Chandrakanta is an India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n fantasy television series partly based on Devaki Nandan Khatri

Devaki Nandan Khatri

Devaki Nandan Khatri was an Indian writer, who belonged to the first generation of popular novelists in the modern Hindi language. Also known as Babu Devakinandan Khatri, he was the first author of mystery novels in Hindi. Chandrakanta is the most popular of his works.- Biography :Khatri was born...

's novel Chandrakanta

Chandrakanta (novel)

Chandrakanta is a popular Hindi novel by Devaki Nandan Khatri. It is considered to be the first work of prose in the modern Hindi language, and may have significantly contributed to the language's popularity...

. It was originally telecast on Doordarshan

DoorDarshan

Doordarshan is an Indian public service broadcaster, a division of Prasar Bharati. It is one of the largest broadcasting organizations in India in terms of the infrastructure of studios and transmitters. Recently, it has also started Digital Terrestrial Transmitters. On September 15, 2009,...

 in the early 1995 and was produced by Nirja Guleri and directed by Sunil Agnihotri.

The serial was controversially pulled off air by Doordarshan in 1996 and the producers had to file a suit in court for reinstatement. It later enjoyed reruns on Star Plus

STAR Plus

STAR Plus is a Hindi language general entertainment television channel based in India. The channel is part of the STAR TV network's bouquet of channels...

 and Sony Entertainment Television

Sony Entertainment Television (India)

This article is about the SET channel in India. For the Indian version broadcasted worldwide, see Sony Entertainment Television Asia.Sony Entertainment Television, or SET, is a Hindi-language based general entertainment television channel in India. It was launched in October 1996 and is owned by...

.

• Shahbaaz Khan as Prince Virendra Singh
• Shikha Swaroop
  Shikha Swaroop
  Shikha Swaroop is an Indian actor, and a former Miss India winner.She was born in a Kayastha family. While still in college, she was crowned Miss India 1988 and continued to wear this crown until 1991 when she relinquished it to Preeti Mankotia. No beauty contests were held during 1989 and 1990...
  
   as Princess Chandrakanta
• Mukesh Khanna
  Mukesh Khanna
  Mukesh Khanna is an Indian television and film actor, best known for portraying strong, dynamic characters. He was born on 22 July 1951, in Mumbai, India. He came into the film industry in 1982 after graduating from Film and Television Institute of India. He rose to fame and is still best known for...
  
   as Janbaaz, Also as Meghavat in later part of the story
• Parikshit Sahani as Maharaja Surendra Singh (King of Naugarh)
• Pankaj Dheer
  Pankaj Dheer
  Pankaj Dheer is an Indian television and film actor originally from Punjab. His best known role was as Karna in epic TV series, Mahabharata , which became a famous Indian television series, and as Shivdutt in Chandrakanta...
  
   as Shiv Dutt
• Durga Jasraj
  Durga Jasraj
  Durga Jasraj is an Indian television presenter and actress. She co-founded "Art and Artistes' Pvt. Ltd. ", an entertainment and event management company along with Vikram Shankar in 1999, which promotes classical music and subsequently co-founded Indian Music Academy in 2006.-Early life:Durga...
  
   as Rani Kalawati
• Rajendra Gupta
  Rajendra Gupta
  Rajendra Gupta is an Indian film, television and theater actor and director who is best known for his television roles of Pandit Jagarnath in the 1990s Doordarshan fantasy television series Chandrakanta and Sudha's father - Jagat Narayan - in the 1998-2001 Sony TV drama Saaya.An alumnus of the...
  
   as Pandit Jagannath/Shani (his twin brother, a villain)
• Akhilendra Mishra
  Akhilendra Mishra
  Akhilendra Mishra is an Indian film and television character actor. He hails from Magadh, Bihar. He generally plays negative roles and is famous for his work as Kroor Singh in the 1990s Doordarshan fantasy television series Chandrakanta, and Mirchi Seth in the 1999 Bollywood film Sarfarosh.He...
  
   as Kroor Singh aka Yakoooo
• Irrfan Khan as Badrinath/Somnath (his twin brother)
• Krutika Desai as Sabya/Ramya (twin sister of Sabya)/Amba(Vish Kanya)/Jwala
• Kalpana Iyer
  Kalpana Iyer
  Kalpana Iyer is a former Miss India, Bollywood actress, well known as a famous vamp of the 80's and 90's. Having appeared in a number of films featuring dance sequences , she has somewhat reduced in appearance with a brief hiatus in Indian Television...
  
   as Dum Dumi Maai
• Rupa Ganguly
  Rupa Ganguly
  Rupa Ganguly or Roopa Ganguly is an Indian actress in the Hindi and Bengali language film industry, as well as television She became popular after playing Draupadi in the hit Television series Mahabharat , and in film is most known for her roles in films like Padma Nadir Majhi by Gautam Ghose,...
  
   as Damini
• Nimay Bali as Surya
• Mamik as Deva, false Surya
• Varsha Usgaonkar
  Varsha Usgaonkar
  Varsha Usgaonkar , is an Indian film actress from Goa, who has worked in various Bollywood and Marathi movies as the leading lady...
  
   as Roopmati (Snake Queen)
• Anu Dhawan as Tara (Vish Kanya)
• Roopal Patel as Jamuna
• Vinod Kapoor as Amarjeet Singh/Barkat Khan
• Brownie
  Brownie
  Brownie may refer to:* Chocolate brownie, a baked good* Brownie , a legendary creature* Brownie * Brownie , a level in several guiding/scouting organizations* Brownies, a term used to describe fans of Chris Brown...
  
   as Ajagar
• Asif Shekh as Naagmani Devata (Snake King)
• Surendra Pal
  Surendra Pal
  Surendra Pal is an Indian film and television character actor who is best known for his television roles of Dronacharya in Mahabharat, Amatya Rakshas in Chanakya and Tamraj Kilvish in Shaktiman.Surendra Pal was born in 1953....
  
   as King of Vijaygarh
• Pradeep Singh Rawat as Himmat Singh
• Arun Mathur as Vaidh Baba (Damini's father)
• Deepak Parashar
  Deepak Parashar
  Deepak Parashar is an India based model and actor.-Career:Parashar appeared in soap opera Kahiin To Hoga, and donned the "royal robes" of a Mughal badshah in the costume drama Chandramukhi....
  
   as Devdutt (Shivdutt's father)
• Sudha Chandran
  Sudha Chandran
  Sudha Chandran is an accomplished Bharatanatyam dancer, Indian film and television actress, who turned to acting following the loss of a leg in an accident in May 1981 near Trichy, Tamil Nadu.-Early life and education:...
  
   as Rani Maa (Shivdutt's mother)
• Avtar Gill
  Avtar Gill
  Avtar Gill is a Canadian darts player.Gill was runner up in the 1986 Canada National Championships losing to Bob Sinnaeve in the final. Gill played in the 1987 World Professional Darts Championship, losing in the first round 3-1 in sets to Belgium's Frans Devooght.-External links:*...
  
   as Dalpati Devata
• Waqar Sheikh as Vishwajeet Singh (son of Raja Surendra Singh and Damini).
• Parmeshwar Rajpurohit as Tej Singh

Kamlapati Khatri, the grandson of the novel's author has said that the producer "had not done justice to the soul of Khatri’s Chandrakanta".