Mumbai, Mar 9 (IANS): Actress Sushmita Mukherjee who essays the character of Kusum, a housewife in TV show 'Dosti Anokhi', states how housewives or homemakers have been under-appreciated till date.

Sharing more on the same, Sushmita says: "Housewives have always been the backbone of a household, thereby in some way also becoming the backbone of the society. She is the oil of the machine that is called 'family'. Earlier it was considered that women can't juggle personal and professional lives. Women who chose to work were looked down upon because apparently it implied that they didn't care of their family."

'Dosti Anokhi' is a show that revolves around the bond of friendship between an elderly man Jagannath Mishra (played by Rajendra Gupta) and a young girl, Purvi (essayed by Ismeet Kohli).

The actress adds more: "Now, women are driven by their ambitions to move ahead in life and contribute to the family's expenditure and at the same time, ensure her family's well being. However, as a society we are lacking somewhere, it's the fact that we under-appreciate stay-at-home mothers and wives who are also toiling tirelessly but are not rewarded with any sort of acknowledgement."

She continues on how the show brings out the issue in an effective way: "It's disheartening at times to see this. In the show, Jagannath respects and loves his wife a lot but having been brought up in a conservative family he never expresses it and feels that a woman is only supposed to look after the family rather than getting into any sort of decision making. But, with Purvi's entry in their life, Jagannath's views change about this which is a good step towards a much needed change."

'Dosti Anokhi' airs on Sony TV.