Alif Laila (2020 Series)

Alif Laila
Genre	Fantasy
Starring	Ankit Arora Shiny Doshi
Opening theme	Alif Laila......
Country of origin	India
Original language(s)	Hindi
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	20
Production
Camera setup	Multi-camera
Running time	20–24 minutes
Production company(s)	Triangle Film Company
Release
Original network	Dangal TV
Picture format	576i
Original release	24 February 2020 – Present

Search Alif Laila (2020 Series) on Amazon.

Alif Laila is an Indian fantasy television series that premiered on 24 February 2020 on Dangal TV. It's a remake of 1993 show Alif Laila which was adapted from the novel but this remake version is different from the original with some alterations. The Show Stars Shiny Doshi & Ankit Arora In Lead Roles.

Request to editors

Someone please post an image of Alif Laila in infobox. Remove this line by edit when its done. I tried but could no do it. Use the montage of the show which is shown before show telecast.

Plot

After being betrayed by his previous wife Noor who cheated him with his step-brother Shahzaman, Sultan Shahbaz who is required to remarry to keep his throne or lose it to Shahzaman decides to marry a new woman everyday and kill her next morning so that they don't get any chance to betray and kill him like Noor did. He made this horrific decision as he thinks all women are evil, cheater and scheming like his dead wife Noor. Wazir's daughter who loved Shahbaz from childhood offers to marry him to stop him from committing any sin. On their wedding night he scared her with a noose made of rope reminding of her death the next morning as he had decided to kill his each wife by strangling them. She managed to initiate a talk with him telling him about a magic book 'Alif Laila'through which he can go into any story and live the life of a male protagonist. She has taken that book from an old baba who had earlier made her experience several stories. He initially did not believed but then decided to give the book a try as she will die anyway the next morning. Before he goes into the 1st story that is 'Alibaba Aur Chalis Chor' she tells him that the body and soul will be of him but brain of Alibaba's character and then tells that he has to come out of book before morning or he will get trapped in it forever. Her plan is to make him realize his errors and stop his plan. So he kept on experiencing different stories. Inside the story, Shahbaaz lives the life Alibaba in the story. To viewer's amazement,he sees Seher's face in the face of the female protagonist that is of Marjina. When her 1st story is not completed before dawn, he gets angry at her not continuing. The reason is the book can be used only at night or its magic will disappear. He nearly gets her killed by jallad(executioner) Khalel but he spared her life on her request but warned her that she will be spared only for a night to complete her story and will be killed the next morning. At night before she again makes him into the book to continue the story, he asks her why he saw her face in Marjina to which she replies that thats the unique part of the book in which he will see a person in every story who is on his mind. To viewers amazement and even his', he sees his wife in every story in the face of the female protagonists of every stories he goes into. She completes 1st story at night but starts 2nd story by tricking him that the story is continued from 1st story. The next morning again her story is incomplete and he calls Khalel to put her to death. This time she did not requested to spare her life but was quietly going when he himself stopped Khalel and again warned her that tonight will be her last night after her story is complete. So the 2nd story too is complete at night but through random talks she takes him into 3rd story which unfortunately finishes before morning. They were talking about the story when Khalel walks in which scares Seher reminding her of her death but to her suprise Shahbaaz shouts at Khalel only telling him he should see he is talking with Sultana and never to enter without permission or he will get him hanged. Khalel leaves. So her life is spared by him even with her story completed before morning. Seher's father comes to meet her. She is in a good mood telling him about morning incident and how Sultan is getting affected by her stories. Her father warns her not to have high hopes but she ignores. At night, she makes a dinner date set up and keeps a letter for Shahbaz in the room to meet her on the other side of the room under open sky. He goes there and sees her. For a second, he is affected by her beauty and smiled but then he remembers his happy moments with his 1st wife and how she planned with his stepbrother to kill him causing him to get angry on Seher and ruin the date set up. He accuses her of trying to trap him and how all women are cheater. He scares her by telling that he can get her killed without waiting for the morning and shouts Khalel's name. She manages to make him agree to hear another story. He tells her that she can win by making him hear another story but will have to die the next morning to which she says that she does not care about her death. He then goes into 4th story. Again the story completes before dawn. She enquires him about his mistrust on women to which he gets angry again on her and removes his sword but stabs a pillow around her instead. He then tells her that he is not wily like women and kindhearted(kindhearted really?) otherwise a sword coming from his scabbard does not rest before beheading that person. Before leaving the room, he warns her not to repeat this mistake if she wants the safety of her life. So this is the 2nd time her life is spared even with the story being completed before morning. Seher is sad the entire day due to this. When they are offering morning prayers side by side, his eyes fell on her teary face for a moment. When Seher is being dressed by maids, she is still sad and remembers her father's words the previous day. At night, Seher is sadly looking outside the window from her room. Shahbaaz enters and sees her sad. She realises he entered and says in normal tone and she did not knew when he entered and asks him whether she make him go in another story. Shahbaaz starts drinking like she does usually and tells in sad voice about his past. In his past, Shahbaaz comes a day earlier from his hunting trip with a gift for his wife that is a small colourful bird. He enters the room and is shocked to find his wife talking with another man about killing and dethroning him. On him entering, the man hides but Shahbaaz finds him and to his further shock the man was none other than his stepbrother Shahzaman. He kills his wife by stabbing her in the stomach with his sword. He was about to kill Shahzaman too but his stepmother whom he always blindly believes enters ad blames everything on Noor telling her son is stupid to come in her trap. She further tells him all women are same that is cheater and characterless. Coming back to present, Seher tells him that she can't tell him she can't say she understand his pain as the person going through that only understands how he/she feels. She then proceeds to tell him the 5th story.

Note: The 5th story could not be shown completely as the telecast stopped midway on 20th March after completing 20 episodes due to coronavirus pandemic causing the shoot to be kept on hold.

Cast

Ankit Arora as Shahbaz and various characters from stories

Shiny Doshi as Seher and various characters from stories

Featured Stories

The twist of this version is that instead of the wife telling husband stories she sends him in different stories in a book named 'Alif Laila' where he becomes the part of the story as the make protagonist of that story. His wife tells him that he will see a person in every story who is on his mind. To viewers amazement and even his', he sees his wife in every story in the face of the female protagonists of every stories. Below are the stories that have been telecasted till now before the shooting stopped due to coronavirus pandemic.

1. Alibaba Aur Chalis Chor
Shahbaz- Alibaba
Seher- Marjina

2. Baghdad Ka Chor
Shahbaz- Ahmed
Seher- Nilofer

3. Fitrez Princess and Fisherman
Shahbaz- Abbas
Seher- Faria

4. Daayan Hina
Shahbaz- Hashim
Seher- Juhi

5. Beauty And The Beast
Shahbaz- Abdullah/Haiwan(Beast)
Seher- Safeena

As per news segments and few pictures released on instagram, the cast and crew shot a portion of the next story 'Aladdin And The Magic Lamp' with Kaivalya Chheda portraying Genie before the shoot and telecast stopped.

Difference between book, old TV version and Dangal TV version

1. In the book and even in 1993's DD Channel version, the Sultan's name was Shahryar while in Dangal TV version his name is Shahbaaz. Also the Sultana's name was Scheherezade/Shahrzad but in this version her name is Seher.

2. Sultan is ruler of India, China and some Arab countries in the book. In old TV version he was ruler of Persia but in this version he is ruler of Baghdad.

3. In the book, Shahzaman was Sultan's younger brother and loved him. In the old TV version he was not mentioned. In this version he is the stepbrother of Sultan and his enemy and he was the man with whom Noor cheated the Sultan. Also in this version, he along with Sultan's own 1st wife Noor wanted to kill Sultan for the throne.

4. In the book and in the old version, the female protagonist had a younger sister named Dunyazade but in this version she has no sister but is the only child of the Wazir.

5. In the book and old TV version excluding his 1st cheater wife the Sultan had killed hundreds of other innocent women after marrying them most probably 1001 women for a period of 3 years before the female protagonist married him. But in this version, the female protagonist is his 2nd wife so he had killed only his 1st cheater wife Noor not any other innocent women. The heroine who loved him from childhood decided to marry him 1st after his horrific decision of killing every women the next morning after marrying them.

6. In the book and the old TV version, the Sultana simply told Sultan stories by mouth but in this version she sends him in different stories in a book named 'Alif Laila' where he becomes the part of the story as the male protagonist of that story. She tells him that the body and soul will be of him but brain of Alibaba's character and then tells that he has to come out of book before morning or he will get trapped in it forever. She also tells him that he will see a person in every story who is on his mind. To viewers amazement and even his', he sees his wife in every story in the face of the female protagonists of every stories. So in this version, the male and female protagonists of every stories are also played by the lead actors Ankit Arora and Shiny Doshi who plays Shahbaaz and Seher respectively.

Production

Development

The first promo of the series was released on 10 February 2020 where The second promo was released on 19 February 2020.

Initially, It was originally planned as a weekend series but was later made as a weekday series, 8 days before the telecast, a decision was taken by the channel to make it a weekday show due to low ratings of Ek Anokhi Rakshak - Naagkanya.

The shows set is located in Mumbai, India. However, many places shown in the show had been created through VFX and The actors mostly shoot in front of green screens.

Owing Covid-19 outbreak, the shootings were stalled since 19 March 2020 and the series telecast was halted midway on 20 March 2020. Shooting Of The Show Is Expected To Resume Soon.

References

This article "Alif Laila (2020 Series)" is from Simple English Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Alif Laila (2020 Series).

---