CB BureauStarting from 2 February 2019, a new Hindi general entertainment fiction series called Navrangi Re! has been televised on the Rishtey channel. The drama series hopes to change behaviours on sanitation by building that message into its plot. The series is a partnership among Viacom18, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), and development communications specialists BBC Media Action.
The 26-episode series is produced by Swastik Productions. It is the story of a lively neighbourhood in a town in North India. The characters include a talking wall, a rich and ruthless diva, a spoilt brat, a strong female lead, and an underlying monster that’s growing underground. Vishwaas, the hero of this television drama series, played by actor Aamir Ali, is a struggling TV journalist. In his hunt for one story, he discovers something bigger – the gateway to bring about change in his community.
The series intends to raise questions around ‘flush ke baad ki kahaani’ to make the viewer aware about sanitation issues. Navrangi Re! is telecast on Saturdays and Sundays at 9:30 pm on Rishtey. It will also air on COLORS Gujarati and COLORS Odia at 6:30 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays starting February 9. Viewers can also watch it anytime on VOOT.
From a Viacom18 perspective, as told to CauseBecause, this is a not-for-profit, sustainability project. Sonia Huria, head – corporate marketing, communications & sustainability, Viacom18, further informs CauseBecause that the company intends to highlight the importance of faecal sludge management to promote Swachh Bharat. It is an initiative to bring real development issues to the masses in an entertaining format – issues that are otherwise packaged in research or data reports, which oftentimes fail to reach the mass audience.
In a press release shared with CB, Sudhanshu Vats, Group CEO & MD, Viacom18, said: ‘Today, 70 per cent of urban India’s sewage is left untreated and it’s an issue that needs immediate attention. As a media and entertainment company, we have realized that you connect with the viewers better when you marry social messaging with an interesting narrative. Viewers identify and resonate with such content very well and we have seen this with our film Toilet: Ek Prem Katha.’