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Divya Prem - Pyaar aur Rahasya Ki Kahaani (aka दिव्य प्रेम: प्यार और रहस्य की कहानी) is a Hindi language tv serial currently (at time of writing) running daily on India's Sun Neo TV network, and Sun NXT streaming platform. The title translates as Divine Love – A Story of Love and Mystery, which pretty much sums up the series. It mixes action, romance, comedy, and elements of soap opera, and gives them a supernatural twist. What makes it relevant to the topic of superheroines is that not long after the end of its initial story arc, the show did a soft-reboot pivot from mystical fantasy into the realm of superhero fantasy.

Megha Ray plays a housewife and mother named Divya, born with supernatural powers. Divya is the daughter of Netra, a Hindu goddess who once lived with other goddesses in an idyllic community on the spiritual plane. A fellow goddess tapped into dangerous forces related to rituals concerning the dead, and as a result she became the evil Karn Mohini. Karn Mohini killed the other goddesses, all apart from Netra, who escaped to Earth. Years pass and Netra had a daughter, Divya. Prophecy says that Netra's daughter is the only one who can destroy Karn Mohini, so the evil goddess tracks her down to eliminate her. Meanwhile, Divya has grown up, married, and given birth to her own kids.

The initial story of Divya and Karn Mohini spanned the first 105 or so episodes, ending in a major showdown. (The show screens 30 new episodes each month(!) of 25 minutes each.) With her mother's nemesis defeated and the prophecy fulfilled, you'd think Divya's life would go back to being a housewife and mother. But a new foe emerged named Rakshasi, and she began to unleash a succession of colourful supernatural villains, monsters, aliens, and even AI robots, onto the Earth. Divya has to continually use her powers to save Earth and protect her family. To hide her identity Divya adopts the masked alter ego of Super Aunty -- a secret known only to her husband. And thus, at around its 107th episode mark, the show smoothly transitioned from mystical adventure into a classic superhero format.

Super Aunty (a name chosen by Divya's kids, who are unaware that the heroine is also their mother) has various supernatural powers, including energy blasts and the ability to fly. Divya must balance her duties as a mother, with her responsibilities as a superheroine, all while avoiding the watchful eye of Padma, her mother-in-law, who becomes convinced that Divya's husband is having an affair with Super Aunty. (She is, naturally, clueless that the two women are one in the same.)

Each story is told over multiple episodes, with the closing moments of one tale setting up the next story. The Super Aunty character isn't in absolutely every episode, indeed with a shooting schedule that runs to 30 episodes per month, lead actor Megha Ray sometimes gets only cameo parts as Divya in occasional episodes. Typical of most Indian serials, the show is colourful and energetic, but also suffers from limited budgets for special effects and costumes. For the most part the costumes look quite good, and the special effects are not unlike Filipino series such as ABS-CBN's Darna, or GMA's Encantadia Chronicles. That is to say they aren't awful, but not on a par with glossy American shows.

As is typical for Indian supernatural dramas there's a lot of filming in green screen studios used to put the actors into fantasy environments that would be impossible to build practically. This actually plays to the show's advantage to some degree, as the obviously computer generated backgrounds become almost a signature look, which helps to make other green screen elements, such as the flying effects, less noticeable. That is not to say that there aren't practical studio sets -- the recurring locations used in almost every episode are real environments, and look suitably impressive.

There hasn't been too many superhero shows on Indian tv, which is odd given how popular fantasy shows based on mythology and the supernatural are (particularly snake women). You'd think producers looking for an unusual spin on the Indian fantasy hero genre might sometimes borrow ideas from the popular fantasy heroes of Western culture, but that rarely seems to be the case. So it is a welcome surprise to find Divya Prem steadily racking up the episode count, and seemingly coming up with an endless supply of fun and engaging stories. It has proven impossible to get viewing figures for the show, but the tiny number of websites that rate and rank Indian tv shows seem to score it as quite enjoyable.

You'll be delighted to know that all episodes of Divya Prem - Pyaar aur Rahasya Ki Kahaani thus far are currently available online to watch for free, from around the world, at the following locations:

Divya Prem at the Sun NXT streaming site.

Divya Prem playlist on Sun Neo's YouTube channel.