Pavitra Rishta is a popular Indian daily soap opera which airs on Zee TV. It started on 1 June 2009 and airs every Mon-Fri at 9 pm. Pavitra Rishta portrays the simple life of common middle-class families of the Mumbai city and the day to day problems which they face. The story particularly focuses on the journey of two loving souls Manav and Archana. The serial also airs on Geo TV Pakistan as Na Tootay Rishta[1] and FBC TV in Fiji Islands.

It is a story of a girl, Archana, who though is not highly educated but handles the whole house work impeccably. Every one is dependant on her but except for her brother and mother no one really values her importance. Her mother has a sole aim of getting a good, well educated boy drawing a good salary for Archana. Because of this Archana's marriage plans have always been full of obstacles. Simultaneously runs the story of a boy Manav; a mechanic; who gets besotted by Archana on the very first sight. Destiny and circumstances make his marriage proposal reach Archana but to be accepted he has to lie about his credentials, which because of unavoidable situations he does. The marriage takes place but the moment Archana comes to know about the lie she refuses to go with Manav. The story continues from here–what remains to be seen is what happens to Archana who in spite of being married does not go to stay with her husband, will the two people who are made for each other ever come together?

The beginningArchana's mother is one of the few people who appreciates the middle-class girl, and she is determined to help her daughter make a good match with a man who can support her comfortably. Because of this, mechanic Manav's mother Savita lies about Manav's circumstances so he can marry the girl he loves, but when his lie is discovered shortly after their wedding, Archana's mother tries to prevent their union. In this she happily fails. Archana and Manav faces many good and bad circumstances but manages to surpass them.

Four years laterFour years later, Manav is comfortably supporting his family, grown to six with the addition of four children. Soham and the twin girls Tejaswini and Ovi are Manav's and Archana's own, but they have also adopted Manav's fatherless nephew, Sachin whos mother Shravani returns to take him away but than reconisiders after seeing Archana's love for him. Turmoil again enters their lives. Soham is presumably killed during a kidnapping by Archana's sister Varsha. Then to make matter worse, Savita lies that Archana wanted divorce from Manav. The couple separates; Archana remains in India when Manav takes Sachin and the girls to Canada. Archana tries to build a new family, adopting as a daughter the orphaned Purvi.

Eighteen years laterAlthough separated, Archana and Manav remained married. Later, Manav and family return to India to complete the divorce. Archana, unaware of her forged signature, is surprised when the subject of divorce is raised. She still loves Manav. But, the lawyer Sachin asks Archana to agree to divorce Manav for the sake of his real mother, Shravani. While Manav's mother Savita caused Sachin to be taken from his mother, she has allowed Sachin to believe that Archana was responsible. Archana goes along with this, but Purvi, who has discovered that Manav is her father is able to at least delay the divorce by six months by telling the court she will not take responsibility for her mother.

Purvi and Ovi are caught in a love triangle, as Ovi is in love with Arjun-the son of her father's boss DK and, after a business acquisition, the boss of both Archana and Purvi-but Purvi and Arjun have fallen in love. Purvi does not want to marry office colleague Vinay to whom her marriage is arranged, as he is only interested in the prestige and money the match can bring him. To the couple's great dismay, however, soon after they reveal their feelings to one another, DK announces that Ovi and Arjun are to wed. Only then does Purvi discover that Ovi and Tejaswini are her sisters.

Although hurt that her mother kept this secret, she decides not to tell her mother of her love for Arjun, not wishing to give hurt to her mother in turn. Arjun tries to convince Purvi that he intensely loves her and didn't knew about the engagement but Purvi doesn't pay attention to Arjun. Later Purvi and Arjun's love affair is exposed by Archana's niece Punni(Poornima) on the occasion of Ovi and Teju's birthday. Ovi still believes that Arjun loves her and it is Purvi who trapped Arjun. Manav's mother Savita arrives at Mumbai from Canada and come to know that Archana is living with Manav and her granddaughters are bonding with Archana. She tells Ovi and Teju that Archana is their mother and they starts hating her. Savita also starts making Archana's life hell.

Archana believes that Arjun has cheated both her daughters and he doesn't deserve marrying any of them. She tells Arjun if he really loves her daughter Purvi, he will have to prove himself. Arjun leaves his father's house, business, name and everything and start living in a chawl near Purvi's house. He begins to work as a mechanic in a car repair shop owned by Farukh Bhai. He works hard to complete Archana's challenge of earning Rs. 10,000.It is now revealed that Archana and Manav's son Soham and Archana's sister Varsha are alive. They live with the head of kidnapper gang in Patna. Soham is known as Vishnu and considers the kidnapper to be his father. The kidnapper sends Vishnu(Soham), on an assignment to kidnap Manav. Instead of Manav, he kidnaps Purvi. Manav saves the kidnapped Purvi, by paying the ransom. Arjun also helps in saving Purvi who gets shot by Soham. Soham is then arrested by the police.

In the meantime, Archana approves Arjun as a worthy man for a daughter and the proceedings for marriage begin. Purvi unsuccessfully tries to break the marriage with the help of Ovi. Ovi calls Archana when she is at Vinod's house and says that she wants to meet her. When they meet, Ovi says she knows that Archana wants her family back and that she loves them, and says she can get all that back for her only if Archana tells Purvi to break up with Arjun. Archana thnks about it and later goes back to the Deshmukh house and says that everyone is invited to Purvi's wedding even though she knows that they all reject the relationship. Ovi is seen tearing up at this point and is later seen in the kitchen slicing her wrist a knife while Teju looks on in horror. Ovi is then bandaged up by Teju.

Later, the day of Manav and Archana's divorce comes. However, the divorce is postponed for 10 days because of an affidavit submitted by one of their daughters. Manav and Archana assume that the affidavit was submitted by Purvi. However, later Ovi is shown to make the same proposal to Purvi that she made to Archana. She then reveals that it was she who submitted the affidavit. On her marriage day, Purvi accepets Ovi's proposal and makes Arjun marry her so that Archana can get her family back. Thus, Arjun and Ovi are married.

Arjun is very unhappy about having to marry Ovi and when he finds out about the agreement between Purvi and Ovi he becomes furious. Purvi, too, is unhappy as wasn't able to marry Arjun but she hides this. Later, Ovi confesses about the agreement to Manav and everyone else hears as well. Manav feels very upset, And Sachin begins to feel guilty about what he has done. Sachin then talks with Savita about how they were wrong in their behavior towards Archana. Teju overhears this and comes to know that Savita forged Arachana's signature on the divorce papers. At the party of Arjun and Ovi's marriage, Teju tells Manav about what she heard and Manav confronts Savita and Sachin. After finding out the full truth, he promises to live far away from Savita, leaving her devastated. Manav then fixes things up with Archana, and all three of his children apologize to her sincerely. She forgives them and they begin living together again.

One Manav and Archana start living together, they again fall in love and Purvi is trying to ignore Arjun but the latter is not able to accept Ovi. Ovi becomes very close to Archana and tries to ask her help to get Arjun's love, Archana tells her that it is her duty to succeed this wedding. Manav has forgiven Sachin but not Savita. He forbids the other members from talking to Savita. She is alienated in her house but Archana tries to make Manav forgive her.

Soon, Varsha is identified by Purvi. Manav reopens Varsha's case, and with the help of the police the Deshmukhs arrest Varsha. Varsha refuses to tell Soham's location and even says that Soham is dead. The Deshmukhs decide to release Varsha on bail so that they can track her down so that they can find Soham. In the meantime, Vishnu(Soham) is chosen to be a politician in Patna, and is given the name Bahubali. When, Archana finds out that Vishnu is Soham, she approaches him with the police behind her. Vishnu thinks that she is trying to get him arrested, so he puts a gun on Archana's head to escape from the police. He then takes Archana hostage and flees. Manav, who doesn't know that Vishnu is Soham, tracks Vishnu down and shoots him because he is worried Vishnu may hurt Archana. When Manav finds out who he shot, he goes to the police and begs them to take him as a prisoner. In the meantime, Soham is taken to the hospital. There Varsha and Balan confront Archana by saying that she and Manav aren't worthy of being called Soham's parents. then soham get to know about his real parents , but varsha lies him that they arent a perfect parents ,they consider him as a burden thats why she kidnapped him. soham then hate deshmukh family, and speak rudely to them ,insulted them in many ways .now deshmukh family dislike soham except archana and savita .sulochana did the last ritual of varsha. manav charge a case in court against soham. purvi, manav, teju, arjun speak against soham in court. archana also speak against soham in order to save soham by realize his mistakes and become a good person. soham got one year hard labour in jail and 25000 rs fine .and varsha balan also take in custody. now soham hates archana and family than before. Purvi leaves her home and Mumbai so that Arjun can start his married life and could forget her.

Six months passes

Arjun has become a successful businessman on his own and Ovi is now pregnant with several complications. Arjun and Ovi appears to be happy husband-wife but it's not true. Arjun has to go to Kolkata for business purpose and to find a Dr. Onir Dutt who is a renowned gynecologist and the only doctor who is capable of treating Ovi. He finds the doctor and calls Ovi to come to Kolkata for her treatment. Ovi is accompanied by Archana and they arrive at Kolkata. Ovi dislikes Dr. Onir and refuses to get treatment from him. On the occasion of Durga Puja, Archana happens to meet Purvi who is also pregnant. It is now revealed that six months before, Purvi went to Kolkata and met Dr. Onir. They became friends and soon got married. This shocks Archana. Arjun and Ovi also comes to know about Purvi when they arrive at Dr. Onir's home for dinner. Ovi thinks that Arjun is having an affair with Purvi. She gets angry and returns back to Mumbai. Onir also refuses to treat Ovi because of her strange behavior. Purvi leaves Onir's home and arrives at Mumbai. She does this so that Onir comes to Mumbai for Ovi's treatment. Teju and Sunny, who belongs to a Gujarati family have fallen in love with each other.