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STAR Plus holds Apni Adalat
STAR Plus takes its show, Aap ki Kachehri on ground to expand its reach, in a bid to resolve more and more cases
The popularity of Kiran Bedi’s show Aap ki Kachehri has inspired STAR Plus to expand the reach of the show. The channel has taken the show on ground.
Recently, STAR Plus also launched a helpline to deal with outpourings from people looking for a solution.
As per this on-ground initiative, a ‘kachehri’ will resolve disputes between people who have not yet approached a legal court, but are embroiled in bitter battles. The initiative, called Aap Ki Kachehri Aap Ke Shaher Mein is similar to the Lok Adalat, and will enable the channel to take up more cases than the show format allows.
Anupam Vasudev, executive vice-president, marketing, STAR India, talks about the initiative. “Indian courts are already overburdened. Through Aap Ki Kachehri, we wanted to provide a forum to accommodate all those people, who have not yet taken the court route to resolve their issues. While the show has its limitations that it can only handle one case per episode, we thought of going on-ground to help those in need. Also, we wanted to bring the concept of the show alive.”
STAR Plus hosted a three-hour pilot in Mumbai on February 07 at Ambedkar Maidan, BDD Chawl, Worli. Though the event did not have a court room setup, as is the case with the televised show, the cases will be resolved in the same format as on the show. For the pilot, three cases were heard, out of the 17 shortlisted by Khushiyan Seva Sanstha, an NGO.
The panel for 'Apni Adalat' held at Worli comprised Sachin Ahir, MLA, Worli; Pooja Oberoi representing Khushiyan Seva Sanstha (NGO); Bharat Warlikar, Senior Inspector, Worli area zone; Jayashree Akolkar, advocate, Mumbai High Court; and Siddharth Basu, producer, Big-Synergy.
The GEC intends to build a strong network of NGOs, which will help shortlist the cases to be heard in the Apni Adalats. While it is looking forward to hold the events in as many cities as possible, Vasudev states their main focus would be the Hindi speaking areas.
The on-ground events will not be televised, but the channel will look at promoting them on the show, once they achieve a scale. Vasudev points out, “The NGOs are doing a good job, with the Khushiyan Seva Sanstha reaching out to a total of 40,000 people for the pilot event and getting a strong crowd of 500 to view the event.”
The on-ground event has been conceptualised by the channel itself, though it has been executed by an event management company, Market Men.
STAR Plus is now looking at the learnings from the pilot event, before they come out with another edition of Apni Adalat.