Edutainment Show Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon completes its third season
One of Doordarshan’s flagship edutainment programmes Main
KuchBhiKarSaktiHoon (MKBKSH) recently completed 183 episodes in three seasons
over a span of five years. The show has been successful in initiating conversations on
taboo subjects such as gender equality, family planning, violence and sexual and
reproductive health of young people. The show has been produced by national non-
profit organisation Population Foundation of India (PFI). In Season 3, it dealt with the
two critical areas of focus of the government – promoting sanitation and hygiene for
better health, and empowering couples and young people to make choices related to
their reproductive health and family planning.
The show has been broadcast in Hindi and 12 languages through Doordarshan’s
National and 14 regional channels, and 216 All India Radio stations across the
country.In three seasons, more than 20 lakh calls from viewers have been received
on the show’sInteractive Voice Response System (IVRS) number. Its impact has
been evaluated by independent agencies in all three seasons. The results show that
after watching the show, the percentage of men who found domestic violence
acceptable came down from 66% to 44%. The percentage of men who understood the
adverse consequences of early marriage after watching the show rose from 2% to
31%. At least half of the show’s viewers reported that they received information on
family planning for the first time from the serial.
The impact of the show is seen in several real life stories inspired by the reel life of
the show's protagonist DrSnehaMathur and her fight against regressive social norms.
Be it empowering 21-year-old Ladkunwar Kushwaha from Madhya Pradesh’s
Nayagaon to become the first girl in the village to graduate from a college, to inspiring
a group of men in Madhya Pradesh’s Chattarpur to adopt family planning and share
household responsibilities with their wives, or Nirma Devi of Gaya in Bihar who
convinced her husband to adopt family planning and has now become a family
planning champion in her community.
The creator of the show, noted film and theatre director Feroz Abbas Khan says,
“When I wrote the show concept five years ago, I could have never imagined the kind
of impact we have seen over these five years. I wanted to make a high quality show
that was effectively communicating important social issues without being preachy.
Over three seasons, Main KuchBhiKarSaktiHoon has become an empowering slogan
for women across India. What gives me immense happiness is that the characters have
become household names and people have imbibed the messages and sentiment of the
show.”
Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director of PFI says, “It is recognised globally that just
information doesn’t lead to change in behaviours at an individual or community level.
We createdMain KuchBhiKarSaktiHoon – an edutainment programme that would
reach large numbers of people and change the stories of their lives through positive
role models. Despite confronting prejudices and regressive norms head-on, the serial
has gained huge viewership and popularity. In this journey, we have received the
whole-hearted support of Doordarshan, who recognised the need for a show that
addressed difficult subjects and supported us in taking the show to the remotest parts
of the country. The show is unique in its use of trans media extensions including
social media, IVRS and now an Artificial Intelligence-powered chat bot embedded
on the show’s Facebook page. The chatbot is a companion to young people that
allows them to seek information and discuss issues related to sexual and reproductive
health in a safe, anonymised and non-judgemental space."
The show has been supported by top film celebrities including ShabanaAzmi,
Sharmila Tagore, Soha Ali Khan and Farhan Akhtar. Over three seasons, Main
KuchBhiKarSaktiHoon has dealt with issues that few soaps dare tackle – from
menstruation to masturbation to contraception. The first season of the show
comprising of 52 episodes tackled issues like child marriage, sex selection at birth and
gender discrimination. The second season of 79 episodes focused on youth and
adolescents. The third season which speaks about issues like sanitation, hygiene and
family planning recently completed its run of 52 episodes. Season 3 of the show was
produced with support from the REC Foundation and Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation (BMGF).The first 104 episodes were supported by DFID (UK’s
Department for International Development), and BMGF also supported 27 episodes of
Season 2.
