becomes powerful, falls for Nikki, declares her the Chosen One, and that she will be performing all 13 Shaitani Rasmein on every new moon, to regain all his body parts. This makes Kapalika jealous as she has loved Malik for a long time. Meanwhile, Arohi gets her child back and her mother tells Nikki that Malik is an evil force and that Arohi's behavior had also changed after her marriage as she too had to perform satanic rituals. Kapalika tells the family members to make the Shaitani Bhog for Malik and sends it with a maid, Rachna, as she was born in Shatbeeja Nakshatra due to which she can go and offer the Bhog to Malik. Nikki follows Rachna as she goes to meet Malik. Kapalika ambushes Nikki but Nikki pushes her away with divine energy.

Rachna goes missing due to which Malik becomes angry and punishes the villagers. Soon enough, Rachna is found and brought back by Saudamini, a researcher. Saudamini wants to know more about Malik. She wishes to meet him and wishes to rule Bhurangarh. Outsiders are kept away from Bhurangarh to prevent them from finding out about Malik, but if they discover him, they are forced to stay. According to the rule, Saudamini is forced to stay in Bhurangarh as she knows about Malik.

Nikki finds a book about Malik named Malik Puraan where Malik's stories have been written. She tries to open it but in vain, so she and Piyush visit a sage who tells them about Bhurangarh's history with Malik. It is revealed that a long time ago, Piyush's ancestor, Vishwajeet Singh Gehlot was traveling to the temple of his family deity. He fell into a pit where he discovered a treasure that had disappeared. Kapalika arrived to tell him the treasure can only be his if he worships Malik and has his wife perform the Shaitani Rasmein. Vishwajeet and his family refuse to worship Malik so he kills his daughter. After this incident, they build a statue of Malik and start worshipping him.

To find out more about Nikki, Kapalika visits Kaalmukhi, an astrologer, and makes her horoscope. She shockingly discovers that Nikki was born with divine energy in Shatbeeja Nakshatra. Kapalika goes into Nikki's past and discovers that Baaldevi, a goddess, left Nikki in an orphanage and tells Kapalika that she will bring an end to her and Malik's atrocities. Kaalmukhi goes to Malik to tell him about Nikki, but Kapalika kills him. Nikki goes to a deserted place and finds a Trident and Goddess Statue and takes it back to the palace. Nikki starts chanting Hanuman Chalisa and Kapalika arrives but Nikki attacks her. Nikki stabs herself and Kapalika and gets injured. Kapalika recognizes Nikki as Swarnaprabha and goes to Malik. Malik gets to know about Nikki's birth secret and punishes Kapalika by turning her into a statue.

Nikki recovers and convinces the entire family to leave Bhurangarh. However, Saudamini informs Malik about them leaving and he stops and terrorizes them, forcing Nikki to go and summon, Chhaya, a Daayan, who is revealed to be Malik's elder sister who was captured by him. Chhaya arrives in Bhurangarh and tortures the Gehlot family and sends Nikki to steal Daakini's heart for Malik's Shaitani Rasmein which is a success. Soon enough, Chhaya discovers Nikki has a protective shield implanted by Baaldevi and forces Nikki to commit a sin, which removes the protective shield and Chhaya drinks Nikki's blood to become more powerful. Nikki plans to kill off Chhaya and makes a plan with Sumitra and Arohi. Nikki finds out from Baaldevi that a good Daayan can kill Chhaya. They go to Bahuon Ki Baadi where all the married women stay there after death as they have not attained salvation by Malik. They help Nikki find out about Maya Daayan, Chhaya's twin sister who was killed by Chhaya, and her soul was put in a bottle and buried. Nikki, Piyush, and Sumitra arrange for a ritual to awaken Maya's soul. Maya's soul enters Nikki's body and she and Chhaya have a fight which ends up with Nikki killing off Chhaya. Nikki begins to pretend to be possessed by Maya and attempts to kill Malik with the help of her family under the pretense of performing the second ritual of the 13 Shaitani Rasmein for which he has to bring Betal's skeleton.

Nikki joins hands with Sumitra and Piyush and finds a magical Paash which can be activated by whipping a person 100 times. Nikki whips Piyush 100 times and the paash gets activated. Nikki finds Janjaal, a magical Betal, and defeats him. He takes her to the place where the Betal's skeleton was kept with a sword stuck on it. Nikki pulls the sword after which Betal recognizes her as Swarnaprabha and bows to her and agrees to be his servant. The entire family realizes the truth and supports Nikki's plan. On the day of the ritual, Nikki bombs the Old Palace to kill Malik, which she fails, infuriating Malik, who retaliates by punishing all of them by sending Kichkandi, who possesses Nikki, and punishes the Gehlot family. Saudamini tells Malik about her wish to rule Bhurangarh after which he tells her that she should meditate to Mahashaitan to give her soul which she does successfully. Kichkandi steals Aarohi's baby but Piyush brings Nikki and the baby back. The baby turns out to be Shaitan's baby, who torments the family, but Nikki returns the baby to Kichkandi, where the Gehlot family learns about Nikki's connection to Baaldevi. Malik announces Saudamini as the queen of Bhurangarh and gives her a powerful glove. During her coronation, Inspector Yashwant Sinha arrives in the palace searching for Saudamini who is revealed to be a criminal and ran away from jail. Vikram refuses to tell him as it would be inviting Malik's wrath.

The Gehlots meet Baaldevi and she agrees to send Nikki to the past with a warning not to change any event in the past. Nikki goes back to the past with Baaldevi's help to find Malik's weakness and meets Piyush's past life, Kadam, who was sent by Akaal Shatru alias Malik, to capture Swarnaprabha, who is Nikki in the past. Nikki decides to make Swarnprabha and Kadam fall in love with each other, which she succeeds and Kadam betrays Akaal Shatru. Swarnprabha and Kadam attempt to marry, but Akaal Shatru attacks Divyanchal, kidnaps Kadam, and demands Swarnprabha to make him immortal in return for Kadam's release, while Nikki tries to stop Swarnprabha. Nikki returns to the present and vows to stop Akaal Shatru from becoming Malik. Saudamini informs Malik about Nikki's journey to the past and he becomes angry.

Nikki realizes that she might lose her life killing Akaalshatru so she bids goodbye to her family and Piyush without them knowing that she would never come back. She returns to the past with Saudamini's glove and goes to Akaalshatru's palace posing as Swarnaprabha while the real Swarnaprabha gets the Swarnpustika and is on her way to his palace to make him immortal. Yashwant catches Saudamini but Malik stops him and his team and is about to kill the Gehlots. In the past, Nikki and Akaalshatru fought and killed one another, resulting in both Nikki's and Malik's deaths in the present. Swarnaprabha was shocked to see them dead. The entire family rejoices on Malik's death and Saudamini gets arrested.

When Piyush goes to Nikki, he realizes that she has died fighting Akaalshatru. Piyush calls Baaldevi and asks her to send him to the past to stop Nikki. Baaldevi agrees and sends him to the past. Piyush meets Nikki and tells her he knows about the future and has come to the past to stop her. They both make a plan to free Kadam. Swarnaprabha reaches Akaalshatru’s palace and starts the ritual of making him immortal. Kadam reaches there and Swarnaprabha stops the ritual. Nikki requests her not to make Akaalsharu immortal. Swarnaprabha finds out about Nikki’s story and decides to kill Akaalshatru. Swarnaprabha kills him while Nikki and Piyush go back to the present. Malik's body gets reduced to ashes and his symbol disappears from Nikki, Sumitra, and Arohi's hands, and the married women from Bahuon Ki Baadi attains salvation. Vikram declares to the subjects that Bhurangarh is free from Malik's slavery and they are free to do anything they wish. He declares Nikki and Piyush as their heirs and throws a party in the palace. Nikki installs Lord Ganesh's idol in the palace and Vikram declares that Nikki and Piyush will be married with proper rituals. Later, Piyush reaches the Purani Haveli, gets hypnotized by Malik, and reveals his true colors. It is revealed that in the past, when Akaalshatru and Swarnaprabha were fighting, he realized that he would not emerge successful in his fight with Swarnaprabha as she was too powerful. Hence, his soul retreated his body, followed Nikki and Piyush to the time passage and had it posses Piyush and became Malik once again.

Malik, in the guise of Piyush, starts making Nikki unknowingly perform the Shaitani Rasmein once again, while strange things keeps occuring in Bhurangarh and the villagers fear that Malik has returned, but Nikki refuses to believe that. Malik summons a witch, Nethra, who attacks the Gehlots and turns them against Nikki again. The Gehlots, especially Vikram, force Nikki to perform Shaitani Rasmein, injuring her in the process. Nikki is hurt by the Gehlot's behaviour, while Malik prepares a new body for himself. Nikki hatches a plan to blind Nethra and shares her idea with Piyush, who is still in fact, Malik. He then informs Nethra about Nikki's plan, which backfires miserably as Nikki unintentionally blinds herself instead.

Main

 * Naqiyah Haji as Nikki Gehlot: Swarnaprabha's reincarnation; Veronica's childhood friend; Piyush's wife; Maalik's enemy (2024 - present)
 * Swarnaprabha: Nikki's previous birth; Maalik's enemy (2024 - present)
 * Vibhav Roy as Piyush Gehlot: Kadam's reincarnation; Vikram and Sumitra's younger son; Brother of Pratik; Veronica's ex-boyfriend; Nikki's husband (2024 - present)
 * Kadam: Piyush's previous birth (2024 - present)
 * New Akaalshatru aka Maalik: Maalik's spirit (2024 - present)
 * Shefali Jariwala as Kapalika: Maalik's assistant and lover (2024) (Dead)

Recurring

 * Chandan K Anand as Vikram Gehlot: Sumitra's husband; Pratik and Piyush's father (2024 - present)
 * Richa Soni as Sumitra Gehlot: Vikram's wife; Pratik and Piyush's mother (2024 - present)
 * Priom Gujjar / Aniruddh Singh as Pratik Gehlot: Vikram and Sumitra's elder son; Piyush's brother; Arohi's husband (2024) / (2024 - present)
 * Surbhi Shukla as Arohi Gehlot: Pratik's wife (2024 - present)
 * Neha Jha as Rachna: Gehlot family's maid (2024 - present)
 * Nikita Sharma as Saudamini: A criminal (2024) (Jailed)
 * Sreejita De as
 * Chhaya: 200 years old wicked Daayan; Maalik's elder sister; Maya's twin sister (2024) (Dead)
 * Maya: 200 years old good Daayan; Maalik's elder sister; Chhaya's twin sister (2024)
 * Unknown as Akaalshatru aka Maalik: The evil entity worshipped in Bhurangarh; Chhaya and Maya's younger brother; Swarnprabha's mortal enemy; Nikki's enemy (2024 - present)

Release
Shefali Jariwala, Vibhav Roy and Naqiyah Haji were signed as the leads. The first promo was released in December 2023.

Development
The series was announced by Triangle Film Company on Star Bharat. It is a live action adaptation of Drishyam Comics series "Devil's Play" from the app Pratilipi Comics.

Filming
Principal photography for the show began in December 2023.