PRAKRITI ROY caught up with SHAKTI ARORA, who is playing a host after his recent daily soap stint, and the creator of Mann Mein Vishwaas Hai to know what the new show is all about
After a gap of almost 10 years, Sony channel has revived its show Mann Mein Vishwaas Hai in an all-new avatar, showcasing a bunch of real-life miraculous incidents. The show will have a new story in each episode, selected from among the thousands of entries received by the channel, with popular actor Shakti Arora acting as the narrator.
Explaining why the show is coming back, creative director Anshuman Sinha said at the launch: “Considering the number of letters we received with people telling their stories, we felt it was time to bring the show back.” The show will feature a series of miraculous and life-altering events that real people have witnessed in their lives. “The viewer can question if the life-changing incident is indeed a miracle or a mere coincidence and that is where the concept of vishwaas comes in; it’s all abo-ut perspective. Miracles are not something that can be proven but we try our best to corroborate the incident told to us with other people who were present. We try to portray the story with a lot of sensitivity,” he says.
Stating that their motive behind creating the show is to reignite people’s faith in God and themselves, he mentioned that out of 17,000 stories they have got so far, 500 have been shortlisted. 40 episodes have been shot and another 40 are in the making. “The plan is to keep making more till we have good stories to tell,” he said.
“We are not promoting any religion or any particular God. We want to tell people that if they have faith, do good deeds and work for their goals, they will see miracles happening. More than believing in God, it is about what kind of relationship you share with God,” the host Shakti Arora tells you. He added that he agreed to the show not only because he loved the concept but also because he did not wish to work on a daily soap after just having finished Meri Aashiqui Tumse Hi, which ended in a hurry when TRPs went down. “It gives me more time for myself as shooting for this is not as intensive as a daily soap,” he said.
Arora revealed that he has always been interested in the occult sciences and knowing what the future holds. For this, he even learnt tarot card reading and numerology. In fact, he has done these professionally but for charity.
One of the people whose story has been picked up by the show, Shilpa Chaubey, was also present at the event and related her experience: “A few years back, my younger brother met with an accident and was on his deathbed. Although I am not really a believer, I took to praying to all the Gods I knew of and was ready to sacrifice everything food, water, my marriage. Then I
had an out-of-body experience where I felt I was in the presence of Sai Baba and he told me that I could take my brother back. After that, he started recovering and is now alive and well. I feel it is all because of my mother’s faith in God.”
It is stories like this that the creators of the show want to bring to the viewers with the motto ‘Vishwaas ka koi tark nahi hota, lekin fark padta hai’ (Faith doesn’t have a logic but it does affect us).
The show went on air on March 19.