Swayamvar (TV series)

Swayamvar is a reality television show, where the contestants perform tasks and woo the hopeful bride/groom in return for their hand in marriage.

Swayamvar
Created by	SOL
Directed by	Gagan deep bijraniya
Presented by	Ram Kapoor (2009-2010) Hiten Tejwani (2011)
Starring	Rakhi Sawant (2009) Rahul Mahajan (2010) Ratan Rajput (2011) Veena Malik (cancelled)
Country of origin	India
No. of seasons	4
Production
Production locations	Fateh Garh Palace, Udaipur (2009-2010) Shiv Vilas Palace, Jaipur (2011)
Cinematography	Surindra rao Asst nitesh choudhary
Running time	Approx. 45 minutes
Production company	Imagine TV
Original release
Network	Imagine TV
Release	29 June 2009 (2009-06-29) – 3 July 2011 (2011-07-03)

It started airing in India with the Swayamvar Season 1 in 2009 and followed that with Swayamvar Season 2 (2010). In February 2011, Imagine TV announced the launch of the Swayamvar Season 3. The Swayamvar Season 3 started airing on Imagine TV from 30 May 2011. The winner of Ratan Ka Rishta will get the bride/groom of the season's hand in marriage. The new series sees a new host and a new location for the show. The new host is television actor, Hiten Tejwani, while the new location for the TV show is Shiv Vilas Palace in Jaipur, Rajasthan.

Hosts

• Ram Kapoor - Season 1 and 2 (2009-2010), also appeared in Season 3 as a part-time host, whenever Hiten Tejwani was unable to appear for the show.
• Hiten Tejwani - Season 3 (2011)

Prospective Bride/Groom

• Rakhi Sawant - Season 1 (2009)
• Rahul Mahajan (Reality TV Personality) - Season 2 (2010)
• Ratan Rajput - Season 3 (2011)
• Veena Malik - Season 4 (Cancelled as the channel got shut)

Season 1

The winner of the first season of Swayamvar was Elesh Parujanwala, from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The season was aired from 29 June 2009 to 2 August 2009. Manas Katyal and Chitiz Jain of New Delhi were the two other finalists, while Manmohan Tiwari of Rishikesh and Luv Khanna of New Delhi came 4th and 5th respectively, in the competition.

The prospective bride for Swayamvar Season 1 was Bollywood dancer, actress, model and talk show host Rakhi Sawant. The first season was hosted by Ram Kapoor.

This was the only season where the winner did not marry the prospective bride. They got engaged during the finale and later split up after a couple of months. Rakhi Sawant later went on to host the highly controversial show Rakhi Ka Insaaf, while Elesh Parujanwala went on to appear in another highly controversial show, Pati Patni Aur Woh, alongside his then partner, Rakhi Sawant.

Manas Katyal, one of the finalists, went on to appear as a contestant on Zor Ka Jhatka: Total Wipeout, while Manmohan Tiwari went on to become a television actor and starred in many shows and TV serials including Armanon Ka Balidaan-Aarakshan and Jamunia.

Season 2

The winner of the second season of Swayamvar was Dimpy Ganguly from Kolkata. This season was aired from February to April, 2010. Nikunj Malik of Faridabad and Harpreet Chabra of New Delhi were the 2 other finalists.

The prospective groom for Swayamvar Season 2 was reality TV personality and the son of Pramod Mahajan, Rahul Mahajan. The second season was also hosted by Ram Kapoor.

Dimpy Ganguly, the winner of the show, later, went on to become a contestant of Zor Ka Jhatka: Total Wipeout. She was eliminated in the first round of the show. Rahul Mahajan has gone on to appear in the hit reality show Comedy Circus. Both of them appeared in Bigg Boss 8 spin-off Halla Bol after separation to spice things up

Nikunj Malik, one of the finalists, went on to become an actress and has appeared in many TV shows including Geet (TV series).

Season 3

The winner was announced in the final episode entitled "Faisle Ki Raat". The prospective bride for Swayamvar Season 3 was Ratan Rajput, who is best known for her lead roles in the Indian soap Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo as Laali, a poor village girl, who was sold by her parents. In the Indian television soap Radhaa Ki Betiyaan Kuch Kar Dikhayengi she played Ruchi Sharma, one of three daughters who are forced to start a new life in Mumbai. She belongs to Patna and came to Mumbai to roam in the city. She had been called by a director and she had an audition and was selected for the new serial. This Swayamvar came to conclusion on 3 July 2011. Ratan chose Abhinav Sharma as her groom and they got engaged. Though the couple haven't married, they announced that they are engaged. The relationship has since fallen apart.

Season 4

The promo for season 4 titled Swayamvar Veena ka Vivah were out but the show never went on floor as the channel was shut down. Pakistani actress Veena Malik was signed up for her Swayamvar.

About the prospective brides/grooms

Rakhi Sawant

Rakhi Sawant was the prospective bride of the first season. After the show, she caused huge controversy by splitting with the winner of the show, Elesh Parujanwala. She is a dancer and actress, who has appeared in such films as Main Hoon Na and Dil Bole Hadippa!. She has also appeared in reality shows such as Nach Baliye and Bigg Boss. She is also very well known as the host of controversial chat show Rakhi Ka Insaaf. This show became prominent when a participant committed suicide after Rakhi had made comments about him, which made him lose his self-confidence.

Rahul Mahajan

Rahul Mahajan was the prospective groom of the second season. After the show, there had been reports that he had beaten his newly wedded wife Dimpy Mahajan. But, these proved to be false. He is the son of prominent politician, Pramod Mahajan, who came to fame, when his father was shot by his uncle. Rahul Mahajan has been married once before to Shweta Singh, but they were divorced in 2008. He has appeared on many reality shows including Bigg Boss and Comedy Circus.

Ratan Rajput

Ratan Rajput was the prospective bride of the third season. She is a television actress, who has appeared in many shows including Radhaa Ki Betiyaan Kuch Kar Dikhayengi and Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo. She is best known for her lead roles in the Indian show Agle Janam Mohe Bitiya Hi Kijo as Laali, a poor village girl, who was sold by her parents. In the Indian television show Radhaa Ki Betiyaan Kuch Kar Dikhayengi she played Ruchi Sharma, one of three daughters who are forced to start a new life in Mumbai. She belongs to Patna and came to Mumbai to roam in the city. She had been called by a director and she had an audition and was selected for the new serial. This Swayamvar came to conclusion on 3 July 2011.Ratan chose Abhinav Sharma as her groom and they got engaged and they will get married soon. However, Ratan recently announced her breakup with Abhinav.