An advertisement of a women’s reality show on a Bhubaneswar road. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, March 23: Odia entertainment television channels have started wooing women, particularly homemakers, to increase their TRPs through women-centric reality shows.

After the success of women-oriented game show Sadhaba Bohu for three consecutive seasons on one Odia entertainment channel, another regional channel is banking on women to increase its fan following through its game show Suna Bohu. Earlier, this channel had successfully telecast two women-oriented reality shows — Rajja Queen for single women and Gruhalaxmi for those married.

The producers of Rajja Queen said their show was a trendsetter in the Odia television industry and had received great response from female fans. Sadhaba Bohu producers also claim that the show, hosted by popular Odia actor Buddhaditya Mohanty, managed to garner a lot of popularity among women, both in rural and urban areas. Gruhalaxmi had also created a buzz.

The production houses of these shows are of the view that women prefer to watch entertainment channels for their share of recreation. Since there is an overdose of daily soaps telecast on almost all Hindi and Odia entertainment channels, the producers had tried something different by telecasting such shows to inject freshness and have active participation of women in such programmes.

“Women are the largest television viewers in the state. Besides, we found that many talented women did not have a platform to showcase it. Consequently, we introduced such programmes to give them a platform,” said Simant Das, executive producer of Suna Bohu.

Das added that unlike the previous seasons, this time, they have kept general knowledge questions from across the world with more emphasis on home culture. Since women are well acquainted with current affairs, they will handle this well, he said.

Actor Buddhaditya, who hosted Sadhaba Bohu for three seasons, said that homemakers were underestimated in many cases. “But during last three seasons of the show, I was surprised to see that not only are they still well rooted with traditions and culture, but also have a great deal of knowledge in current affairs,” he said.

Actor Debasis Patra, who hosts Suna Bohu, said the show has the tagline of Gyana O Dhanara Khela, meaning it’s a game of knowledge and wealth. “The prize for this show is gold ornaments and women have weakness for this yellow metal. Besides, the urge to come on the television screen also brings many women fans closer to the show,” said Patra.

Many women, who regularly watch such shows, said they were hooked because the questions were easy.

“Winning gold just by answering a few questions is something that attracts us. Many questions asked in them are very simple and we feel we can do well if we participate. I had tried several times to come on these shows,” said Nirupama Rout, a homemaker.