Kathmandu: Comedy artist duo Madan Krishna Shrestha and Haribansa Acharya have played in a new telefilm named ‘Sugandhapur’ that was premiered on June 30, 2010 at the Russian Culture Centre. The hour-long telefilm carries the message of water and sanitation. The film is about a community led total sanitation approach which focuses on ending open defecation as a first significant step and entry point to changing hygiene behavior.

In the telefilm, Haribansa plays a mulish character named ‘Hari Lal’ and Madan Krishna plays the role of a Chief District Officer (CDO). In the telefilm, all the households in the village have toilets but Hari Lal refuses to construct one saying that this will destroys crops, which turns the entire village into ‘Durghandapur’ (stinking village). The CDO advises him, the members of Child Club take out a rally against him but it could not change the mindset of Hari Lal. Later, Hari Lal understands the importance of toilet when he himself gets sick due to open defecation and thereafter the village changes into ‘Sugandhapur’ (good smelling village). The telefilm, in which children of Biratnagar and Jhapa have acted, will be telecast in different television channels in the near future.

Source: Kantipur, July 1, 2010