'Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon' or 'I, a woman, can achieve anything' has been one of the most successful serials ever to be broadcast on Indian Television and unlike regular family dramas or other genres that dominate the Indian airwaves, this serial puts the focus on women's issues relevant across India.
'Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon' has been produced by The Population Fund of India (PFI).
Poonam Muttreja is the Executive Director of Population Fund of India. She tells SBS Hindi "I got to know through research that in South Africa, Brazil, Nicaragua entertainment-education is a very successful tool to change people's behavior and social norms. Since I got to know this, we took one year to study these programmes, to know how they were and how did they bring about change. When we got to know this, we did not even have money but we had decided that we will make an entertainment-education programme that will be related to women's health and family planning"
"We had never imagined that we will get this sort of a response and we could never think that 48% viewership will be of men and we never thought that men will see this serial and respond to it" she says. Ms Muttreja adds "we tried that we should show positive role models even positive male role models, to show what a good role men can play in the lives of their families and communities."
Ms Muttreja says that they showed positive deviants in their programme "We didn't offer such solutions in the programme that we just thought about sitting in our office. We had 80 positive deviants meaning those people who are struggling to get change. So both women and men said in response to the serial that it has the kind of solutions that they can implement to bring about a change in their lives, their families."
"For centuries women's movements have made a mistake that we have only worked with women, till we don't change men...till we don't work with men to end patriarchy, if we keep passing on different mindsets to our sons and daughters that a son can do anything that he can even hit a woman whether its domestic violence or sexual abuse, that women have no rights, till we only work with women this change will not come" says Ms Muttreja. She says that "change will come when we also work with men to change their thinking, their behavior and change how we raise them from childhood. So I firmly believe that if we address men and change the mindset of boys and men, change will come"
According to the Population Fund of India "A woman’s health affects the entire family and society; economically, sociologically, and psychologically. Her health, however, is an outcome of social attitudes; it cannot be addressed in isolation. The Vision of Main Kuch Bhi Kar Sakti Hoon was to use edutainment as a catalyst and trigger positive changes in knowledge, attitudes and practices, to engage men as responsible partners and to create a new normal where women have equal rights, access and agency."
The programme has had two seasons with over 130 episodes and has been dubbed in 12 Indian languages and broadcast on 16 Regional centers of Doordarshan and 126 AIR (All India Radio) Stations.
The Population Fund of India has also launched 'Bas Ab Bahut Ho Gaya – Enough is Enough', an 18-month pilot digital campaign to mobilise the youth to address Violence against Women and Girls. The initiative is to make men understand that violence against women and girls is not a sign of strength and to make women know that violence is a violation of their rights so that the cultural and social norms that reinforce these toxic behavioral patterns are addressed.
