Right now when we all know that the Pakistani drama industry is in all it’s glory, our industry is not only being appreciated in Pakistan but worldwide as well. I feel the content that our respected writers are exposing us to, is fictitious. I have seen so many weak story-lines coming into execution just because they were dealing with some sort of taboos of our society. I hate to say but even the rules of Islam are being ridiculed just because some writer somewhere thought that there wasn’t anything else left to write a story about so why not play with our very fragile concepts of Islam too?

Without taking any names of the dramas I’ll speak about so many negativity that the writers & then the whole production team has shown to us over the last few years. Divorce has now become a major part of our story line. If one or the other couple in any of our drama is NOT divorced then according to the writer, the drama won’t be a hit. It’s ohkay, divorce has gotten a lot more common but that is just because the society is moving away from the teachings of Islam & that doesn’t mean that they have to use these close to real-life incidents to actually bring it on our screens for their own revenue.

The term ‘Halala’ was taught to us by our parents as something which depicted a severe punishment set by Allah in response to the divorce. While surfing through some channels I actually started watching this so called comedy serial on one of our well-reputed channels & there the guy who jokingly told the girl that why don’t you get married to this guy & divorce him & ‘phir tum Halala kar lena’. I think these are the fine lines which should never be joked about consciously or unconsciously, because the media is our mind-controlling machine & it is set to program the viewers minds. We learn mostly what we see on the TV & this fact can not be doubted. Anyways, listening to this term actually made me cringe because I don’t think it gives a right to any of the content or dialogue writer to just blurt out anything in the name of a comedy?

Came across one of the drama serials about an year ago where a wife’s husband gets into a serious situation with wife’s sister & then the ‘satti savitri’ sister gets divorced just because her husband couldn’t hold his horses, after getting married to the younger sister he realizes that his ex-wife was better & then he comes back telling her that if she agrees for Halala, he’ll be fine with it. I mean what sort of a message was being conveyed through such a drama? That it’s the guy who was at fault & just because NOW he wants his wife back, he wants her to go through such a huge thing.

Ohkie, now all the sisters in the world according to our media are evil. This is the new trend set off after Maat. I didn’t dislike the story or the concept of Maat because yes for the whole audience it was something new to see. But ever since it seems like the writers limited their thinking prowess & got stuck in the Maat era, literally trashing every single relation that two sisters can experience in their life. Be it a sister’s husband, or sister’s fiance, nothing was spared & rather maligned just for the sake of entertainment. What we came to see in Maat was even based on reality that the husband or the wife does tend to grow out of each other in years & this is what the character of Saba Qamar did just because she had other standards in life, therefore choosing a more well-settled husband for herself. But after this serial so many other dramas came to surface with similar story line but with actually a lot more sickness that one couldn’t even think of.

I know so many of our writers are well respected for one writing of theirs or the other, but in this matter I do appreciate Umera Ahmed because she does highlight all the negatives of our societies but every time she has a lesson to be conveyed through them, to which most of us in fact all of us can relate to, but her caliber is different. The wavelength of her stories is far beyond than many of the writers out there, who later try to make stories by picking up a few bits & bobs from her original stories. I saw so many dramas which were always similar to Umera Ahmed’s writings but the level was completely different or in simple terms a bit more commercial with some ‘tarka’.

A whole new campaign I would say prevalent on our screen these days is the marriage of a girl & then her ordeals. Her saas, her nand, her irresponsible husband & what not. The one who stands up for herself becomes the negative character & the one who works like a ‘massi’ & doesn’t demand anything in return becomes the best example of a ‘bahu’. Every girl knows that marriage comes with a lot of happiness but with certain baggage attached so why only focus on the bad side of the picture in stead of maintaining a balance?

Another interesting in fact disgusting thing that I noticed was that every younger one of the sister’s duo is a gold-digger. Each & every drama told the story of a younger sister being the evil & the materialistic one, to such a point that she is ready to take her sister’s place. These days this drama is on-air in which some Nikkah got wrong (a whole new level of ignorance shown) but just because the youngest sister has seen where her eldest is going to be married, she now is having thoughts of staying in the Nikkah with her jeeja. Another, in fact so many of the dramas have been been on-air showing that the younger sisters are the evil ones & the elders are better than the saints which actually is completely false. In real lives, I have seen so many of the younger sisters actually a bit more mature than the elder ones.

For once I want to see ONE such drama in which the sisters bonding is shown nicely. I think Khoya Khoya Chand is the currently on-air drama which shows that the two sisters have a good relationship (though I didn’t see but could figure out from some of the glimpses). & a few months ago Tanhaiyan Naye Silsilay showed some refreshing bonding of two sisters, though I was not a fan but because it walked on the lines set by the original Tanhaiyaan, it showed some nice bonding between the sisters & apart from these I just can not recall any other drama? Extra-marital affair is another spicy aspect of one’s married life that our drama writers are resorting too. Every other guy in the drama these days is shown having an extra marital affair & when exposed he gives such insane arguments that we just can’t help nodding our heads in disbelief. The current on-air & much hyped drama has taken such a sick turn which I would definitely wouldn’t want to see where a girl is framing her own father with some evil schemes & taking a help of her own friend. I think this was the last thing which I ever even thought of seeing on Pakistani Television??? The same girl goes around proposing her step-brother, I think we have now taken liberalism to a whole new level!

I feel there are so many aspects of our life which can be represented through our dramas & in such a time of distress I don’t think anyone would want to switch on the TV to actually get hold of a bit more of a negativity around. A few dramas do touch some norms but in such a way that tackling them doesn’t become difficult & we actually want to see what happens more but I feel all the time focusing on the similar story lines again & again makes it a lot more tiresome & nothing to be amazed about.

I do see dramas of other ethnicity in which they also speak about their social standards & even the love stories but I feel they are more decent in approach towards their social norms than we are. We always tend to cross just so many lines even when we see a love story, sadly! It is interesting that even those countries are known for their negativeness but the way they portray their lifestyle is commendable. Speaking of India & about their lifestyle – which I know on a personal level too, strategically what we see on their TV screen is completely opposite. All those glamorous ladies with extravagant lavish homes, even to the point where it looks unreal (in fact it is unreal obviously) but this is what we call as image management. They show things which only represents a certain class of India but in Pakistan where the lifestyle & standards are so much better than so many countries, sadly our drama writers are trying to spoil everything – be it our image, our relations, our culture & so much more.

Every-time I have a discussion with any of the people around me & even whenever I read the comments, it is quite satisfying to know that people think on all these lines & never hold back in labeling them as cheapness. I, then fail to understand that which percentage of Pakistanis are these who approve of all this on coming on to our TV screens??? I hope that we see some reality based dramas in a whole different light & the aspect which makes our norms & life look more real without any such ‘mirch masala’ or any such tag lines which may scream that Pakistan is a depressed country with depressed people.

Keep Supporting,
Cheers,
Zahra Mirza.

Many new dramas have started recently, the viewers have a wide range of storylines, cast and crew to choose from. While the viewers may start watching a drama based on its cast and crew but the fact of the matter is that at the end of the day what really matters is that how engaging a play actually is. Many dramas which were not on top of the list previously have made their way on the top and some plays which people started watching enthusiastically have gone down because they failed to keep the audience engaged.

The first episode of Aasmano Pe Likha tops the list despite of the fact that it had some good competition on other channels. People watched this first episode more than giving their time to plays like Kadurat and Darmiyan which air on the same day.

Aunn Zara is second on the list beating plays like Khoya Khoya Chand, Maan Ke Moti and Justuju on the leading channels. This is a great success for Aplus, one which many couldn’t have predicted at all.

Kankar is third on the list which means that it has some loyal viewers who did not stop watching the play although the play Kabhi Kabhi which is also very appealing has started on ARY.

Adhoori Aurat is the fourth on the list. With the drama drawing to a close and some dramatic twists and turns in the story, the viewers are more interested in finding out how the story will unwind.

Mera Hamrahi even with its weak storyline and slow pace is number fifth on the list leaving behind a much more engaging play Halki Si Khalish, which did not make it to the list at all.

Kadurat is on sixth, which means that Darmiyan is gradually lagging behind.

Tar e Ankaboot is on number seventh although the story of Rishtey Kuch Adhoorey Se has gotten much more entertaining too.

Darmiyan is on number eight and it is surprising that Aseer Zadi and Numm even with a star cast have bagged TRPs that are not very impressive. Out of all the plays that are in the last five positions, Quddusi Sahab Ki Bewa is the most unbelievable one since it has been on air for the longest time but still is always there in the top charts.

This list looks very realistic, do share your opinion about it.

2013 has brought glory for the Pakistani Entertainment Industry. Independent movies made by amateur Pakistanis have reached different movie festivals all over the world. Pakistani talent is being appreciated far and wide, and recently a Pakistani movie ‘Zinda Bhaag’ has also reached the Oscars.

Sharaz Ali is the director of the movie ‘Writhe’, which had the opportunity to feature in the Cannes Film Festival 2013. The short film has Armeena Rana Khan and Geoff Cooper as the leads. The story revolves around a woman’s mental pain and suffering due to an incident that occurred in her life.

Sharaz might have lived in Derby for most of his life, but his roots are still from Pakistan. He aspired to make an independent film, and though he faced many difficulties; he stayed determined and finally managed to complete his film with a lot of hard work and dedication. He had stated that he had no high hopes for the movie to get selected at the Cannes Film Festival, and had entered it in the spur of the moment, but he was in for a pleasant surprise when he got the acceptance mail. His film gave him an opportunity to mingle with the Hollywood’s elite crowd which included names like the Oscar winning actress Jennifer Lawrence and James Franco; the star from the Spiderman series. All the stars had nothing but praise for his spectacular short film. Writhe was also premiered in London after its success in the Cannes Film Festival.

Here is an interview of Sharaz Ali where he talks about his movie Writhe, his experience of working with Armeena Rana Khan, and why his movie has not released in Pakistan yet.

• How did the concept of ‘Writhe’ evolve? Is it based on any true incident?

‘Writhe is based on a true story’, I said standing this in front of the packed screening room…

Followed by ‘no, not really’, after receiving some raised eye brows!

Even though it is not based on a true story, the core ingredients are all very much true and one that the audiences of countries such as Pakistan have seen much too often- domestic violence, rape and suicide due to depression and lack of support from the community. Writhe touches on all these in a way where the beauty of the shots, the audience don’t get hit with it until they have walked away- once the film has finished and discussion begins of the intentionally multilayered story.

• Armeena Rana Khan is a new sensation of Pakistan. How was the experience of working with her?

She is a director’s dream, as she takes direction very well, easy to work with and gives 110% each take. I am really pleased and have every faith in her that she will keep surpassing audience expectations and be a force to reckon with in the future.

The first day of shooting was on a brisk winter morning- the sun was out but not everyone could tell the temperature was in the minus! Everyone was layered up and freezing yet thanks to me, Armeena had to be a thin red dress- she was feeling like an ice cube, but kept marching on with each take! I think that was the point I knew she in it with me and her professional commitment showed.

•  Do you think that Armeena has portrayed the character well? Would you like to work with her in future as well?

I pictured this almost innocent, beautiful woman in this big, bad world of London and she played that to perfection. Armeena has a beautiful face but her eyes were the key and window to her pain and suffering, as seen in the poster. Not only that, you also see something sinister brewing in there and that is why she was perfect for the role!

Armeena is a pleasure to work with and we have become a close friend since our shoot together, we have complete faith in each others talent. We have been eager to work together since Writhe, but time has been the only barrier for our future collaborations. We have many interesting projects in development so watch this space!

•  Do you have any intention to release ‘Writhe’ in Pakistan? If no, then how Pakistani fans of Armeena will be able to see it? 


I think most of the Pakistani audiences would have heard of Writhe in the Writhe special bulletin on ARY. ARY was there exclusively to cover the screening, and had exclusive access to some of the footage for their report.

I am finalizing a deal with some online/on demand companies where the film will eventually be available for audiences from around the world.

•  What according to you is the secret ingredient for making a successful film?

Making a successful film needs a team – a tight, well-polished and hardworking team. You can have a great script, but it could get ruined in the shoot, or have a great shoot and ruin it in post, and even having the best actor sometimes doesn’t help if you take big Hollywood examples; if the rest of the team didn’t perform! Overall, you need a well-oiled machine and each cog needs to be on the same page – once you have that, success will follow.

So in this instance, I had a great idea I was enthusiastic about, great team and a beautiful actress who was made for the role! I knew exactly what I want to shoot with and how to get the shots I require, which I believe gave the rest of the team more confidence in me and believed in my vision. Just knowing that they trusted me was humbling, and also stressful- as it’s all on me!

•  Don’t you think parallel cinema is only for a limited audience as mostly people would not be able to digest the stories? 


Parallel cinema is, at the starting point for a niche audience, which then spills over to slightly more mainstream when audience hunger for different, creative or new age cinema content grows.

In Pakistan, I know my film maybe bold for the general audience, but I know the younger generation will grasp this as an alternative to the norm. I am not saying Pakistani cinema needs a change or is dead as many reports suggest, but more so that as a global audience, I would like to give Pakistanis next generations something more rewarding to watch and something that’s not entertaining, but brings to light many issues in a creative way.

I know finance is also a very key issue here but if we can push/fund quality instead of quantity, younger filmmakers who see things differently like myself and born in Pakistan to share the vision and voice- eventually this will bring our Lollywood industry up to date and up to scratch.

This will eventually, bring a blurred line between mainstream and parallel cinema which in return will do what cinema is supposed to; give the audience a choice of what they would like to watch.

I believe in coming years, we need to move with the times but also not forget our roots. This will bring a positive change to the industry, the audience acceptance and the country’s stand in the film world.

•  What message would you like to give to the young film makers in Pakistan?

As a filmmaker, I know sometimes you have to compromise your vision to get to the end result… As an individual who has seen change from the outside, lived in Pakistan and seen it from both sides. The best advice I can offer is to keep working on your art, keep your focus and patience as it’s not an easy industry- anywhere in the world to break into and we have a saying here, ‘You’re only as good as your last work!’ so make sure each projects counts.

Finally, as I am sure you already know, the more you do the more you learn, so don’t stop or give up at the first hurdle, the race is long and only with yourself- so only you can push yourself to the finish line!

•  Would you ever consider working in Pakistan?

I would love to work in Pakistan- either in the TV or Film world. Besides being a challenge, I think I can teach and learn from a country that I would like to push into the world via its creative platforms.

This year was the first time I had gone to the Cannes Film Festival with my films, and to hear people saying that my film was the ONLY Pakistani film in the festival was astonishing. I thought to myself, how could an industry as large as Lollywood not have anything here?

For this reason, I would like to come and help develop, change and mold the industry to help get positive recognition, show its talent and of course that we can and are a competitive force in the film industry!

Mariam Shafiq