A real marriage on the sets of a show!

A real marriage on the sets of a show!

Producers Jay and Kinnari Mehtaa have arranged the marriage of a widow which will be shown live in their TV serial. So is it for publicity? For TRPs? Or something else?

ROSHNI K OLIVERA

MARITAL BLISS: Maya and Mukesh (centre) getting engaged and next to them Jay and Kinnari Mehtaa

Reality shows may be big on TV today, but age-old serials continue to dominate. How about a combination of the two? Well, producers Jay and Kinnari Mehta have planned something similar for their family drama Solhah Singaarr on SaharaOne. They have organised a real life widow remarriage on their sets today.
So what prompted them to do this? Says Kinnari Mehtaa who conceptualised the theme for Solhah Singaarr, "We are celebrating the completion of 200 episodes of our serial and decided that this is the best way to celebrate. Since our show is based on widow remarriage, we planned to spread the message to the general public and encourage such marriages."
The widow, Maya who is Mumbai-based, had contacted them after watching their show expressing her support to the cause. And that's when they discussed this and planned to go ahead with it. "It took two months after that. We approached matrimonial sites, NGOs and put ads in newspapers. It so happened that the managing director of a matrimonial site Mukesh Modi, a divorcee himself, expressed his desire to meet Maya. Subsequently, a meeting was arranged and the meeting fructified into a marriage proposal," says Kinnari.
Adds Jay Mehtaa, "We decided to celebrate this occasion by having a grand wedding on the sets of Solhah Singaarr. All the stars of our show including Akanksha Rawat, Sudha Chandran, Apara Mehta, Mrinal Kulkarni, Kishori Shahane and other staff and unit members will be present at the wedding. We have been planning and co-ordinating the event for so long that it's almost like we are giving our own daughter away in marriage."
So was it the growing popularity of reality shows that prompted this move? "People always feel TV is over-the-top," admits Kinnari. "Certain serials are over-dramatised. But the fact is that we take up issues which are very relevant to society. Widow remarriage is still not accepted in many parts of our country. I hope this is an inspiration to many."
But wasn't this episode included to boost TRPs? "We are doing it to support the cause of widow remarriage and to spread awareness. I don't think it's going to affect TRPs. Well if it does, it's wonderful," she says.

thanx a lot its a great news