Sonagachhi, the red-light area of Calcutta, is the setting for Zee TV’s new serial Yeh Teri Galiyaan, billed as “the biggest love story of the year” on TV.

“Indian television has not seen a show with a red-light district as the backdrop. It is the riveting story of a boy and a girl who grow up there as friends but are torn apart by destiny,” said Sunil Mehta of Cinevistaas, the producer of the serial, at the launch in Mumbai.

The boy, Shantanu, is raised away from the brothel and studies abroad, while the girl, Puchki, grows up in Sonagachhi and becomes a dance teacher with an NGO working there.

“The story is on the girl’s fight to carve her own future and whether her background would come in the way of the boy and the girl coming together. We want to send home the message that it is the route one has taken that counts when judging a person and not one’s roots,” said Deepak Rajadhyaksha, deputy business head, Zee TV.

As the trailer puts it, “Kothi ke mitti se devi ma ki murti ban sakti hai par ghar ki Lakshmi nahin ban sakti,” referring to the tradition of collecting clay from a sex worker’s door for use in Durga Puja.

But the makers also take pains to emphasise that it would be a “clean show fit for family viewing”. “We have been bold in taking up sharp concepts like triple talaq (Ishq Subhan Allah) and romance between an older woman and a younger man (Aap Ke Aa Jane Se, where the hero was 24 and the heroine 42). We want to create a differentiator which will make viewers sit up. But in no way we want to make them feel uncomfortable,” Rajadhyaksha said.

In response to a question from t2 as to why the girl was not shown as belonging to the sex trade herself, as has been done in many Bollywood films, he admitted that he was “not sure if a sex worker would have been accepted”. “Films are a one-time affair but television enters the viewers’ life,” he added.

Though Mumbai, too, has a red-light district in Kamathipura, Sonagachhi was chosen as it is India’s biggest. “The idea was conceptualised in 2009. I have interacted with the women there. They are stronger and more independent and are upset with the way the world judges them. Hope the show changes the attitudes of viewers to some extent,” said Palki Malhotra, the show’s creative director.

The promos have been shot in Calcutta and a huge set has been built in Mumbai. “We will keep coming to Calcutta for short stints,” Mehta added.

Cast speak

Manish Goplani

From: Jaipur

Best known as: Bihaan in Thapki Pyar Ki (Colors) and Bhim Singh Bhullar in Detective Didi (Zee TV)

Plays: Shantanu Majumdar, a successful businessman who was born and brought up in Sonagachhi before being sent abroad as a child for studies.

“I know Bengalis are highly educated, so I am reading up Satyajit Ray’s short stories. The only Bengali word I have picked up so far is ‘khabo’. I visited Kumartuli last weekend during a trip to Calcutta and took a peek at a lane leading into Sonagachhi on the way,” he said. 

Vrushika Mehta

From: Ahmedabad

Best known as: Sharon Rai Prakash in Dil Dostii Dance (opposite Shantanu Maheshwari) on Channel [V]

Plays: Puchki, a dance teacher with an NGO at Sonagachhi, whose mother was abandoned by her father

“Dance is my first love. I am training in Kathak. Though I have not been to Sonagachhi, I got an idea of the world from Born into Brothels (the Oscar-winning documentary). I could see why Puchki as a child keeps saying in the show, ‘Ma, mujhe yahan se le jao. Yahan mujhe achcha nahin lagta.’ I was in Calcutta once on Navratri for an event but sadly could not step out to see Durga Puja,” she said, soon after performing a dance item to the beat of the dhaak at the launch. 

Renee Dhyani

From: Delhi

Best known as: Gehna in Chandrakanta (Colors), MTV Roadies 8 finalist, Bigg Boss 8 wild- card entrant

Plays: Beauty, the loud-mouthed daughter of the head of Sonagachhi’s biggest brothel

“Initially I was worried about accepting the role and took time to decide. I have no problems playing a negative role as Ekta (Kapoor) had launched me as the vamp Neha in Kasam Tere Pyaar Ki. Negative (role) gives you a lot of shades to play with. But TV viewers are so judgemental that if an actor is playing a drunk and has a break-up in real life, they would think alcohol was the reason. Finally, the content is so solid that I said ‘okay’ though I also realise that if the graph of my acting dips a little, the character will become cheap. I went to Calcutta to shoot the trailer and asked the driver one evening to take me to Sonagachhi, without telling anyone else. The women there look as ordinary as you and me. Only when I tried to speak to one, she said there was no time as ‘Ilaaka chalu ho gayi hai’.”