Mainstreaming Faecal Sludge Management, BBC launches ‘Life Navrangi’ on Youtube

Team L&M

BBC Media Action is launching Life Navrangi – a seven-episode web dramedy on faecal sludge management (FSM) on YouTube tomorrow. Produced by Bodhi Tree Multimedia for YouTube, the show touches upon many aspects of FSM, all hidden in plain sight and packed between stories about real characters with real aspirations and anxieties. It airs on YouTube, every Thursday, beginning May 19.

Life Navrangi is the second season in the Navrangi series, a follow up to the successful 26-episode television drama ‘Navrangi Re!’ (Nine to a Shade), that was broadcast by Viacom18 on three of its channels and OTT platforms in 2019. Both series have been supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The series aims to increase civic engagement with respect to FSM, with arcs that build on strong female characters and cross socio-economic and cultural divides. Several characters have varied dilemmas and priorities across the faecal sludge management spectrum, which adds to the twists and turns in the story. Gender norms are a constant subtext, breaking gender stereotypes and examining nontraditional career options for women; the storytelling also addresses the harmful role of mis and disinformation.

Aamir Ali and Krishna Mukherjee as Vishwas and Saloni 

Archna Vyas, Deputy Director, Policy Advocacy Communications, and Behavioural Insights, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation India said, “Faecal Sludge Management and its impact on one’s health and environment features very low in people’s awareness. Through Life Navrangi, our goal is to drive action towards safe sanitation behaviours, using the power of storytelling through edutainment, and leveraging the reach and targeting of digital media.”

Radharani Mitra, Global Creative Advisor, BBC Media Action said, “The series reflects small town India’s conservative values, dreams of wealth and success – limitations notwithstanding, and a determination to live on their own terms. The plot points in the story are about owning one’s dream home, making a mark in one’s profession, the true meaning of ‘being smart’, dealing with debt and a marriage threatening to fall apart. Our narrative breaks gender stereotypes and includes characters from different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds. Correct FSM services become a metaphor for a more organised way of living, managing resources and relationships, and achieving one’s goals.”