At Space Studio in the northern Mumbai suburb of Goregaon, where Solhah Singaar is filmed, I approach the sets exactly an hour before the wedding ceremony is scheduled to begin.
Everything is ornamented with bouquets of flowers and abuzz with PR types and construction workers. The multi-coloured, transparent drapes shimmer with sequins and shroud the main hall. A shallow, clear pool of water holds floating candles, rose petals and marigolds.
I wonder if it the ambience -- a strange mixture of kitsch and beauty -- is aimed at television ratings.
Producer Jay Mehtaa meets me at the door with a smile.
"All the stars of our show including Akanksha Rawat, Sudha Chandran, Apara Mehta, Mrinal Kulkarni and Kishori Shahane will be present today," he rattles off. "We've been planning this event for so long that it's almost as if we are giving away our own daughter.
"This is not a publicity stunt," he insists, as if reading my mind. "We have come to understand this issue while working on this show, and we all feel passionately about it. This is not a made-for-TV special. This is for Maya and the rest of India's widows," he says.
Image: Jay and Kinnari Mehtaa, producers of the show
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