Kumkum Bhagya is the most popular telenovela in Ghana at the moment. Such is its popularity that people have named streets, fabrics, etc after the names of their favourite characters. It’s dubbed in Twi and that makes it the first of its kind in the country before other TV stations followed suit.
Unfortunately the drama has fallen out of favour with the people of Asankragwa in the Eastern Region of Ghana and the dwellers of this ‘town’ have threatened to deal ruthlessly with Multimedia Group. The issue? In one of the episodes of the drama, Abhishek (one of the leading characters) referred to his girlfriend as a ‘villager’ from Asankrangwa.
The said comment did not go well with the indigenes of the area, who said they felt humiliated and have consequently threatened to boycott the purchase of Multimedia decoders.
One Prince Asiedu, a member of the Royal family has 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.
However, Kobby Eshun the producer of the popular telenovela has 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 said apologetically.
