Mumbai: India's first rural entertainment channel, Azaad has launched a new show Kasturi, a story inspired by the life of Padma Shri Rajkumari Devi popularly known as Kisan Chachi. It is the story of a village girl, who broke conventional myths with her spontaneous grit & determination to become independent, self-supportive and a big crusader for social change.

The channel of Beginnen Media has been growing week on week with its affinity towards rural audiences. Over the past year, Azaad has built a runway to launch new shows with rural values and heart-touching stories. Beginnen Media managing director Bharat Kumar Ranga said, “Azaad has grown its market share in the last couple of months and is here to stay. We have witnessed a 110 per cent growth in female viewership and 67 per cent in the rural market between March 2022 and May 2022.”

On the new show

Kasturi is based in a village near Patna and will showcase how a young Kasturi lives her journey from living with her parents, younger sister and grandmother to adjusting to post-marital issues and becoming an independent farmer and teaching new farming techniques to other farmers which got her the coveted Padma Shri Award.

Azaad chief content, creative & consumer officer Anooj Kapoor said, “We are excited about the launch of Kasturi which is an inspiring story of how a village belle in extremely adverse conditions, not only achieved financial independence through farming, a first for a woman; but she also learned and taught innovative cropping techniques to other farmers, helping them as well to prosper. We have tried to tell the story through a slice of life narrative with both bitter and sweet moments woven together.”

The show has been produced by founder Rajeev Singh’s Ideaz Pictures. The show’s protagonist Kasturi is played by India’s Best Dramebaaz 2016 runner-up Tammanna Deepak. 

Kasturi will air on Azaad from Monday to Saturday at 8:30 pm and also on MX Player.