Zee World premieres a new 20h00 nightly series this Sunday (28 June) called Zara's Nikah, meaning: Zara's Muslim Marriage.
And a whole lotta divorce.
A unique aspect of the show is that it spotlights a topic we seldom - if ever - see on TV: divorce customs in Islam.
The story centres round Zara Siddiqui and Kabeer Ahmed, who are devout Muslims who interpret Islam differently.
They've both recently completed five years of Islamic study and while returning to their hometown, they have a major argument about the Triple Talaq.
Triple Talaq is a controversial divorce custom in Islam - there are various different divorce customs - and Zara strongly opposes Kabeer's acceptance of it.
A description of it from
this article on Al Jazeera:
Triple talaq is the practice under which a Muslim man can divorce his wife by simply uttering "talaq" three times.
Their disagreement on it creates such an online viral stir that they end up in a situation where they're forced to marry.
That's one big stirrr.
They don't love each other, but they do, in a way. Their love grows but of course, the series wouldn't have hundreds of episodes if it was as simple as that.
They marry and then stuff happens, including Triple Talaq.
The show first debuted on Zee TV in India in 2018 and won five Zee Rishtey Awards in the same year, including Best Show.
The awards are by Zee to recognise popular shows on the channel.
At the time of its launch, Zee TV's Deputy Business Head Deepak Rajadhyaksha had this to say about it:
"Our next primetime fiction offering belongs to the Muslim social drama space that we had, ourselves, pioneered with Qubool Hai, a show that enjoyed an immensely successful run of two seasons.
"Ishq Subhan Allah (the original name of Zara's Nikah) asks viewers to pause and reflect on the true interpretation of religion in our daily lives.
"It questions the true importance we accord to a woman’s choice in every decision that a couple makes, including entering the institution of marriage as also ending it with dignity.
In 2019 Zee launched a web series spin-off of it called Ishq Aaj Kal.
And in August 2019, India made Triple Talaq a criminal offence. Read all about it here:
The Triple Talaq Law makes it a criminal offence
Also juicy to note: the series had has its fair share of scandal, embodied in lead actress Eisha Singh who plays Zara.
Apparently she left the role after a fiasco with the producers regarding time-off. According to
a Bombay Times story at the time, she wanted days off from the series to film a movie, the series producers said "no" so she quit - and lost the movie too.
In late 2019 actress and model Tunisha Sharma replaced her as Zara.
These are the first teasers for it:
Zara's Nikah Teasers - June 2020