Nagpur, Sep 24 - Television czarina Ekta Kapoor's latest serial 'Bairi Piya' for Colors channel could be in a spot of trouble with a prominent NGO Thursday demanding a ban on the soap accusing it of spreading misinformation on the plight of debt-ridden farmers of eastern Maharashtra.
The Vidarbha Jan Andolan Samiti (VJAS), an NGO working among the farmers of Vidarbha, has shot off a letter to the state government demanding a ban on 'Bairi Piya', which is made against the backdrop of farmland suicides in the state.
VJAS president Kishore Tiwari alleged that the channel's portrayal of the plight of the farming community is a 'figment of imagination' of the writer who is ignorant of ground realities.
'We have strongly objected to the manner in which it is shown in the serial that farmers have to 'mortgage' their daughters or wives in return for monetary assistance from rich and greedy money-lenders,' Tiwari told IANS.
By this, the channel and the production house are casting 'aspersions' on the characters of all the young girls and women in Vidarbha, as also the widows and orphans of farmers all over the country, Tiwari asserted.
The VJAS has demanded that the teleserial be immediately yanked off the network and telecast only after suitable modifications and taking clearance of experts on the subject of farmland suicides.
'We have written to the state chief secretary and other concerned officials in this regard. If they fail to comply, then we shall take the next course of action,' he said.
Despite several attempts by IANS, officials from Colors TV and Ekta's Balaji Telefilms in Mumbai were not available for comment.
The serial, which started Sep 19, portrays the story of Amoli 'a 20-year-old beautiful and cheerful, eternally positive and optimistic daughter of a farmer' in Vidarbha.