KABUL: Don’t telephone an Afghan at 8.30 in the evening. Chances are he or she will be settled down in front of the television for a daily fix of an Indian soap opera. And they won’t want to be disturbed.

The series Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi has transfixed the country.

Men, women, young and old — anyone, it seems, with access to a television — is enthralled by the family drama. It centres on Tulsi, a young bride from a poor family who married because of love and is persecuted by her evil mother-in-law.

For the first time, Afghans have been able to see a long-running family drama that explores so many of the issues they encounter in their own lives, said television commentator Farzana Samimi.

“It shows problems that are so common in Afghan families in terms of the relationship of brides in the family, especially with the mother-in-law,” said Samimi, who presents a programme on women’s issues on Tolo TV, which broadcasts the series.

Afghanistan is still a deeply conservative society where family problems are invariably kept hidden behind a veil of privacy.

The series gets people thinking about such problems, Samimi said. “It enlightens the minds of people in the family, not only of brides or mothers-in-law, but others too.”

The cultural context of the Indian soap opera was also very easy for Afghans to relate to, she said.

“People are interested because our culture is so close to India, their way of daily life, the hierarchical system in the family,” she said.

Whatever the reason, the soap opera is Afghanistan’s most popular ever television programme and fans refuse to miss an episode.

Generator shops in Kabul have reported heavy sales since the series caught on because so many people want to ensure the city’s frequent power cuts don’t interrupt their viewing.

Many fans who can’t afford a generator have rigged up their televisions to car batteries to beat the black-outs.—Reuters