Ali Baba (TV series)

Ali Baba is a poor, yet a very good person living with 5 adorable orphan children viz Gulrez, Poya, Imaad, Nafi and Alifi. He always gets flashbacks of when his father, the great magician Mustafa gets killed while destroying the Forty Thieves and their Leader, Iblis. However, he makes a prophecy that Ali will write and complete 'Legend of Kabul'. Simsim who loves and respects Iblis, decides to crack the moon to break the curse to get the Forty Thieves back and succeeds in it. Princess Mariam looses her father due to a fight between her father and her wicked uncle, Saddam; a cunning person who helps Simsim but wants to sit on the Throne. Later, Mariam escapes and after a lot of turns meets Ali.

They slowly develop feelings for each other and Ali, Mariam and the children reach Ali's home. Ali and Simsim come face to face but Ali wins the Talisman and becomes the Saviour of Parwaaz. Then Ali Baba tries to steal the treasure to give it to people of Parwaz but gets badly failed. Then Ali Baba trains himself to use the magic of Talisman. After a series of events, Ali Baba finally stole the treasure but Qasim watched him. Then Qasim goes to the cave and repeated the phrase "Khul Ja Sim-Sim" but gets brutally killed by Forty Thieves and Simsim and they hung him in the centre of Parwaaz to give warning to them. They also gave the note that if anyone gets him down then his whole family will die. So, for the sake of his family Ali Baba can't gets Qasim down. But later Ali in form of Rakhwala, with the help of Talisman he got him and provide proper burial to Qasim. Then, Ali Baba promises to finish Simsim and the Forty Thieves.

Ali Baba now tries to find a way to kill the Forty Thieves and Simsim once and for all. Then by solving clues of his father, Ali reaches his father's magical world and after a lot of turns meets his father who gives him the 'Noor' but warns him that the Noor works only with the Talisman. After returning, he discovers that Nazia has sold the Talisman. Ali goes to find the talisman but gets to know from Nafi that Marjina has been captured. Then he decides to save Marjina's life first. On the quest to save Marjina, Ali fails and burns his face by Forty Thieves and was left to die.

Simsim gets out of the cave by breaking the curse from sacrificing Marjina and enters Parvaz as Simijaan to catch the Rakhwala. She also captures Ali's grandmother. Very soon, she enters Mustafa's magical world to find her answers and again comes face to face with Mustafa.

Simsim asks Mustafa who the Rakhwala is and he answers that his son,Ali is. At the same time,Alifi saves Noora Dadi and burns the entrance to Mustafa's world to finish Simsim but fails. Ali gets the cure. He then returns to Parvaz to find Simsim.Very soon, Ali imprisons Simsim and gets to know the real place of Marjina. Then he finds Marjina but is shocked to see that Marjina has lost her memory. Ali gets to know that the Prince of Ras Al Khaimah is responsible for Marjina losing her memory and after a lot of turns, Ali defeated the Prince and takes Marjina back to Parvaz. The children also fall in danger but ultimately succeeds and returns to Parwaaz.

On the way, Ali and Marjina unknowingly disturb a marriage as an headless woman comes and takes the Groom. To help the people and to free the groom Ali makes a plan to catch the headless woman. After that they goes to find the Talisman and ends up in the Snake World. On the other hand, Ali promises to find the head of the headless woman and succeeds. Simsim is freed by the Forty Thieves. Simsim then seeks to take revenge on Ali. Ali goes in search of Marjina's memories.Ali then gives the memory of Marjina to her and she recalls everything but questions about Ali's face but Ali explains her how his face changed. The children also escape from the Snake World but Nafi and Poya are turned into gold stones. Saddam brings the news about the Talisman and tortures the children.

On returning home happily, Ali and Marjina gets to know from Hasan, (who was stabbed by Simsim and left alive to give the information to Ali), that the children are kidnapped by Simsim in the palace of Kabul Shahi. Ali and Marjina rush to Kabul Shahi to save the children and where Ali realises that Marjina is actually Princess Mariam. Then they successfully saved the children and Mariam finally kills Saddam. Simsim goes to find the Talisman but fails and gets to know that she needs Ali's helps to get the Talisman as she saw the Noor of Shangrila on Ali 's back when she was doing battling him. She asks for Ali's help but he refuses. Then she kills Noora Dadi and threatens Ali that she will kill every one Ali has loved and will destroy the entire Parvaz. So for the sake of everyone's life , Ali Baba promises to get the Talisman for her.

Then they reach the Shangrila in the north of Hindustan to get the Talisman where Ali gets injured by Simsim's arrow saving Roshni from the arrow. Then Roshni takes them inside the Shangrila. There, Ali Baba takes the Talisman and Roshni is apparently killed by Simsim, but Ali blames himself for her death. On returning to Parvaz, Ali seemingly gives the Talisman to SImsim. Mariam reveals to Ali that Roshni is his mother. Ali is mortified and swears revenge, revealing he has the real Talisman. Then Ali goes to the cave of Simsim and when he was about to open the door of Simsim's Cave,he was confronted by the guru of Shangrila Tribe and he says that Roshni has not been killed but vanished and kidnapped by Simsim. He then finds the prison which had Roshni and Ali frees her and they both go to Parvaaz. They then were having a feast on the birthday of Ali's father Mustafa. On the same day Simsim and the Thieves comes to Parvaaz to recover the Talisman from Ali.

Mariam sets fire to the boxes that held captive the Forty Thieves.Simsim pretends to have burned as well. Using this trick, she steals the Talisman from Ali and starts the ceremony to awaken Iblis. Ali stops her, and burns Iblis's body to ashes. Simsim swears revenge and decides to use the Talisman for her vengeance.

However, she finds a suitable body and Iblis returns back to life. Simsim and Iblis goes to Parvaz. To save Ali, Roshni pushes him to a magical world and there he is hung upside down and sees his long lost brother, Hatim.

Hatim and Ali Baba got into rivalry but Hatim has to train Ali Baba because Iblis has been reborn and is destroying the world to find Ali as he has the "Roshan Dil" and it is in destiny of Ali Baba to kill Iblis and finish the darkness but Ali can't defeat Iblis. On Behrouz Baba's insist, Tahira convinces Hatim to train Ali because they have to fight alongside because Hatim has experience and Ali has strength. Iblis finds Ali and killed Behrouz Baba but Ali Baba, Tahira and Hatim escaped to find the seven most difficult questions of the universe to train Ali and to kill Iblis.

• Sheezan Mohammed Khan[9] as Ali Baba, Mustafa and Roshni's son, Qasim's younger half brother, Iblis's nephew, Hatim foster brother, caretaker of five orphan children, Mariam's love-interest. (2022)
  • Subhan Khan as young Ali Baba (2022)
• Tunisha Sharma[10] as Shehzaadi Mariam, Princess of Kabul, Ali Baba's love-interest, Sultan Shah Zuhaid's daughter. She is known as Marjina (fake identity) by Ali, his five orphan children and his friends. (2022)
• Karthik Jayaram[11] as Iblis, devotee of Iblis and named after him, leader of 40 thieves, Simsim's love interest Roshni's brother, a dreadful and deadly warrior. (2022-2023)
• Sayantani Ghosh[12] as Simsim/Simi Jaan, devotee of Iblis. Later blessed with power and cursed to become guardian of the cave. Iblis love interest. (2022–2023)

• Arisht Jain as Imaad Abdali, An intelligent so-called orphan raised by Ali. He is later revealed to be Ziya Abdali's biological second son and Zoravar's younger half-brother whom he abandoned in Ali's house years ago. (2022)
• Sara Paintal as Gulrez, A youngest of all the orphans raised by Ali. (2022)
• Ekagra Dwivedi as Poya, A foodie orphan raised by Ali. (2022-2023)
• Jared Savaille as Nafi Afghani, A chilled and open-minded so-called orphan raised by Ali. He is later revealed to be the son of Theeyab Afghani who is the Chief of Nakabjani Tribe and is raised by the family of thieves. This truth is only known to Poya who is another orphan kid being raised by Ali. He is the first person to know about Marjina's real identity. (2022-2023)
• Ananya Dwivedi as Alifi, A kind and eldest of all the orphans raised by Ali. (2022-2023)
• Naved Aslam as Mustafa, Qasim and Ali Baba's father and a great sorcerer who was killed by Iblis. (2022-2023)
• Daljeet Soundh as Noora Bibi, Mustafa's mother, Qasim and Ali Baba's paternal grandmother who locked herself in her room for 20 years and came out of the room when the moon broke. (2022-2023)
• Vineet Raina as Qasim, Mustafa's son from first wife and Ali Baba's elder half-brother. He was killed by Simsim and the forty thieves. (2022)
• Sapna Thakur as Nazia, Qasim's widow, Ali Baba's half-sister-in-law (2022-2023)
• Ayush Shrivastava as Khusro/Kishore, Ali baba's best friend who hails from Hindustan. (2022-2023)
• Hunza Sabir as Zarifa, Dariba's sister, Ali baba's friend (2022-2023)
• Parth Zutshi Sarin as Dariba, Zarifa's brother, Ali baba's friend (2022-2023)
• Akshay Anand as Sultan Shah Zuhaid, Kind Emperor of Kabul and Mariam's father who was assassinated by his own brother-in-law, Saddam. (2022)
• Farida Dadi as Zoya, Mariam's caretaker who was killed by Majhud. (2022)
• Mukul Nag as Dara Gazi Princess Mariam protector (2022)
• Karan Pahwa[13] as Jahangir (2022)
• Kaushik Chakravorty as Monk (2022)
• Chandan Anand as Saddam, Mariam's wicked maternal uncle who became the Emperor of Kabul with Simsim's help. (2022)
• Soneer Vadhera as Majhud, A general of Kabul's army and Saddam's sidekick, killed by Dara Gazi, Yajhud's twin brother, sidekick and new Commander-in-chief of Kabul under Saddam's rule. (2022)
• Mohit Abrol as Zoravar Abdali, Shahi Sarrak's chief Zia Abdali's son, Imaad's elder half-brother, Ali Baba's rival. He was killed by the snake monster named Fakri sent by the Simsim and the 40 thieves. (2022)
• Zahid Ali as Ziya Abdali, Shahi Sarrak's chief, Zoravar and Imaad's father. (2022)
• Khushbu Tiwari as Fathima, Afrasia's daughter, Ali Baba's love-interest. (2022)
• Navina Bole[14] as Afrasiya, Fatima's mother. (2022)
• Ravi Gossain as Usmaan, A low ranked general in Kabul's army whom Ali Baba tricked by disguising as Iblis. (2022-2023)
• Rajdeep Singh Kharoud as Haider (2022)
• Athar Siddiqui as Dajjal, He was killed by Ali Baba. (2022)
• Gaurav Walia as Ifrit, second-in-command of forty thieves and the most powerful thief after Iblis. (2022-2023)
• Raviz Thakur as Khafees, one of the forty thieves and Iblis' one of the favourites. (2022-2023)
• Kailash Topnani[15] as Ghoul, one of the forty thieves and Iblis' one of the favourites. (2022-2023)
• Ritvik Bhargava as Aazim (2022)
• Rumi Khan[16] as Aamir Rehmani (2022)
• Behzaad Khan as Behzaak, who capture for slavery. (2022)
• Anshul Bammi as Shahmed, Prince of Herat and Saddam's sidekick. (2022)

• Abhishek Nigam[17] as Ali Baba, Mustafa and Roshni's son, Qasim's half younger brother, Hatim's foster brother, Iblis' nephew, caretaker of five orphan children, Mariam's love-interest. (replaced Sheezan from Chapter 1) (2023–present)
• Manul Chudasama[8] as Shehzaadi Mariam, Princess of Kabul, Ali Baba's love-interest, Sultan Shah Zuhaid's daughter. She is known as Marjina (fake identity) by Ali, his five orphan children and his friends. (replaced Tunisha after her demise from Chapter 1) (2023–present)
• Karthik Jayaram[11] as Iblis, devotee of Iblis and named after him, leader of 40 thieves, Simsim's love interest, Roshni's brother, Ali Baba and Hatim's maternal uncle and a dreadful and deadly warrior (2023)
  • Aarav Chowdhary replaced Karthik as Iblis (2023–present)
• Sayantani Ghosh[12] as Simsim/Simi Jaan, devotee of Iblis. Later blessed with power and cursed to become guardian of the cave. Iblis love interest. (2023–present)

• Sumedh Mudgalkar[18] as Hatim, Roshni's adoptive son, Ali Baba's foster brother, Iblis' nephew; Tahira’s best-friend; Behrouz Baba's student (2023–present)
• Srishti Jain as Tahira: Hatim's best-friend; a warrior; Behrouz Baba's daughter (2023–present)[19]
• Ekagra Dwivedi as Poya, A foodie orphan raised by Ali. (2023–present)
• Jared Savaille as Nafi Afghani, A chilled and open-minded so-called orphan raised by Ali. He is later revealed to be the son of Theeyab Afghani who is the Chief of Nakabjani Tribe and is raised by the family of thieves. This truth is only known to Poya who is another orphan kid being raised by Ali. He is the first person to know about Marjina's real identity. (2023–present)
• Ananya Dwivedi as Alifi, A kind and eldest of all the orphans raised by Ali. She is the first person and only child to know about Ali's new identity. (2023–present)
• Mahi Bhadra as Afifa/ Haida. (2023–present)
• Sapna Thakur as Nazia, Qasim's widow, Ali Baba's half-sister-in-law (2023–present)
• Ayush Shrivastava as Khusro/Kishore, Ali baba's best friend who hails from Hindustan. (2023–present)
• Daljeet Soundh as Noora Bibi, Mustafa's mother, Qasim and Ali Baba's paternal grandmother who locked herself in her room for 20 years and came out of the room when the moon broke. (2023)
• Hunza Sabir as Zarifa, Dariba's sister, Ali baba's friend (2023–present)
• Parth Zutshi Sarin as Dariba, Zarifa's brother, Ali baba's friend (2023–present)
• Saanvie Tallwar as Humaira (2023)
• Vineet Bhonde as Hasan/ Bade Kotwal. (2023–present)
• Aradhana Sharma as Rumana (2023)
• Ram Yashvardhan as Shehzada of Ras Al Khaimah (2023)
• Alisha Tunga as Rukhsar, Marjina's friend from Ras Al Khaimah (2023)
• Vaibhavi Mahajan as Gul, Marjina's friend who was killed by the Shehzada (Haiwan) of Ras Al Khaimah (2023)
• Jasveer Kaur as Roshni: Ali Baba and Hatim's mother; Mustafa's second wife; Qasim's step–mother; Iblis's sister (2023–present)
• Ajay Raju as disciple of Guruji (2023) (Shangrila Village)

Sheezan Mohammed Khan[20] was cast in the titular role,[21] and was joined by Tunisha Sharma,[22] Karthik Jayaram[23] and Sayantani Ghosh[24] as leads.

Navina Bole was cast to portray Fatima's mother in October 2022.[25]

Abhishek Nigam replaced Sheezan Mohammed Khan in Season 2 in January 2023 post Sharma's demise while Manul Chudasama replaced Tunisha as Mariam in the following month.[17][8] In May 2023, Sumedh Mudgalkar and Srishti Jain entered the show as Hatim and Tahira respectively.[26][27]

On 24 December 2022, actress Tunisha Sharma playing the lead role of Shehzaadi Mariam, committed suicide by hanging herself in the green room of co-star Sheezan Mohammed Khan on set.[28][29] She was taken to a nearby hospital where she was declared dead on arrival.[30]

Hours after her death her co-actor, rumored boyfriend and the lead Sheezan Mohammed Khan was booked in the case of abetment for suicide by her mother.[31][32]

On 4 January 2023, Federation of Western India Cine Employees, president BN Tiwari demanded strict action against the makers for negligence.[33][34]

The series was announced by Peninsula Pictures[35] in March 2022 and was confirmed in July 2022 by Sony SAB.[36] The shooting of the series began in June 2022 in Ladakh, India.[37]

The shooting of the series halted after the lead actress Tunisha Sharma committed suicide on set in Naigaon.[38][39][40][41] The show had an episode bank of one week.[42][43]

The cast resumed the shooting of the series on January 4, 2023, on Renu Studio in Naigaon. Actor Abhishek Nigam was finalized to replace Sheezan Khan as Ali Baba in a new plot.[44][45]