Hum Paanch was one of the most well known and widely popular Indian television serials which was broadcasted during the mid 1990s. The sitcom was aired on Zee TV channel in the year 1995 and was produced by Balaji Telefilms. The first season of the much popular series was telecasted for a few years. Then again in 2005, the second season was aired on Zee TV but it ended in 2006. The comedy serial was a landmark production of Balaji Telefilms. Hum Paanch had refreshing content and became popular amongst audience of all age groups. The actors were rather apt in their art and portrayed the characters properly. Popular film actress Vidya Balan featured in the role of Radhika Mathur in later seasons of the show, during her early career. The format of the serial was created by Ekta Kapoor and Shobha Kapoor of Balaji Telefilms.

Plot of Hum Paanch
The plot of Hum Paanch revolved around a middle class Indian family. The father, Anand Mathur worked as marketing personnel for a medicine company. After his first wife died, he married Binadevi Anandkumar Janardhan Prasad Mathur, whom Anand lovingly called Bina. Although initially Anand`s 3 elder daughters teased Bina for her loud personality but later they became a close knit family and 2 more daughters were added to the family. Anand always found himself in trouble because of his 5 daughters. They were Meenakshi, Radhika, Sweety, Kajal and Chhoti.

The eldest daughter Meenakshi, a feminist, always protested on gender inequality in the society. The second daughter Radhika was intelligent and a nerd. She could not hear or see properly and had to use hearing aids. She frequently stumbled on things due to her poor eyesight. The third daughter of the family was Sweety. She wanted to become a model as she was rather beautiful but had no brains and she desperately wanted to get married to popular Bollywood actor Shahrukh Khan. She always opened the door whenever the bell rang. Along with her follower Babli, Sweety published a novel. The fourth daughter was Kajal, who was rather masculine and appeared to be a tomboy and bullied everyone. Finally Chhoti, the youngest daughter of the family, was a scandalmonger and loved to gossip.

In every episode, all of the 5 sisters gathered to conspire about doing something new. They tried all sorts of plan including bank robbery, opening a beauty parlour, kidnapping someone and many more. Bina was very fond of all her daughters and supported them in whatever they planned. The spirit of Anand`s first wife communicated with him through her photo. When the show returned with its second season in 2005, Anand came back from the United States of America and her two eldest daughters, Meenakshi and Radhika, were married along with children.

Cast of Hum Paanch
Ashok Saraf, Bhairavi Raichura, Pamela Mukherjee, Priya Tendulkar, Priyanka Mehra, Amita Nangia, Rakhi Vijan, Shoma Anand, Sudha Chandran, Vandana Pathak and Vidya Balan were the main actors in the serial. The cast was frequently changed as the actors playing the characters of the daughters were replaced throughout the first season.

Hum Paanch, the Indian television serial, was a ground breaking sitcom that made the grip of Zee TV rather strong as a satellite channel. In 2010, Hum Paanch received the Amar Rishtey Award, in Zee Rishtey Awards, for Best Comedy Series.