Kumkum Bhagya stirs controversy

But for the recent lessons learnt from the death of Major Maxwell Adam Mahama, the chiefs and people of Asankrangwa in the Western Region would have stormed the offices of Multimedia Group to emit their venom for describing them ‘villagers.’

The anger of the people stemmed from a comment made on Adom TV’s soap opera programme, “Kumkum Bhayga” by a lead character, Abhishek Prem Mehra, which is broadcast through Akan translation.

In the said episode, Abhishek referred to his girl friend as a ‘villager’ from Asankrangwa.’

The said comment angered indigenes of the area.

On various social media platforms they threatened to boycott the purchase of Multimedia decoders.

According to the residents, the statement has humiliated them.

Last Wednesday, the youth of the town stormed the offices of a local radio station, Royal FM, and expressed their anger at the comment.

A member of the Royal family, Prince Asiedu, in a telephone interview with Weekend Today, described the statement as unfortunate and demanded an unqualified apology from Adom TV for using their programme to denigrate the people of Asankrangwa.

He contended that a town that boasts of two senior high schools, a nursing training college and over twenty private and public junior high schools cannot be referred to as a village and the people living there as villagers as well.

“A royal meeting was held yesterday to demand an unqualified apology from Multimedia Group Ltd. Or we will institute legal action against them to end the persistent media description of the town as a village,” he warned.

Though the District Chief Executive Officer of Amenfi West was not in town when the incident happened, his aide told Weekend Today that he had been informed and would soon respond to the statement.

When Weekend Today contacted the producer of ‘Kumkum Bhgya,’ Kobby Eshun, he apologised on behalf of his superiors, describing that aspect of the translation as a “mess caused by the station.”

“It is regrettable. We are planning to take “Kumkum Bhagya Keteke” to the town and officially apologise to the chief and people of Asankrangwa,” he added.