5 Worst Indian Television Shows

Indian television shows are known for their versatility in showing different ethnicities, cultures, places and languages. And are remade into several other languages. The most popular language being of serials is Hindi. Even with cringe, drama and illogical plot lines, few TV series have gained a spot among popular TV shows. The end of popularity doesn’t stop just being a successful and long-running Indian TV series. They also include being famous for being one of the worst Indian television shows. Here’s a curated list of the five worst Indian TV series you should never watch!

1. Pehredaar Piya ki.

Undoubtedly and unquestionably, Pehredaar Piya ki tops the list. Starring Bigg Boss 15 winner Tejaswi Prakash as the female lead, an 18-year-old girl Diya is to marry a 9-year-old boy Ratan Maan Singh. Diya marries Ratan, an orphan, to fulfil the last wish of Ratan’s father, Maan Singh. 

Soon after the release of the TV series, it faced heavy backlash, and people signed petitions for the show’s ban. The show promoted child marriage and romance between an 18-year-old girl and a nine-year-old where the girl has to take care of the boy and the Hotel chain until Ratan turns 21. After he turns 21, they are supposed to get married legally once again. The show ran for 31 episodes, which is ridiculous considering how Sony, a leading channel in the entertainment industry, even considered approving this TV series. 

However, Balika Vadhu, one of the popular TV shows with a similar concept, did not get banned. The Indian TV series Balika Vadhu concentrated on the plot of how and why child marriage was wrong. Since Balika Vadhu was released in 2008 and Pehredaar Piya ki was released in 2017, times have changed. And people no longer tolerate releasing TV series that represent child marriage in any form. It is also noticeable that even Balika Vadhu received only 3.6/10 on IMDB and Pehredaar Piya ki received 2.6/10 on IMDB.

2. Sasural Simar Ka.

One of the most hated, worst, long-running, least-rated serials in Hindi on Indian TV is Sasural Simar Ka. Where is this going? A question audience kept asking at every stage of the serial. The story begins with two sisters, Simar and Roli. After initial confusion, Simar twists and turns and Simar gets married to Prem, and Roli gets married to Siddhant. After a new antagonist with illogical revenge plans enters the plot, Simar miscarries a couple of avoidable deaths. Simar catfishes Sunaina’s family and pretends to be Sunaina as per Vikrant’s instructions.

After a two years leap, Prem remarries Surbhi, Simar raises Sunaina’s daughter, and Sunaina’s ghost returns to take revenge. Later, the show’s theme shifted to the supernatural. Few ghosts, Dayan’s and Nagin’s, try to attack the Bharadwaj house. The main leads, Simar, Roli and their partners are busy protecting each 0ther.

Roli dies trying to protect Simar. Simar gives birth to an evil-powered child Piyush and leaves her in-laws. The show takes a 20-year leap; the story revolves around Anjali, Simar’s daughter, and the usual Indian TV family drama surrounding marriages and conspiracy theories. Simar returns with Piyush and rebonds with Anjali. Pot twist Simar shoots Anjali, due to which Anjali falls into a coma. Later, Anjali wakes up from the coma as the wrong person and gets disowned by the family. A few deaths follow, and a supernatural Goddess Durga vs Dayan battle also occurs.

The show then retook a six months leap. Again after a couple of conspiracy theories, new characters and deaths, the performance dramatically ended. The show began as a family drama but changed its theme and plot lines over the course, confusing the audience and hence became the worst serials in Hindi. The show ran for 2063 episodes and had an IMDB rating of 1.1/10.

3. Thapki Pyaar Ki.

Another show which lost track of the plot line with poor character developments and illogical sequences is Thapki Pyaar Ki. Thapki, the main female lead, is a cheerful and confident character with a speech disorder and stutter. Initially, she doesn’t get marriage proposals due to stuttering. She gets engaged to Diwakar, but the wedding doesn’t take place. 

Thapki finds a job on a TV channel and falls in love with her boss Dhruv, and they both agree to get married. Vasundhara Dhruv’s mom, however, doesn’t let Thapki marry Dhruv by blackmailing her adopted son Bihaan to marry Thapki. Soon, after some drama, Bihaan marries Thapki. Later, Dhruv and Shraddha get married. Regular Saas Bahu drama takes place in the TV show. Thapki rescues Vasundhara’s life in an incident, after which Vasundhara gives Thapki her approval.

Bihaan and Thapki fall in love and decide to get remarried. However, after knowing the truth behind Thapki’s wedding, a furious Dhruv tries to marry Thapki in place of Bihaan. Bihaan stops Dhruv from marrying Thapki, and later, Dhruv leaves the house feeling remorse. Later Bihaan’s birth mother Kosi stirs up trouble in Thapki’s life. Thapki, blamed for an attempt to murder Kosi, has to leave the house and miscarries in a car accident.

The show takes a two years leap, Thapki returns, Kosi’s truth is out, and she leaves the family. Dhruv divorces Shraddha and marries Aditi, Thapki’s sister. Dhruv then, drunk, impregnates Shraddha; at the same time, Aditi is pregnant as well. Dhruv proves his innocence to the family. Thapki and Bihaan remarry, and Thapki is pregnant. Sankar blackmails Thapki, after which she tells Bihaan that her kids’ biological father is Kabir. Thapki leaves the house with Kabir. Tina, the daughter of Thapki, is believed to be dead but is adopted by Bihaan.

Later Bihaan and Aditi find out the truth and try to reach Thapki but are met with an accident caused by Shraddha. After a seven-year leap, Aditi is dead, and Bihaan loses memory. The villains still try to separate the families from knowing the truth and reuniting. Thapki helps Bihaan regain memory and exposes the truth about Sankar. Later, Amma Mai, a new villain, tries to marry off Bani to her son prince forcefully. During a clash, Amma Mai shoots Bihaan, but Bihaan dies due to falling off a cliff.

After a 15-year leap, Bani, who blames Thapki for Bihaan’s death, returns to take revenge. In the mayhem, Tina marries Manav, Bani’s fiancé, and Bani marries Samar, Tina’s fiancé. After a few kidnaps and death threats, Samar rescues Bani. Thapki marries Aryan, the older brother of Manav and lookalike of Bihaan, and the story ends.

The real reason people hated this serial is that the makers decided to bring a gorilla into the show in the middle of this all, revealing that the gorilla fell in love with Thapki. How did the censor board clear this? And where are all the animal welfare associations?   The show managed to get an IMDB rating of 2.9/10.

4. Silsila Badalte Dil Ka.

The Indian TV series Silsila Badalte Dil Ka is a romantic drama and one of the popular TV shows aired on Colors TV. The plot revolves around the friendship of Mauli and Nandini, the female leads and their relationships. As time passes by, their relationships get tangled and keep changing. The first season focused on cheating, domestic violence against women and divorce. The show’s second season focused on modern-age love and relationships with leaps, twists and turns. The TV series gets darker and darker as the plot goes. It is one of the worst serials in Hindi and has been criticized intensely for its plot line. The show portrays cheating in friendship and marriage.

Kunal cheats on Mauli knowingly that Nandini is Mauli’s best friend. Mauli later files for divorce after knowing about the affair. After a leap, Kunal and Nandini have a daughter, Pari and Nandini died from cancer. Mauli and Kunal’s daughter Mishti and Pari become best friends. Kunal gets into an accident and loses memory remembering only Mauli. After he regains memory, he meets Pari again. Mauli marries her long-time best friend Ishaan, and they have a son Ansh.

After a 17-year-old leap, Mauli, Kunal and Ishaan are dead. Mishti and Pari’s story revolves around modern-age youth love drama stories. The story gets more complicated with multiple characters and storylines running simultaneously. It became one of the worst serials in Hindi because of backlash against the portrayal of a best friend breaking another friend’s home and heart and glorifying cheating. Nevertheless, the show managed to get 5.6/10 on IMDB.

5. Kasauti Zindagi kay.

The show is a reboot of one of the 2000’s popular TV shows, Kasauti Zindagi Kay. It revolves around the never-ending love story of Anurag and Prerna. The show had a fantastic cast of Hina Khan, Erica Fernandes, Parth Samthan and Karan Singh Grover. However, the rich looks and commendable performances of the whole cast deserved a better storyline. The reboot did not impress a lot of people.

The story starts with Prerna and Anurag studying in the same college, slowly becoming friends and falling in love. Later, Komolika, played by Hina Khan, is introduced, who gets obsessed with Anurag. Anurag and Prerna decide to marry, but Komolika blackmails Anurag into marrying her to save Prerna’s house. Prerna gets shocked by Anurag’s decision. Later, Prerna gets into a car accident and finds out she is pregnant. Prerna then decides to rebel and exposes Komolika, and gets her arrested. Komolika escapes prison and tries to kill Prerna but fails. Anurag and Prerna get engaged.

A new villain, Rishabh Bajaj, jails Anurag and blackmails Prerna to marry him for Anurag’s freedom. However, Anurag sees through Prerna and questions her. Rishabh falls for Prerna and attempts to kill Anurag, but Rishabh’s daughter Kukki gets hurt, and Rishabh changes his mind. Anura and Prerna reunite, and Prerna tells him about her pregnancy.

Later, Komolika returns with a new face and causes Anurag’s accident, due to which he loses memory. Komolika uses this as an advantage and convinces the family of her and Anurag’s marriage. Prerna gives birth to Sneha, and Anurag regains memory. Prerna knows komolika’s truth. Komolika blackmails Anurag and pushes Prerna off the bridge, where Anurag asks Rishabh to save Prerna. Sneha goes to an orphanage which komolika’s men burn. Prerna moves to London with Rishabh.

After an eight-year leap, Anurag hates Komolika and feels guilty. In contrast, Prerna hates Anurag and decides to return to Kolkata to avenger her daughter’s death. Prerna and Anurag cross paths and meet an orphan who is Sneha. Anurag cuts off Komolika and remarries Prerna after explaining the truth. Komolika wounds Rishabh while trying to stab Prerna, and Rishabh kills Komolika. Whew! Finally. Rishabh apologizes to Anurag and Prerna.

Unlike the first version, Anurag and Prerna do not die in the reboot. Anurag, Prerna and Sneha live happily together. Nevertheless, the audience felt that the plot line is outdated, regressive and over dramatic. Despite Anurag and Prerna’s chemistry, the show became one of the worst serials in Hindi as the characters’ words contradicted their actions. Due to the pandemic and the rating drop, the show went off-air. The show managed to get an IMDB rating of 3.6/10.