Divyanka Tripathi, Ruhaanika Dhawan and Karan Patel at the launch of Ye Hai Mohabbatein in Mumbai; (below) Ekta Kapoor

This is a love story of a mother who hasn’t given birth but she is completely a mother... it’s the love story of her and her child. She marries the man she hates for the child she loves,” said Ekta Kapoor. This, in a nutshell, is the plot of Ekta’s new show Ye Hai Mohabbatein that was launched at Mumbai’s JW Marriott last week.

Ye Hai Mohabbatein is based on Manju Kapur’s Custody, a novel that focuses on divorce and its consequences and how it changes the equations in one’s life. “When I read Custody, the major dilemma that arose was nature versus nurture. Our mythology tells us something that we haven’t imbibed, that Yashoda held a higher position than Devaki as she brought up Krishna. Yet in our country, women who can’t have children are considered incomplete,” said Ekta.

This isn’t the first time that Ekta has been inspired by literary work. Her mega hit soap Bade Achhe Lagte Hain has its roots in the Gujarati drama Patrani. “The best TV shows and movies are made out of classics. But sometimes you have to make things that are not classics. Frequently, I get stories from real-life instances. This is a story that needs to be told,” shared Ekta, looking striking in an orange-and-fuchsia sari-dress.

Also present at the launch were the show’s cast —Karan Patel, Divyanka Tripathi and Ruhaanika Dhawan. Karan, back in a fiction show after three years, plays single dad Raman while Divyanka is Ishita, his neighbour who dotes on his daughter Ruhi (played by Ruhaanika). The show’s comic undertones arise from the Punjabi versus Tamil conflict. Ekta hopes that the complex subject of single parenting and divorce will be lightened by Ruhi’s cuteness quotient.

Little Ruhaanika, looking every inch a princess in a pale pink dress, is a star already. The six-year-old has just shot with Salman Khan for his January release Jai Ho. Guess what the Dabangg Khan said to his knee-high co-star, “Wow, you are so beautiful!’

Ye Hai Mohabbatein premieres tonight and will air Monday to Friday at 11pm on STAR Plus.