Solving Family Matter on air

BY RAKHI GHOSH| IN Media Practice | 23/10/2013

Family Matter, a show on Odisha's Tarang channel, aims to solve disputes and get the family members together and happy.

RAKHI GHOSH reports about the impact of the show.

Just four years ago, Shankar Maharana, the husband and his parents of Daringbadi block in Kandhamal district, were allegedly torturing their daughter-in-law Nalini, to bring more dowry. When Nalini’s parents showed their incapability they threw pregnant Nalini out of their house.

Shyamalaneni was not accepted by her in-laws for delivering a girl child. For which, both husband and in-laws were physically and mentally torturing her. They demanded to bring 5 tola gold as dowry. When her parents were unable to give, they threw her out of the house.

Today the scenario is different, both Shankar and Nalini are leading a happy life with their son, and Shyamalaneni, who hails from a small village in Sambalpur district now happily stays with her husband K. Mohan Rao in Hyderabad.

Not just these two families, there are quite a good number of families, who were benefited from a television show “Family Matter”, which aims to resettle families.

Started on April 14, 2013, on GEC “Tarang” in Odisha, the social cause programme has taken up this issue as a challenge and is trying to bridge the gap between couples.

According to Channel’s executive producer Ranjan Satpathy, “You must have seen shows on all spheres ranging from family drama to reality shows on dance, music and cookery. But, this show is on a social subject i.e. domestic violence, which you will not find onany other channel in Odisha. Here in this one-hour episode where everything is done in front of the camera, real couple, real problem, real emotions, anger and of course tears”. He adds, people watch family drama on television, here we provide them real life family dispute of real couples and they watch entire process (accusing each other to happy ending) on their small box. Truly, it is the family counselling in a realistic approach.

The weekly show provides a platform to both parties, complainant and defendant to put-forth their version of arguments. The family members, friends and relatives sometimes the village heads are allowed to join the argument. At the end of the show judges give a final solution to the problem.

“It is more like ghar ghar ki kahani a real life family drama. In every family you will find some dispute or trouble, be it property issue, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law problem, extra-marital affairs, financial dispute, dowry or incompatibility between couples. I stick to the show to know the last judgement”, says Soubhagya Kumari , a middle-aged house-wife who never misses a single episode of Family Matter.

Viewers in Odisha are tired of watching these saas-bahu serials and these real-life family problems on the show helps them to take a close look on their own relationships. In some episodes domestic violence survivors relate to the victims, who share their plight on television. Sangeeta Panda, another viewer, who is also divorced, said that she herself could relate to a victim and her children, being also a victim of husband's extra marital affair.

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