Seema Pahwa recalls young girls flocking to her home after watching her as Badki in Hum Log

Seema Pahwa featured in the role of Badki in the popular television serial Hum Log. Debuted in 1984, the serial was the first ever drama series on Hindi television and revolved around the lives of a middle-class family. Pahwa played the role of a social worker in the serial. In a new interview, the actress recalled the audience believing that is a social worker and young girls coming upto her for advice and help.

Seema Pahwa says people came to her house with bags, leaving their husbands 

Seema Pahwa recently got into a conversation with Rajshri Unplugged. The actress recalled the time when people started associating her rebellious character of Badki with her real-life personality and showed up at her house with their marital troubles. She recalled, “The character of Badki was of a very simple girl who later becomes a rebel and starts doing social work for the betterment of women. People started watching the show so seriously that they started believing that I was doing social work. They believed I had an office and I listened to girls to help them. People started coming to my house with their bags after leaving their husbands. They would say, ‘We left your husband. Now didi (sister), tell us what should we do?’ I was 22 years old at that time, I didn’t know what to do with my life. Both me and my mother were shocked looking at them and thought, 'What is happening."

In the same conversation, Seema opined that the media has a strong influence on the audience and that a lot can be changed in society through the medium of visuals. She added, “The show became a support system for the girls who were facing problems at home, they were not able to find a solution. My character showed them the path that they can leave their in-laws or leave their house to demand their rights. So they came to me and I did social work for almost three years and helped them. I took them to organisations, bought sewing machines, got them remarried without dowry.”

All about the show Hum Log

Hum Log aired on Doordarshan in July 1984. The show was centred around the struggles and aspirations of a middle-class family. Apart from Seema Pahwa, the show’s cast also included Vinod Nagpal, Jayshree Arora, Rajesh Puri, Abhinav Chaturvedi, Divya Seth, Sushma Seth and Manoj Pahwa. The show was helmed by P Kumar Vasudev and each episode raised a matter of societal importance.