While Indian TV may have little space for such a story, it is moving audiences in a country far unlikelier: Afghanistan, where the topic of birth control is so controversial that it is referred to as ‘birth spacing’.

While Khooshi, in Dari language, joins the list of Indian soap operas currently airing in Afghanistan, and earning a huge following, it deals with a subject considered taboo in this country, bound by tradition and fighting off the Taliban, while at the same time having one of the worst infant and maternal mortality rates in the world.

Tracing the life of a young female doctor from a hospital in Kabul who takes voluntary transfer to a village medical centre, and produced by an Indian television team, Khooshi started airing on the popular Ariana channel last week on prime time. The response after the first episode has been good, with the people relating to its approach to the sensitive issue.

The plot unravels the ‘advantages’ of birth control and shares knowledge about oral contraceptives and condoms. The lead role is played by Indian actress Soumya Tandon recently seen in Jab We Met as Kareena Kapoor’s sister.

Most of the other roles are played by Afghan actors and the serial has been shot mostly in villages around Kabul. The first seven episodes were shot in 35 days by an Indian crew from the Kabul-based AINA Media & Culture Centre.

“We conceptualised the story as a family drama, and though the subject is very hard to tell to the public, we took comedy as a medium. We thought about using the struggle of a woman doctor to drive home the point with female viewers,” says Prasant Satapathy, the director of the serial.

Satapathy is relieved that there have been no protests so far. “Making a film or TV serial in Afghanistan is not easy as religious sensitivities are involved. But thankfully people liked our first episode and are even telling us that it is better than any local director showing their religion and culture,” he says.