'Rihhaee' helpline activates Wednesday

B.A.G. Films is all set to make history. The production house is set to launch its own helpline that will counsel women who call in to receive help. Rihhaee, the show on Sony that concentrates on crimes against women will now have a helpline that will be monitored 24 hours and will collaborate with 22 NGOs across the country. It will have trained professionals counseling women in distress. The best part is that this endeavour, undertakne in cooperation with the channel, has obtained the support of the National Commission for Women and will provide an outlet for women who need a shoulder to cry on. "It will provide instant relief. This is important and I wanted to do something like this so that I can address some of the issues that are socially relevant," says B.A.G. managing director Anurradha Prasad, who sees this as an opportunity to reach out. The phone numbers will be flashed on television screens from the episode that airs 13 July onwards. "If I can get the legal hassles out of the way, then some of the stories that come in can be used in the storyline after the necessary modifications. I might also run a segment at the end of the episode where Rajeshwari will talk about the cases," says Anurradha, who further adds that all her plans will depend on audience response. This helpline is the first of its kind to be launched by a production house, entailing a lot of planning and investment. Anurradha acknowledges the help of the channel in co-operating with her. Rihhaee has always done well since its launch in February 2005, at a time when the saas-bahu serials were doing very well. It is a programme made for the masses, but perhaps watched by a niche audience, an audience who are loyal viewers. The time slot too (Wednesday-Thursday at 10:30 pm) clashes with the channel driver on Star, Kyunki... Sony has been known to have problems with the show's TRPs, but frankly, even Jassi...doesn't have the TRPs to match that of the other channels in that particular time slot. As far as the channel itself is concerned, Sony has always had programmes like Bhanvar (based on real life legal cases) Missing (hosted by film actor Jackie Shroff) and Crime Files to highlight social evils. Rihhaee is a step forward towards that direction. B.A.G. too has been a frontrunner in socially relevant television as well - Sansani, Poll Khol, Haqeeqat, Siddhath and Rihhaee, Anurradha Prasad and her team have come a long way in making television closer to life.