14 April,2026 07:58 AM IST | Mumbai | Letty Mariam Abraham
A still from ‘Chiraiya’
Penning the series Chiraiya was no small feat for writer Divy Nidhi Sharma, who admits he went through intense emotional turmoil during the process. While the series sparks a conversation around marital rape and consent, "it touches on several other issues". "From lack of hygienic toilets for women, the lack of vocabulary to describe female genitalia, to the lack of education. Once the ball started rolling, a lot of things kept coming up," he shares.
What stands out, however, is the evolution of Divya Dutta's character, Kamlesh. Though she appears courageous, the patriarchy ingrained in her drives her to make choices one would least expect from a protagonist. "While writing, I felt like slapping Kamlesh too. When she slaps Pooja [Prasanna Bisht], you see it as her conditioning and illiteracy. We are trying to have a conversation with the audience living in small towns and villages, who don't even know that [marital rape] is wrong. We wanted our protagonist to be one of them so that people could relate to Kamlesh as she has the same questions. We also wanted to take away the saviour complex. Pooja is the victim of the crime and Kamlesh is the victim of patriarchy," explains Sharma.
The series culminates in a public confrontation, without a definitive punishment. While the ending may feel unsatisfactory, Sharma says the choice was deliberate to retain realism. "How do we show victory in the end that doesn't sound implausible or impossible? Pooja has a moral compass, but because she is in [trauma], it takes time for her to gather courage. Kamlesh has courage, but she lacks a moral compass. Once they come together, the story revolves around them finding their voice, which is their first victory. We have maintained a realistic depiction. We couldn't go the legal way or take the vengeance route. I know it is not perfect, but we don't live in a perfect world."
The core concept of âChiraiya' was inspired by the Bengali series âSampurna'
