Barrister Babu

Barrister Babu
File:BarristerBabu montage.jpg
Genre	Social Drama
Created by	Shashi Sumeet Mittal Sumeet Hukamchand Mittal
Written by	Shashi Sumeet Mittal Sumeet Hukamchand Mittal Vaishali Naik Seema Mantri
Directed by	Mangesh Kanthale
Creative director	Neha Kothari
Starring	Pravisht Mishra Anchal Sahu
Theme music composer	Ashish Rego
Opening theme	Rishta Tera Mera
Composers	Anish John Singers Mukund Suryavanshi Shreya Phukan
Country of origin	India
Original language	Hindi
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	394
Production
Producers	Shashi Sumeet Mittal Sumeet Hukamchand Mittal Animesh Bandyopadhyay Gita Pandey Desai Bandyopadhyay
Cinematography	Sudesh Kotian Prateek Singh
Camera setup	Multi-Camera
Running time	20 minutes approx.
Production company	Shashi Sumeet Productions
Original release
Network	Colors TV
Release	11 February 2020 (2020-02-11) – 12 November 2021 (2021-11-12)

Barrister Babu is an Indian Hindi-language social drama television series that premiered 11 February 2020 on Colors TV. Produced by Shashi Sumeet Productions, it stars Pravisht Mishra and Anchal Sahu.

The series revolves around the tale of Anirudh Roy Choudhary, a London-educated barrister, and Bondita Das, a child bride, who is married to him. Anirudh fights the oppressive and patriarchal society to educate Bondita to become a barrister. Empowered, she takes on and battles the social evils while tackling problems along with Anirudh.

Bondita's age was originally set to be eight years old, but over a break in production over the COVID-19 pandemic, her age was adjusted to be eleven years old.

Plot

Set in the pre-independence era in rural Bengal, Anirudh Roy Choudhary, a 22-year-old barrister, returns from London to Tulsipur, a village where his family practices zamindari, to wipe out customs and societal beliefs which prevent the progress of women. He is set to be married to his childhood sweetheart Saudamini 'Mini' Bhaumik, to which both Anirudh's and Mini's families have consented. On the other hand, Bondita Das is an 11-year-old Bengali Hindu girl, who lives with her widowed mother, Sumati, and her maternal family. Bondita's uncle and aunt decide to have Bondita marry an elderly man, while her cousin, Sampoorna, is set to marry Saurabh, Anirudh's best friend. On the day of the wedding, Anirudh comes across the marriage and immediately revolts against it, as the groom is around the age of the bride's grandfather. He seeks help from the authorities to stop the marriage, but faces resistance. However, the marriage is not completed, as the elderly man suddenly dies midway through the rituals. Nevertheless, the man's relatives and other people consider the marriage to be successfully completed, and sets Bondita to become a part of sati. Anirudh pledges to save Bondita to Sumati. After all his other attempts to do so are in vain, he marries her as a last resort. His family is surprised to find him married. Shortly thereafter, Mini also learns about his recent marriage and plots to separate him and Bondita. She is supported by Anirudh's father, Binoy, who wanted his son to settle in London and practice his profession there, and who believes that Mini can make his dreams come true. Anirudh refuses to recognize Bondita as his wife, and rather sees her as his responsibility.

After initial confusion, Anirudh's uncle, Trilochan, accepts Bondita to save their family's reputation and starts to prepare her as the Roy Choudhury daughter-in-law. Bondita's first problem in her new in-laws' home is due to her drenching her bed at night, a problem caused by traumatization after seeing her father die by a snake bite. However, Anirudh helps her recover from this complication. Bondita manages to impress Trilochan, and he soon becomes fond of her.

Anirudh learns that Bondita is illiterate, as there was no chance for women to be educated in the village. So he educates her himself. A man named Brijwasi Babu, a con man, comes to Tulsipur and traps Bondita into aiding him, taking advantage of Sampoorna's helplessness due to her incomplete dowry, as Bondita became desperate to save her beloved cousin's marriage. As the con man runs away, Bondita is exposed as his accomplice. Anirudh thinks that Bondita did this intentionally and sends her back to her mother, where people would mistreat her and even try to kill her for being left by her husband. Later, Bondita's maternal aunt Devoleena sells her to a brothel of Kolkata whose owner was a woman named Tara Bai. Anirudh learns of Bondita's mistreatment and goes to the village, but Bondita had already been taken to the brothel. Anirudh traces her to the brothel and attempts to save her, but is beaten up by Tara Bai's men, then Tara Bai stabs him, in an attempt to kill him, but Saurabh saves him. Anirudh and Saurabh, both in disguise, return and free all the girls in the brothel.

In the meantime, Mini's evil plots are discovered by Trilochan. To save herself from being exposed, she pushes him, so he falls and hits his head, becoming paralyzed. Shortly thereafter, Anirudh exposes her sinister plans to separate him and Bondita. Bondita cures the paralyzed Trilochan, and Mini is expelled from the Roy Choudhary house. The family finally accepts Bondita.

Bondita starts to go to school, with Anirudh's help, as the first girl from Tulsipur. However, Mini kidnaps Bondita and locks her in a chemical factory. Anirudh unsuccessfully attempts to rescue Bondita. Saurabh dies while saving Bondita. Blaming Anirudh for the death of his son, Saurabh's father, Premlal, who worked for Trilochan, plans to kill him by having a girl pretend to be Anirudh's late mother, Shubra's, reincarnation and to feed him with poisoned food daily until he dies. But his plans are exposed by Bondita and he is imprisoned. So Anirudh tells Bondita that he wants her to become a barrister. Binoy marries Sampoorna after being blackmailed by Sampoorna's parents.

After the marriage, Sampoorna turns against Bondita, as Trilochan insults her and her family. Anirudh learns that Bondita is spending less time in her studies as she has become more focused on being a good wife, which he disapproves. About the same time, starts to like a revolutionary named Manorama. But keeping in mind the promise to make Bondita successful, he pulls himself back. Later Anirudh and Manorama bind in a conditional marriage to facilitate Manorama's patriotic mission. Anirudh accepts her proposal, thinking this would also help him refocus Bondita on her studies. Even though his plans succeed, Manorama sacrifices her life in a revolutionary mission. She leaves a letter for Bondita, causing Bondita's perception of Manorama to change.

Shortly afterwards, Anirudh and Bondita nullify their marriage to support the Child Marriage Act. On the divorce day, they unexpectedly fall in love with each other. Bondita shifts to Siliguri hostel. Leaving Bondita, Anirudh falls for her. Meanwhile Anirudh learns that villagers made a monetary prize for kidnapping and killing Bondita. On the way to save her, Thaku maa enters the drama and takes Bondita to Krishna Nagar and tries to have Bondita marry another man but Bondita refuses to. Finally Thaku Maa plans Bondita's marriage to Chandrachur, but a disguised Anirudh rescues her. Bondita, now twelve years old, decides to become a barrister, and Anirudh sends her to complete her dream in London, under Deepa's watchful eyes.

8 years later

Bondita is now grown up and returns to Tulsipur after becoming a gold-medalist barrister like Anirudh. However, she is shocked to see that Krishna Nagar and Tulsipur have turned Anirudh and Thaku Maa against each other. Anirudh refuses to meet Bondita as she belongs to Krishna Nagar, but misses her. Bondita's cousin, Tupur tells her that Anirudh has betrayed them by setting bombs behind gifts which resulted Tupur's parents' deaths and disfigured her face. Bondita refuses to believe this and decides to reunite the two villages. She disguises herself as Vaijayanti and returns to Roy Choudhary's house after years away. She is shocked to see mentally disabled Binoy, and Sampoorna tells her that the people of Krishna Nagar gave them poisoned food and later attacked them, injuring Binoy, and both villages became enemies. Pretending to be Vaijayanti, Bondita changes Anirudh's rude behavior. She brings back his smile and is appreciated by Roy Chaudharys. Soon Bondita's disguise fails and the Roy Choudharys hold her responsible for another attack on them which was actually planned by Chandrachur. Bondita decides not to see Anirudh's face ever again as Anirudh does not take her side despite knowing she was not a spy. Anirudh realizes his love for Bondita. He tries to reunite with her, but fails. After several tries, Anirudh and Bondita finally confess their love for each other and escape from their family to marry each other.

Trilochan and Thaku Maa search for Anirudh and Bondita, but in vain. Anirudh and Bondita escape to Chandan Nagar to get married. Trilochan sets a trap for Anirudh by fixing Anirudh's half-sister Shashwati's marriage. Anirudh leaves Bondita in mandap and rushes to save Shashwati. Trilochan and Thaku Maa's enmity finally ends when Anirudh saves Thakumaa after Somnath burns her house. Trilochan asks Bondita's hand in marriage for Anirudh. Anirudh pays respect to Sumati and Thaku Maa during the wedding rituals. Chandrachur disguises himself as the makeup man and tries to kidnap Bondita from the pre-wedding shoot but fails as Bondita escapes from his clutches after attacking Chandrachur and making a wound on his leg. Bondita and Anirudh remarry and discover that Chandrachur beats Tupur everyday. They go against it and make Chandrachur feel ashamed in fornt of everyone making him ask for forgiveness from Tupur. But their happiness is short-lived as Chandrachur enters Bondita's bedroom to molest her for revenge. Anirudh reaches the spot just in time where he sees Chandrachur molesting a girl and furiously chases Chandrachur, who falls from a cliff after a scuffle and is presumed dead. Anirudh remains silent to protect the girl's dignity and takes the blame of killing Chandrachur, for which he is sentenced to death. Bondita, being a barrister herself, takes the responsibility to save him. Meanwhile Subodh Chatterjee, an arrogant barrister who is fighting against the Roy Choudharys, challenges Bondita that he will have Anirudh hanged. When Bondita begins the investigation, she finds out that it was Chandrachur who had tried to abduct her from the pre-wedding shoot. She gets suspicious when she doesn't see the wound on Chandrachur's leg after his body is found. She finds her cousin Tapur's behaviour fishy as she keeps crying and doesn't say anything properly. She craves up a plan and cleverly gets her to spill the beans that she was the girl whom Chandrachur had molested. Tapur elaborately tells Bondita that she had heard Chandrachur's evil plan to molest Bondita and had come to warn her, but was caught by Chandrachur who molested her after she threatened to expose his true colours.

Bondita visits Anirudh in jail and thanks him for saving Tapur and for caring for her. Bondita convinces Tapur to come to court and defend Anirudh, but Subodh humiliates her and she flees without giving her statement, which leads to Anirudh attacking him. Bondita finds Tupur's behaviour suspicious and follows her several times only to discover that Chandrachur is alive. Chandrachur blackmails Bondita to come with him to Dhaka, but she outsmarts him by tricking him into revealing his crimes. While unintentionally revealing his crimes, Chandrachur also reveals that it was he who hid bombs in the Roy Choudharys' gifts and poisoned their food. Chandrachur is arrested, Anirudh is released, and everyone is happy again.

A few days later, Anirudh and Bondita get into contact with Batuk, Anirudh's youngest brother, who is studying in Italy. Batuk, though resembling Anirudh, is the total opposite of his brother. He decides to return to India and make Bondita's life hell, on the advice of Trilochan, who fears that she will become a much better barrister than Anirudh.

The villagers harass Bondita and try to drown her in a river. But Anirudh saves her and is presumed to be dead, as he doesn't return. Trilochan tells Batuk to act like Anirudh, so that Bondita won't be heartbroken. Batuk agrees to do so, as he knows that Bondita is pregnant with Anirudh's child, and also because he wants to fulfill his evil intentions.

As a part of his plans, Batuk decides to get Somnath married to Tapur. Bondita opposes this, and says that they have to get to know each other better before the wedding. But Batuk rudely cuts her off, shocking her. Bondita advises Tapur to not hide any of her truths from Somnath.

Tapur, who loves Somnath, writes a letter to him, in which she tells about her molestation by Chandrachur. Batuk replaces the letter, and when Somnath reads the letter, he decides to do what it says and presents Tapur with an orange flower.

Cast

Main

• Pravisht Mishra in a dual role as
  • Barrister Anirudh Roy Choudhary: Shubhra and Binoy's son; Sampoorna's step-son; Somnath and Batuk's brother; Shashwati's half-brother; Bondita's husband (2020–present)
  • Advocate Batuk Roy Choudhary aka BRC: Shubhra and Binoy's son; Sampoorna's step-son; Anirudh and Somnath's brother; Shashwati's half-brother (2021-present)
• Anchal Sahu as Barrister Bondita Anirudh Roy Choudhary: Sumati and Arvind's daughter; Sampoorna, Tupur and Tapur's cousin sister; Anirudh's wife (2021–present)
  • Aurra Bhatnagar Badoni as Young Bondita Das (2020-2021)

Recurring

• Rishi Khurana as Trilochan Roy Choudhary: Binoy and Deepa's brother; Anirudh, Somnath, Batuk and Shashwati's paternal uncle (2020-present)
• Chandan K Anand as Binoy Roy Choudhary: Trilochan and Deepa's brother; Shubra's widower; Sampoorna's second husband; Anirudh, Somnath, Batuk and Shashwati's father (2020–present)
• Pranali Rathod as Saudamini "Mini" Bhaumik: Shivraj's daughter; Anirudh's former lover; Greenwood's wife (2020)
• Ansh Gupta as Dr. Somnath Roy Choudhary: Binoy and Shubra's second son; Anirudh and Batuk's brother; Shashwati's half-brother, Tapur's husband (2021–present)
• Meet Rohra / Daksh Rana / Vaidik Puriya as Young Batuk Roy Choudhary (2020-2021)
• Viraj Kapoor / Param Mehta as Young Somnath Roy Choudhary (2020)/(2020–2021)
• Pooja Sharma as Deepa Roy Choudhary: Trilochan and Binoy's sister; Anirudh, Somnath, Batuk, Shashwati's aunt (2021-present)
• Arina Dey as Sumati Jadhav Das: Sundaram's sister; Arvind's widow; Bondita's mother; Sampoorna, Tapur and Tupur's aunt (2020–present)
• Jason Shah as Sir John Greenwood: Saudamini's husband (2020)
• Rohan Roy as Sundaram Jadhav: Sumati's brother; Devoleena's husband; Sampoorna's father; Bondita's uncle (2020–2021)
• Barsha Chatterjee as Devoleena Jadhav: Sundaram's wife; Sampoorna's mother; Bondita's aunt (2020–2021)
• Pallavi Mukherjee as Sampoorna Jadhav Roy Choudhary: Devoleena and Sundaram's daughter; Bondita's cousin; Saurabh's widow; Binoy's second wife; Shashwati's mother (2020–present)
• Dev Aaditya as Saurabh Munshi: Biraj and Premal's son; Surmani's step-son; Sampoorna's first husband; Anirudh's best friend (2020)
• Sadiya Siddiqui as Kalindi "Thaku Maa" Das: Trilochan's former fiancée; Arvind and Shaumik's aunt; Bondita, Tapur and Tupur's grandaunt (2021–present)
• Bhavya Sachdeva as Chandrachur Banerjee: Bondita's obsessive lover; Tupur's husband; Anirudh's rival (2021)
• Diksha Tiwari as Tupur Banerjee: Shaumik and Rimjhim's elder daughter; Tapur's sister; Bondita's cousin; Chandrachur's wife (2021–present)
  • Geet Jain as Young Tupur Das (2021)
• Ketaki Kulkarni / Saumya Shetye as Tapur Roy Choudhary: Shaumik and Rimjhim's younger daughter; Tupur's sister; Bondita's cousin, Somnath's wife (2021)/(2021-present)
  • Nabiya Ansari as Young Tapur Das (2021)
• Krisha Pandirkar as Shashwati Roy Choudhary: Sampoorna and Binoy's daughter; Anirudh, Somnath and Batuk's half-sister (2021–present)
• Ojaswi Aroraa as Rimjhim Das: Shaumik's wife; Tupur and Tapur's mother; Bondita's aunt (2021)
• Aashish Kaul as Shivraj Bhaumik: Basuri's son; Binoy's friend; Saudamini's father (2020)
• Akshita Arora as Basuri Devi Bhaumik: Shivraj's mother; Saudamini's grandmother (2020)
• Premchand Singh as Premal Munshi: Surmani and Biraj's husband; Saurabh's father (2020)
• Madhushee Sharma as Surmani Munshi: Premal's first wife. (2020)
• Hetal Yadav as Biraj Munshi: Premal's second wife; Saurabh's mother. (2020)
• Rachana Mistry as Freedom fighter Manorama: Anirudh's fake wife. (2021)
• Adish Vaidya as Brijwasi Babu: A fraud who pretends to be a huge devotee of Lord Krishna; Bondita's friend. (2020)
• Kundan Kumar as Bihari: Househelp at the Roy Choudhary household. (2020–present)
• Naman Arora as Prabeen: Chandrachur's minion. (2021)
• Sayantani Ghosh as Rasiya Bai: Dancer at a brothel; Bondita's friend. (2020)
• Alka Kaushal as Tara Bai: Owner of the brothel. (2020)
• Ram Awana as Muchadd Babu: The man who sells Bondita to Tara Bai. (2020)
• Prakriti Nautiyal as Ramaiya: Suraiya's twin-sister; dancer at brothel; Bondita's friend. (2020)
• Pragya Nautiyal as Suraiya: Ramaiya's twin-sister; dancer at brothel; Bondita's friend. (2020)
• Disha Tewani as Shubhra Roy Choudhary: Binoy's first wife; Anirudh, Somnath and Batuk's mother. (2020)
• Chahat Tewani as Fake Shubhra Roy Choudhary. (2020)
• Kalyani Jha as Bihari's wife: Househelp at Roy Choudhary's house. (2021-present)
• Simmi Ghoshal as Laboni: Chandrachur's cousin; Kali's granddaughter. (2021)
• Chetan Pandit as Subodh Chatterjee: A Public Prosecutor; an experienced, arrogant barrister; Bondita's rival barrister. (2021)

Production

Development

The production and airing of the show were halted indefinitely since 19 March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in India. The filming was expected to resume on 1 April 2020 but could not and the series was last broadcast on 31 March 2020 when the remaining episodes were aired. The episodes resumed on 6 July 2020.

Release

The first promotional teaser was released on 13 January 2020. On 22 June 2021, Colors TV unveiled a teaser to introduce the new actress, Anchal Sahu as Bondita and the 8-year-leap, pose Anirudh and Bondita's separation. On 8 August 2021, it was announced and confirmed that Pravisht Mishra will portray dual roles of Anirudh Roy Choudhury and Batuk Roy Choudhury respectively.

Reception

After three months break when the series resumed airing post COVID-19 lockdown in week 28 of 2020, it became the third most watched Hindi GEC in urban with 4.7 million impressions.

Adaptations

Language	Channel	Name	Premiere Date
Bengali	Colors Bangla	Barrister Baboo	14 September 2020
Tamil	Colors Tamil	Bommi B.A B.L	3 May 2021
Telugu	ETV Plus	Baarister Baabu	7 June 2021
Kannada	Colors Kannada	Chikkejamani	20 September 2021
Odia	Colors Odia	Barrister Babu	27 September 2021

External links

• Barrister Babu at IMDb