Ishqana Dil

The Story Until Now...

Amaya Mathur has had an easy life so far. She is a gorgeous fashionista and money is never a problem, it's the solution to the problems. After all, her father, her Superman, has always been here to take care of everything. Amaya Mathur doesn't have to worry about the future. She only lives in the moment.

Her parents, Rishi and Sneha, fly to Paris with her sisters, Rachita and Jasmine, as she is graduating in Disaster Management. Rishi announces Rachita's engagement to her long-time boyfriend, Rohan Garewal but hides the fact that he is himself going through financial difficulties which may lead to them going bankrupt. The preparations for the engagement start as soon as the Mathurs land in Mumbai, and meanwhile, Rishi and his best friend Hari try everything possible to save the company from sinking, but everyone has turned their back on Rishi. As the rumours start leaking, Rachita gets engaged with pomp and show.

A few days later, the time allotted to Rishi to repay his loan has elapsed. His bankruptcy makes the headlines. Depressed and ashamed that he was not able to save his family, he commits suicide. His family learns about everything from Hari after Rishi is reported missing. Some time later, Rishi's body is found. The bank seizes the Mathurs' property, their friends flee and even Rohan dumps Rachita under pressure from his father. Hari goes to jail for fraud in Rishi's place.

The only place the Mathur ladies can find shelter now is in Rishi and Sneha's city of origin, Banaras. Sneha takes her three daughters and moves there, in the house Rishi had bought for her. Rachita is still nursing her broken heart and feels she will never love again. Amaya is annoyed because she cannot stand small towns and unfashionable people. Jazz is worried about her studies and her future. They are unable to accept Banaras as their new home and try to convince their mother to return to Mumbai after all the final rites have been performed for Rishi, but their mother keeps escaping the topic.

As they attempt to adjust with living in Banaras, Rachita befriends the son of a shopkeeper, Ramashrey Gupta, whereas Amaya gets into a fight with the best guide in Banaras, Mantu. Rachita and Rama's friendship grows just as much as the quarrels between Amaya and Mantu, but the boys, coincidentally two best friends who have grown up together, help the sisters. On the other hand, there is Rudra, Hari's son, who is determined to ruin the Mathurs for having snatched his father from him.

When Sneha finally admits that they are never going back to Mumbai, Amaya decides to take things in her own hands and runs away from home with the intention of becoming successful enough to make her family rich and happy once again. The same night, Mantu's little brother, Chiklu runs away from home after Mantu scolds him for bunking school. Amaya and Chiklu meet and become friends and Amaya persuades Chiklu to stay with his brother just as Mantu reaches the train station, worriedly looking for his brother. After that, thanks to Rudra's intervention, Amaya lands at the police station where she learns that the family who lives right across the street from them is actually her own mother's family, who had disowned her after Sneha ran away with Rishi.

A lot of drama ensues, making Amaya realise she had been too childish and inconsiderate. She decides to reform and make her parents proud. With a lot of difficulties (involving Rudra's tampering and Mantu's help), Amaya manages to get her younger sister, Jazz, admitted into one of the best schools of Banaras, thus proving to her mother that she has changed. Sneha then leaves for Mumbai with Rudra and his mother, Kaushalya, to try and get Hari out of jail. The procedure is more complicated than expected but Hari realises that Rudra tricked Sneha to put her house on mortgage to pay for his caution, so he forces his son to sell their own house and pay the mortgage back.

Meanwhile, the Mathur sisters attend a reception in Banaras. An incident with Amaya's clothes leads her to borrow an outfit from Chiklu. Turns out, the outfit was supposed to be for Mantu's childhood friend who is in love with him, Uma, but the tailor mixed up Amaya and her measurements, so the dress was made according to Amaya's size and Uma got very angry that she could not wear it. It also turns out that Uma hates Amaya and they are both going to the same reception. To avoid any horrid confrontation between the two girls, Mantu sneaks in the party and tries to keep them from meeting each other but it finally happens on the dance floor. Uma leaves after insulting Amaya since she thinks Mantu went behind her back and gave her the dress, and Mantu follows her to pacify her, which angers Amaya. She decides to leave too but finds her mother's father, Gajanand Chaubey, sick outside. She rushes him to the hopsital, although he firmly tells her he does not want her help.

On the other hand, Mantu witnesses a boy getting kidnapped to be sold and he tries to save the child but the goons follow him. He reaches the hospital where Amaya brought her grandfather and the kidnappers see them together. They leave the boy with an administrations officer until the police arrives and run away to diverts the goons' attention. Amaya hurts herself and they have to hide in a cowshed until the goons are gone. After Mantu heals her sprained foot, they talk, share everything about their pasts, make peace and become friends. They leave the shed after some time, hoping the goons will have left but they get caught. While trying to save Amaya's life, Mantu gets beaten up. His watch breaks and ends up with her. On reaching home, she finds Uma there, hissing and spitting fire because she thinks Amaya and Mantu were together. Amaya lies, saying she does not know about Mantu's whereabouts so as not to hurt Uma's feelings.

The following day, Amaya is still thinking about Mantu saving her life and feels restless. A woman she meets makes her realise she might be in love. Amaya tries to return Mantu's watch but he asks her to keep it until later, and finally, Amaya accepts her feelings for him. She and Rachita start looking for jobs to sustain the family, now that Rudra and his mother are also living with them after having sold their house. Mantu helps Amaya get a job in his office without letting her know whereas Rachita gets proposed to by Ramashrey, who had fallen in love with her since the first day. Still hurt, she rejects him brutally and ends every relationship with him. Sneha is diagnosed with diabetes and Rachita gets hired as an English teacher in a coaching centre. In contrast, Amaya's love for Mantu grows and she even risks her life for him in a race. Uma learns that Amaya is in love with Mantu and tries to create obstacles for her but Mantu ends up realising that he has feelings for Amaya too.

Ishqana Dil starts shortly after this realisation.