Nagpur: Masculinity has always been associated with words such as macho, muscular, tough, strong and powerful. Furthermore, films have also glorified men with the popular dialogue, “MardKo Dard NahinHota”. Because of this, if men show any sign of weakness or appear flawed, they are shamed and not easily accepted. Dismissing stereotypes and highlighting how ‘being a man’ is a lot more than only imposing authority or advancing the family’s legacy, &TV is all set to present a light-hearted fiction offering Meri HanikarakBiwi. The show will delve into the many societal pressures associated with producing an heir, and its effects on a man who finds himself erroneously subjected to a contraceptive method – vasectomy. The show is a slice of life presentation, narrated through the characters of Akhilesh (Karan Suchak) and Dr. Ira (Jiyaa Shankar), Meri HanikarakBiwi premieres on 4th December 2017, and air every Monday to Friday at 10:00 PM on &TV.
Produced by Amir and Sonali Jaffar’s Full House Media, the story revolves around a brawny simpleton – Akhilesh and his tryst with the bold and beautiful – Dr. Ira. Their unplanned encounters in Varanasi turn out to be ‘hanikarak’ for Akhilesh and the situational errors and misunderstandings continue to follow them to Mumbai. However, the final nail in the coffin is when Dr. Ira erroneously performs the vasectomy (Nasbandi) surgery on Akhilesh, redefining his manhood for good! From here on life is not the same anymore for Akhilesh, but he embarks on a journey with Dr. Ira as his wife. Will his union with Dr. Ira strengthen his standing in the society as a truly capable man? And how will Akhilesh really cope with a HanikarakBiwi?
Speaking about the show and his character, Karan Suchak aka Akhilesh said “While the entertainment industry is steadily evolving and breaking stereotypes, vasectomy, as a topic, has never been explored as a viable concept for a television show. Meri HanikarakBiwi’s core concept and the many different layers to my character is what appealed to me. Akhilesh is a shy, simple, straightforward and honest boy from Varanasi who is devoted to his parents, but his plight adds to his predicament when he is unable to give them the one thing that they so dearly want from him – an heir! I hope that the audience will respect the underlying message and bring about a quantifiable change in the mindsets of Indian viewers.”
Adding further on the show’s concept and talking about her character, Jiyaa Shankar said, “Dr. Ira is a tough, practical and intelligent woman with a kind heart. She has strong ideologies about societal issues such as population control and that eventually also changes her life as she embarks on a new journey with Akhilesh. The concept of Meri HanikarakBiwi is extremely bold and I am really looking forward to seeing the audience’s reactions to our attempt at bringing a change in the mindset. The show, and &TV’s approach to the subject, promises to entertain viewers by breaking the boundaries of conversations with comedy and digging into a critical issue.”
Along with Karan Suchak and Jiyaa Shankar, Meri HanikarakBiwi will feature an ensemble cast including actors Nasirr Khan as Brijesh Pandey, Sucheta Khanna as Pushpa Pandey, and Anjali Mukhi as Devina Pandey amongst many others.
