Before readers start reading what I have to say, I must make one thing very clear that I am not trying to judge anyone but I am merely sharing how I have felt about the attitude of Pakistani viewers and perhaps people in general too especially in the past few days. I want to hear how people feel about what I think and that is the only reason for writing this article.
We all know how the majority of the Pakistani television viewers or the Pakistani awaam, in general, feels about the airing of Turkish and Indian dramas on Pakistani channels. Very often we see people calling those who watch these dramas unpatriotic. People have very often told viewers who like Turkish or Indian dramas to move to those countries (because they don’t deserve to live in Pakistan!) especially if you praise anything Indian you are very likely to get an extreme backlash from people on social media or different blogs.
People have very often said that Indian dramas or films do not reflect our “culture” and therefore should be banned. Turkish dramas were criticized to the limit only because they were foreign and different from Pakistani dramas. Our producers and actors went ballistic when Turkish dramas were aired saying that it will ruin everything for them. The criticism on online social media is so severe that people who watch these dramas are in fact scared of showing their likeness for these dramas on public forums. Online drama sites like dramasonline and many others get thousands of requests on a daily basis when they do not upload these dramas also many people watch them online when they are uploaded but there are hardly any comments under these dramas’ videos because people know that if they comment then they will have an army of people who will call them all sorts of names and make them feel guilty for watching these plays.
Lately, Pakistani dramas have been airing in different countries as well, I have noticed how ecstatic the viewers and even the producers are with this latest development. They can’t stop retweeting the praises that Pakistani dramas are getting especially from across the border, which means that they are happy that the Indians are appreciating their plays. Even the newspapers and blogs can’t stop covering the airing of Pakistani dramas in India with a very positive mindset. The mindset with which the airing of Turkish dramas was covered was entirely different. Now how would we feel if people of the countries in which Pakistani dramas are being telecast reacted in the same way in which many of the Pakistanis react to these developments? We would be calling them bigoted, racist, small-minded, and whatnot. Faysal Qureshi was one of those celebrities who were dead against airing foreign content but now we see him retweeting articles that praise the impact of Pakistani dramas in India.
Here are the tweets of some renowned Indian celebrities about Pakistani dramas, my question is how will we react if our celebrities start being honest like this? Will we be able to take it??
I found this “masterpiece” on the web which pretty much sums up what I am trying to say!
Now that Pakistani dramas are being shown and liked by many in other countries I would like to ask people if airing of other countries’ dramas is such a bad thing after all. And what impression do most people get of us when we feel insecure when Indian and Turkish dramas are aired here. Are we culturally invading India and many other countries now by letting our dramas air there? Of course, we are not, it is more like a healthy cultural exchange which helps bring the two countries together. If our celebrities copy India or prefer to work in India then that is their choice, it is not the fault of any other country! If the divorce rate in the country is increasing we should try to find out what actually is causing this rise rather than putting the blame on Indian and Turkish dramas! We should stop blaming other people for our weaknesses and we should also think about what message we are sending to the world when we pass such narrow-minded comments about people who like Indian and Turkish dramas. I obviously know why everyone is happy now that Pakistani dramas are going international, I am obviously one of those proud Pakistanis too who are very happy that our talent is being recognized internationally but don’t you think that we should welcome foreign content with the same positivity and a big heart too. When other countries appreciate our serials it is a yay but when foreign content airs in Pakistan why is it a nay?
Please feel free to share your thoughts:)
