Committed to PEOPLE'S RIGHT TO KNOW
Vol. 5 Num 1049 Tue. May 15, 2007  
   
Culture


Small screen
'Moner Janala': TV series on domestic violence


Premier of the drama serial Moner Janala was held at Bokul Hall, Dhaka Sheraton Hotel, yesterday. The series will go on air tonight and will be aired every Tuesday on ATN Bangla at 9:00pm.

The serial is an initiative by Oxfam to generate awareness on domestic violence and abuse of women's rights. The initiative is supported by GTZ and DFID, UK.

Chief guest at the programme was Geeteara Safiya Choudhury, adviser to the caretaker government. Special guests were Anwar Chowdhury, UK High Commissioner to Bangladesh and Hans-Hinrich Schnelle, First Secretary and head of development cooperation, Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany. Also present at the occasion were Oxfam GB Country Representative Anil P Tambay, media personalities Asaduzzaman Noor, Abul Hayat, Anisul Haque and others

The plot of the series revolves around four families living in the same building in Dhaka, highlighting crises in the urban middleclass family structure.

A young couple -- Mehedi and Kanta -- lives in the ground floor. Mehedi, a promising singer, is having an extra-marital affair.

An elderly couple -- Professor Kabir Ahmed and Kazi Shahida -- lives on the first floor. Shahida, an activist working for women's rights, is more interested in her social work than her family.

Engineer Hassan Zaman with his mother, wife and two daughters live on the second floor. Hassan's mother, desperate for a grandson, forces her daughter-in-law to conceive another child.

The landlord Sagir Chowdhury and his family live on the top floor. Ill-tempered Sagir always terrorises his family members especially the females.

And so the story follows. Each episode of the series zooms in on the different ways women are abused in our society -- verbal, physical and more.

Based on a story by Anisul Haque, script for the serial has been developed by Brindaban Das. Directed by Abul Hayat, the series features Azizul Hakim, Richi Solaiman, Aruna Biswas and others in central roles.

Picture
(L-R) Hans-Hinrich Schnelle, Geeteara Safiya Choudhury, Anwar Chowdhury, Abul Hayat and Anisul Haque at the premier