Seema Pahwa recalls women leaving their husbands, reaching her home after getting influenced by her Hum Log role: ‘I was just 22’

She added, “This was the time I realised that media is so powerful. 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.”

Though Seema is now thankful that she got to play such an iconic character, she almost declined the role Badki. Sharing the anecdote, she said, “When I got the role of Badki, I was working at Shri Ram Centre and earning Rs 400 per month. I was happy with my stable job. I said ‘no’ to doing Badki because I didn’t want to take the risk.”

Speaking about how Hum Log’s director P Kumar Vasudev convinced her to take up the role of Badki, Seema said, “I started ignoring the show’s director P Kumar Vasudev but one day he caught me and told me, ‘Have you gone mad? You are getting such a big opportunity and you are running from this.’ He made me understand that I won’t need to come back to this job after starring in the show because they are making India’s first soap opera. I trusted him only when he told me how much money I would get paid for the show. He told me I would get Rs 500 per day for the show and I thought that was a lot of money and I agreed to do the show.”

Hum Log, which premiered on Doordarshan, India’s sole channel at the time, on July 7, 1984. Centered on the trials and ambitions of an Indian middle-class family in the 1980s, the series became a cultural milestone, reflecting the era’s societal challenges and dreams.