Baakiyalakshmi

Bhagyalakshmi is an Indian Tamil series on Star Vijay.^[1][2] This show is an official remake of Star Jalsha series Sreemoyee.^[3][4][5] It was premiered on 27 July 2020. It stars K.S. Suchitra Shetty in the title role with Reshma Pasupuleti, Sathish Kumar and Ranjith in the other prominent roles.^[6][7][8]

Plot

Bhagyalakshmi, also known as Bhagya, is a loving and caring wife, mother, and daughter-in-law. She has three children with her husband Gopinath, Chezhiyan, Ezhil, and Iniya. Gopinath is having an affair with his ex-fiancée Radhika, who is raising her daughter Mayura as a single mother. Radhika befriends Bhagya without knowing that she is Gopi's wife. Chezhiyan marries his high school sweetheart, Jennifer, and Bhagya feels restricted to domestic life and wants to establish her own identity.

Ezhil, Radhika, and Jenny help Bhagya start a masala company, but Gopi and his mother oppose it. Iniya is expelled from school, and Gopi uses this as an opportunity to force Bhagya to close her business. However, Baakiya manages to get Iniya's expulsion revoked and restart her business. Later, Ezhil discovers Gopi's affair with Radhika, who is being blackmailed by her husband Rajesh, causing Mayura to rebel against them. Ramamoorthy, Gopi's father, discovers the affair and becomes paralyzed, while Radhika's mother wishes for Gopi to marry her.

At Bhagya's divorce hearing, Gopi tricks her into signing papers to get her a portion of his company, and successfully completes the first hearing without Bhagya's knowledge. Bhagya learns about Ezhil's love for a widowed Amirtha and supports him. Gopi reveals to Radhika that Baakiya is his wife, causing Radhika to move on and Baakiya to suspect the affair. Baakiya eventually confronts Gopi and decides to start a new life without him. They get a divorce,^[9] and Baakiya decides to stay with her in-laws and children, while Gopi moves out and manipulates Radhika against Baakiya. Iniya stays with Gopi and Radhika to bring Gopi back home, but conflicts arise between Radhika and Iniya.

Meanwhile, Chezhiyan and Jenny are happy about Jenny's pregnancy, and Ezhil marries Amirtha with Bhagya and Jenny's support.^[10] Gopi asks Bhagya for 20 Lakhs to change the property to Radhika's name, threatening to sell the house otherwise. Bhagya challenges him to return the money in 6 months, and manages to make a profit of 2 lakhs in a week with Amirtha and Selvi's help. Bhagya secures a canteen contract, despite Radhika's interference, and Bhagya resolves conflicts with Radhika to ensure its success. Iniya's disobedience to Radhika's words leads to conflicts, and Gopi scolds her, causing Iniya to attempt suicide. Fortunately, she is saved and returns to Bhagyalakshmi's house, while Gopi is heartbroken and regrets his actions, causing Radhika to leave him.

Bhagya then decides to attend English classes after being tormented by Radhika in the canteen, and she meets her friends Pazhani and Lopika. Pazhani and Baakiya get very close over time, and Baakiya helps his mother with her sickness while Baakiya's family is very fond of Pazhani. Gopi gets jealous of Baakiya and Pazhani's relationship, misunderstanding them to be a couple, soon after which he and Radhika come to live with Baakiya's family. Baakiya and her family, especially Eshwari (Gopi's mother), do not like the idea of Radhika living in their house, and torment her daily.

Baakiya and her family notice Pazhani's unmarried status, and set up a meeting for him with their relative, but Pazhani opposes the marriage. This is seen by Gopi, who believes that his family is trying to set Pazhani up with Baakiya. His worries arise suspicion from Radhika, who thinks that Gopi still has affection for Baakiya despite Gopi's insistence. After another argument between Radhika and Eshwari over Radhika's family coming to visit her at Gopi's house, Radhika's mother intervenes and calls the police on Eshwari, who claims that Radhika is allowed to stay here since she is Gopi's wife and the house is in Gopi's name. Out of anger, Baakiya claims that she will give Gopi 18 lakhs to pay off the house and make it in her name. Pazhani learns about her situation, and offers her a wedding order for his friend, where she will cook for 15,000 people. Baakiya initially rejects the order because of Iniya's exams, but she eventually takes it because she wants to pay off the money to Gopi. At the same time, Gopi gets invited to the same wedding because of the groom being Radhika's childhood friend, and they venture off, not knowing Baakiya is there. Gopi eventually finds out about Baakiya's appearance at the wedding and tries to throw her off by asking her to cook Malaysian food for some guests along with the food for the rest of the people. He also disapproves of Pazhani and Baakiya's friendship and yells at Pazhani to stay away from Baakiya. Eventually, Baakiya gets honored for her efforts and gets a large sum of money as payment. But even after the order, she does not have enough money, so her sons Ezhil and Chezhiyan give her money to reach the 18 lakh sum. She then confronts Gopi and Radhika and pays off the money. Then, Baakiya goes to the registry office to change the house into her name, while Gopi and Radhika leave Baakiya's house and Gopi swears revenge on Baakiya and his family for throwing him out.

After a series of events, Iniya got her 12th board exam results back, and found out that she had gotten her school's first rank. Baakiya was initially unaware of this, since she had gotten an engagement catering order that morning, but was constantly worrying about Iniya's exams in the meantime. Meanwhile, Iniya and her family attended a function hosted by Iniya's school, where she was honored for being the first rank by her teachers and classmates. Gopi got a phone call from the school about Iniya's function, and rushed over to congratulate Iniya with Radhika. In the catering order, because of Baakiya's constant attempts to call Iniya to know her results, the cooking crew made a mistake in the sweet, causing a huge argument between the groom's family and bride's family. Pazhani and Ramamoorthy immediately go over and solve the problem due to Pazhani's connections after the family asked Pazhani to check on Baakiya after he came to congratulate Iniya for her marks. Soon, Baakiya comes home and gets overjoyed over Iniya's ranking, and immediately tells her to pursue her desired career in media and visual communications. However, Gopi intervenes and tells Iniya that he wants her to study BBM instead, which erupts an argument between the family. The next day, Baakiya and Iniya go to college to secure a college admission for Iniya. Gopi also desires to go to pay Iniya's college fees, but he falls short of money, causing him to ask his friend to borrow money to pay off the college fees. By the time Gopi reaches the college, Baakiya has already gone in and paid Iniya's college fees, securing a spot in VisCom according to Iniya's wishes. After visiting the college, Baakiya wants to expand her business but when she asks for a loan in the bank, the bank officer tells her that the loan can only be given to someone with a college degree. As a result of this, Baakiya confides in Ezhil about her desire to attend college herself, since she never got the chance to attend 25 years ago due to her sudden marriage to Gopi. Ezhil provides her with a form to gain admission to college, and Baakiya excitedly fills it out, ready to attend college along with Iniya.

Jenny was sent to her mom's house after done Bangle Ceremony which celebrated by the whole family including Gopi and Raadhika. Despite being asked by Chezhian several times to let Jenny stay at his house, her parents took her back saying it was a tradition from generation to generation. Chezhian often receives calls from his client, Malini to meet and spend time. Although Chezhian rejected her request a few times before, he agreed to meet when he felt that Jenny did not pay much attention to him and only care about family. While Baakiya had taken Iniya to Kerala for an assignment, during that time Chezhian became so close to Malini that he did not come home and did not visitted Jenny. Baakiya was suspicious of Chezhian's behavior and warned several times even though Chezhian lied about his whereabouts. Baakiya's canteen contract was also terminated by Raadhika when the boss of the company went abroad and gave all the responsibilities to Raadhika. Amirtha's ex-husband, Ganesh, who is thought to be dead, has returned home, claiming allegedly unconscious all this time, which shocked his parents. They struggled to answer when he asked about Amirtha's whereabouts, making Ganesh suspicious and he himself went to find his wife without knowing she is Ezhil's wife now. Chezhian felt very sorry when Jenny was in pain. He could not bear to see his wife suffering to give birth to their child. Malini called Chezhian several times to meet but was not answered. Then, Jennifer's baby is born. Chezhian called back after his baby was born but Malini threatened Chezhian to meet her and would kill herself if he refused. With no other choice, Chezhian had to spend the night at Malini's house making him languish because he couldn't spend time with his daughter and wife, so he ended his relationship with Malini when she proposed marriage to him. Meanwhile, Ganesh went to Amirtha's house and found she is married again. Jenny has returned home with her daughter. Malini calls Chezhian back to meet him threatening to bring their picture together and come home if Chehzhian denied. No other choice Chezhian decided to meet but was prevented by Baakiya. Eswari brings back Gopi to Bakiya's house due to his health condition, which later leads Raadhika to follow him to stay together. After some time Baakiya get to know about Chezhian's affair with Malini and urges him to tell the truth to Jenny where Chezhian unable to do so. Soon, it was revealed by Malini herself resulting Jenny leave their house with her newborn.

Unable to do anything Baakiya had to take all the blame due to hide this issue from her family. She started to focus on her catering business again. She managed to complete 10 days canteen contract in an exhibition despite many struggles and challenges. Meanwhile, she also receiving threats from Ganesh regarding his presence should be informed to Amirtha. Chezhian received divorce notice from Jenny's side without her knowledge which shattered the whole family due to Malini's tricks. Raadhikas's relationship become warmer with Baakiya and Eswari as she could understood the problems encounter by them. As the time period given by Ganesh was complete, he revealed himself to Amirtha and Ezhil about his presence while Baakiya seeks family's help.

Cast

Main

• K. S. Suchitra Shetty as Baakiyalakshmi aka Baakiya: A cook who runs a catering company; Karpagam's daughter; Gopi's ex-wife; Chezhiyan, Ezhil and Iniya's mother; Nila's step-grandmother. (2020–present)
• Sathish Kumar as Gopinath aka Gopi: Former Consulting firm owner turned Cloud kitchen owner; Ramamoorthy and Eshwari's son; Baakiya's ex-husband; Radhika's second husband; Chezhiyan, Ezhil and Iniya's father; Mayura's step-father; Nila's step-grandfather. (2020–present)^[11]
• Nanditha Jennifer / Reshma Pasupuleti as Radhika: HR in an IT company; Kamala's daughter; Manohar's sister; Rajesh's ex-wife; Gopi's second wife; Mayura's mother; Baakiya's former friend. (2020–2021) / (2021–present)^[12]
• Ranjith as Pazhaniswami aka Palani: Baakiya's close friend and well-wisher. (2023–present)

Recurring

• S. T. P. Rosary as Ramamoorthy: Sundaram's brother; Eshwari's husband; Gopi's father; Chezhiyan, Ezhil and Iniya's grandfather; Mayura's step-grandfather; Nila's step-great-grandfather. (2020–present)
• Rajyalakshmi as Eshwari: Ramamoorthy's wife; Gopi's mother; Chezhiyan, Ezhil and Iniya's grandmother; Mayura's step-grandmother; Nila's step-great-grandmother. (2020–present)
• Velu Lakshmanan / Vikash Sampath as Chezhiyan: Baakiya and Gopi's elder son; Ezhil and Iniya's brother; Mayura's step-brother; Jenny's husband.^[13] (2020–2022) / (2022–present)
• Divya Ganeshan as Jennifer aka Jenny: Joseph and Maria's daughter; Chezhiyan's wife. (2020–present)
• VJ Vishal as Ezhilan aka Ezhil: Baakiya and Gopi's younger son; Chezhiyan and Iniya's brother; Mayura's step-brother; Amrita's second husband; Nila's step-father.
• Rithika Tamil Selvi / Akshitha Ashok as Amritha: Ganesh's ex-wife; Ezhil's wife; Nila's mother. (2021–2023) / (2023–present)
• Neha Menon as Iniya: Baakiya and Gopi's daughter; Chezhiyan and Ezhil's sister; Mayura's step-sister. (2020–present)
• Baby Kritisha as Nila: Ganesh and Amritha's daughter; Ezhil's step-daughter. (2021–present)
• Sherine Farhana as Mayura: Radhika and Rajesh daughter; Gopi's step-daughter; Chezhiyan, Ezhil and Iniya's step-sister. (2020–present)
• Nathan Shyam as Rajesh Kumar: Radhika's ex-husband; Mayura's father. (2020–2022)
• Meena Sellamuthu as Selvi: The maid in Baakiyalakshmi's house also her dear friend; Bashkar's wife (2020–present)
• Sheela as Kamala: Manohar and Radhika's mother; Mayura's grandmother. (2020–present)
• Nethran as Chandru: Raadhika's brother, Vijaya's son (2021–present)
• Manmohan(2020-2023) /Dasarathy(2023-Present) as Joseph David – Maria's husband; Jenny's father
• Mona Kakade as Maria: Joseph's wife; Jenny's mother (2020–present)
• R. Aravindraj as Ganesh's father; Nila's grandfather (2021–Present)
• Revathy Shankar as Ganesh's mother; Nila's grandmother (2021–Present)
• Deepthi Kapil(2023) /Rhema Ashok (2023-Present) as Malini – Chezhiyan's client^[14]
• Keerthi Vijay as Varshini – Filmmaker's daughter; Ezhil's ex-fiancée (2022–2023)
• Priya as Karpagam – Baakiya's mother; Chezhiyan, Ezhil and Iniya's grandmother (2020–2022)
• Sangeetha V as Kavitha: Karpagam's daughter-in-law (2020–2021)
• Sam as Rajinikanth: Physiotherapist (2022)
• Gokul Krishnan as Sathish: Ezhil's friend (2020–2022)
• Pranika as Nikhila: Iniya's friend who was sexually harassed by a teacher (2021)
• Charlie Jey as Santhosh – Iniya's senior and former love interest (2020-2021)
• Hema Chinraj as Hema: Iniya's best friend (2020–2021)
• Sri Latha as Geetanjali: Iniya's school principal (2020–2022)
• Parthiban as Bashkar – Selvi's husband. (2020–2022)
• Geetha Narayanan as Nancy: Baakiyalakshmi's neighbor (2020–2021)
• Santhaanam Ganesan as Ezhil's best friend (2021-2022)
• Prakash Rajan as Raveendran: Baakiya customer; Annamal's husband (2020)
• Devi Teju as Annamal – Raveendran's wife (2020)
• Madhan as Ganesh: Amritha's ex-husband; who has been dead for 2 years; Nila's biological father (2021–2022; 2023–present)
• Sumangali as Amritha's mother (2021-2022)
• Kausalya Senthamarai as a Judge (2020-2021)
• Pandiarajan as Sundaram: Ramamoorthy's brother. (2020-2021) (Special Appearance)

Mahasangamam Pandian Stores 2

• Stalin Muthu as Pandian
  • Gomathi's husband;
• Nirosha as Gomathi Pandian
  • Pandian's wife; Baakyalakshmi's friend; Raadhika's cousin.
• VJ Kathirvel Kandasamy as Saravanan Pandian
  • Pandian and Gomathi's eldest son.
• Vasanth Vasi as Senthilnathan Pandian "Senthil"
  • Pandian and Gomathi's second son; Meena's husband.
• Akash Premkumar as Kathiravan Pandian "Kathir"
  • Pandian and Gomathi's youngest son; Raji's husband.
• Hema Raj Sathish as Meenakshi Senthilnathan "Meena"
  • Senthil's wife; Pandian families daughter-in-law.
• Shalini as Raji Kathiravan
  • Muthuvel and Vadivu's daughter; Gomathi's niece; Kathir's wife; Pandian families daughter-in-law.
  • Kannan's ex-lover
• Sathya Sai Krishnan as Arasi
  • Pandian and Gomathi's younger daughter.
• Srilekha Rajendran as Gandhimathi
  • Muthuvel, Shakthivel, Pazhanivel and Gomathi's mother; Raadhika's aunt.
• Ajay Rathnam as Muthuvel
  • Gandhimathi's eldest son; Gomathi's elder brother; Raaji's father; Raadhika's cousin.
• Gayathri Priya as Vadivu
  • Muthuvel's wife; Raaji's mother.
• Pondy Ravi as Sakthivel
  • Gandhimathi's second son; Gomathi second elder brother; Kumaravel's father; Raadhika's cousin.
• Reehana as Maari
  • Sakthivel's wife and Kumaravel's Mother.
• Sakthivel Adhi Meena as Kumaravel
  • Sakthivel and Maari's son; Raaji's brother.
• Raj Kumar Manoharan as Pazhanivel
  • Gandhimathi's youngest son; Gomathi's youngest brother; Raadhika's cousin.
• Nethaji Suriya as Kannan
  • Raaji's ex-lover(who ran away with Raaji jewel's).

Mahasangamam - Pandian Stores

• Stalin Muthu as Sathyamoorthy aka Moorthy – Gopi's cousin brother (2021-2023)
• Sujitha as Dhanalakshmi aka Dhanam - Moorthy's wife (2021-2023)
• Venkat Renganathan as Jeevanandham aka Jeeva – Moorthy, Kathir and Kannan's brother; Meena's husband; Kayal's father.(2021-2023)
• Hema Raj Sathish as Meenatchi aka Meena – Jeeva's wife; Kayal's mother.(2021-2023)
• Kumaran Thangarajan as Kathiravan aka Kathir - Moorthy, Jeeva and Kannan's brother; Mullai's husband.(2021-2023)
• V. J. Chitra / Kaavya Arivumani / Laavanya as Mullai - Kathir's wife (2021-2023)
• Saravana Vickram as Jayakannan aka Kannan – Moorthy, Jeeva and Kathir's brother; Aishu's husband. (2021-2023)
• VJ Deepika Lakshmana Pandian as Aishwarya aka Aishu – Kasthuri's sister's daughter; Mullai's cousin; Kannan's wife. (2021-2023)

Special Appearance

• Rekha (2020-2021)
• Priya Raman and Ranjith^[15] (2021)
• Siddharth^[16] to promote Chithha (2023)

Production

Casting

Kannada TV actress Suchitra was cast as the protagonist Baakiyalakshmi. Actor Sathish Kumar was cast as Baakiyalakshmi's husband, Gopinath's character. Nanditha Jennifer initially played the role of Radhika but she left the serial in July 2021 as she was unhappy with her character transitioning into a villain. As a result, she was replaced by Reshma Pasupuleti.^[17]

In 2021, Rithika Tamil Selvi was cast to play Amritha opposite Ezhilan. However she quit the series,^[18] and replaced by Akshitha Ashok in the role of Amritha.^[19]

In 18 December 2021, Actress Priya Raman was play a cameo in special 3 hour episode.^[20]

In February 2022, Velu Lakshmanan also quit the series, saying he got opportunity in Zee Tamil serial Meenakshi Ponnunga as the male lead role.^[21] however he sign new serial for Zee Tamil. In June 2022 Actor Vikash Sampath was cast in play the role of Chezhiyan.

In early 2023, Ranjith was cast to play Pazhaniswami.^[22]

Release

It was scheduled to premiere on 16 March 2020,^[23] but due to COVID-19 lock down, it was premiered on 27 July 2020.^[24]

Reception

Ratings

It became the second most-watched Tamil television program within a period of 2022.^[25][26] In May 2023, the series was the third most watched Tamil-language television series after Kayal and Ethirneechal.^[27]

Crossovers episodes

• In 2021, Pandian Stores had crossover episodes with Baakiyalakshmi from February 5 to February 28.^[28][29]
• In 2024, Baakiyalakshmi had crossover episodes with Pandian Stores 2 from January 22 to February 13.^[30][31]

Awards and nominations

Adaptations

References