MUMBAI , India ( CNN ) -- Dressed in fancy clothes , she applies eye liner , dabs her nose with a powder puff and the director shouts , `` Silence , rolling ! '' Avika Gor , who plays child bride Anandi in the popular but controversial show . On cue , the star of the show delivers her lines . Meet Anandi , the main character of `` Balika Vadhu , '' an Indian television serial . Twelve-year-old Anandi is a child bride who was married off at the age of eight . She now lives with her husband and in-laws , bound by customs and traditions in their home . The daily soap is just over a year old and already one of India 's most highly rated TV shows . An estimated 74 million people watched it in July . The CEO of Colors , the channel the show airs on , says viewers love it because it 's based on reality . Rajesh Kamat said : `` There is enough research on child marriage , the evils of child marriage . We 've based our storyline on that . '' Kamat added the concept the show was based on is very much real and most of the incidents depicted in the program still happen in parts of India . Even though the Indian legal age for marriage is 18 for girls and 21 for boys , the law is often ignored . Since it 's an illegal act , it 's very hard to find a record of how many child marriages take place -- but according to UNICEF , 40 percent of all child marriages in the world take place in India . Critics of `` Balika Vadhu '' say the premise -- that child marriage takes place in India -- is the only real aspect of the show . The driving force behind child marriage is poverty , says Puja Marwaha , of the children 's charity Child Rights and You . She says child brides are often illiterate , malnourished , considered a burden on their parents -- and their lives bear no resemblance to the glossy images seen on TV . According to Marwaha , the serial glorifies child marriage . `` To show it as harmless , is a problem . '' `` Poverty is not pretty so the child is not going to be wearing party frocks and looking pretty , contented and happy because that 's not what really happens . What really happens is the child is forced into adult responsibilities too early . Whether it 's the responsibility of motherhood or whether it 's linked to abuse , as is the case many times . '' That , according to Marwaha , is the reality of child marriage . The people behind the show say its goal is not to glamorize child marriage -- but to highlight its dark side . Kamat said : `` Have we depicted it in a way that is entertaining ? Yes . Is the evil of child marriage highlighted ? Yes . Are the evils associated with it highlighted ? Absolutely . '' In between takes on the set of the show just outside Mumbai , Avika Gor , who plays Anandi , does her part to educate the audience . `` I feel very bad about what 's happening to Anandi . Child marriage is very , very , very , very , very , very , very bad . '' Some Indian lawmakers argued the show violated the Indian Constitution and demanded the show be banned . The government looked into it and gave it a clean chit , so the cameras continue to roll on the sets , and the show goes on .
Soap with child bride as central character is one of India 's most watched TV shows . Executive says the show glosses over the brutalities of India 's real child marriages . Executive defends show , says it does highlight evils of child marriages . Child brides problem is widespread in India despite it being legal age for marriage .