Indian Telenovela Making Waves In GH

Many followers of television soaps who have watched the Hindi television serial Saat Phere, may be asking themselves why the Indians, after all their experience and skill at films, have sat down for Mexicans to reign for so long as the kings of telenovela.

Saat Phere, which recently started running on Metro TV, is India's ninth longest running serial and became so popular between 2005 and 2009 that the fortunes of the original carrier, Zee TV, shot up tremendously to make it a channel topper.

This is the story a girl’s struggles against the stigmas forced upon her by society and her quest for her unique identity. Although India has progressed in various fields of technology, science and education, discrimination against women remains the root cause of regression in many societies in India leading to degradation of women.

Here, Saloni, a dark complexioned 24-year-old girl’s talent is overshadowed by her complexion. Faced with such a situation, Saloni is determined to not let society's will be imposed upon her and ruin her life and uses her will, spirit and courage to embark upon the journey to search for her own unique identity.

The lead role of Saloni is played by Rajshree Thakur who was awarded the Best Fresh Face of the Year (2006) at the Sixth Indian Telly Awards. She was also awarded Best Actress (Jury) in 2007 and Special Commendation from Indian television in 2006.

The main cast of Saat Phere include Rajshree Thakur as Saloni Singh, Sharad Kelkar as Nahar Singh Swami Amritanand as spiritual figure, Rakesh Bapat as Neel a.k.a. Mohan Bhandari as Narpat Singh, and Pratichee Mishra as Ambika.

Saat Phere is telecast on Metro TV Thursdays and Fridays at 7pm, repeated at 11:30 pm same day, and an omnibus version on Thursdays at 4pm.