Media Magick

How Pakistani Dramas Are Causing The Cultural Shift For All The Wrong Reasons

There was a time when Pakistani dramas were regarded as both entertaining and educational. Writers like Amjad Islam Amjad, Munnu Bhai, Anwar Maqsood, Bano Qudsia, Ashfaq Ahmed and Haseena Moin etc. brought serious issues on television screens. Those issues were tackled maturely, sensibly and cautiously; making them suitable for kids, adults and youth all at the same time. Gone are the days when Pakistani society and audience were in the habit of presented with quality entertainers that didn’t just bring a smile to the faces of kids but also made youth and adults realize how to differentiate between the black, white and grey areas of life.

The drama industry of Pakistan is churning out mediocre content on so many levels. Due to Covid 19 and work from home situation, I watched a few dramas and I was upset and disappointed with them on so many levels. The stories of most of the dramas revolve around conspiracies that are either they are targeted towards mother-in-laws or daughter-in-laws. Manipulation in relationships is widely shown in TV dramas, not only that, extra-marital affairs are not considered as a taboo in our drama industry. Every drama is filled with these plots. Dramas seem to have lost the substance. If Pakistani dramas have to depict the culture of Pakistan, it will not be wrong to quote and undertake that Pakistani society is filled with gold-diggers, women suppressing and destroying other women, family members scheming conspiracies about their family.

I was shocked to watch Jalan, the recently started drama on ARY Digital; the premise of the drama disturbing, a girl trying to marry her elder sisters’ husband that too by calling off her engagement with the boy who loves her unconditionally. The kind of message that drama is communicating to the viewers will bring tolerance and acceptance to such evil acts. There is a lot to ask to the makers of Jalan. Normalizing thoughts and ideas like these are definitely not needed in our society.

Another drama that caught my attention is Mohabbat Tujhe Alvida, airing on HUM TV, the drama hugely reminds of Indian film Judaai that featured Sri Devi, Anil Kapoor and Urmila Matondkar. The trailer of Mohabbat Tujhe Alvida depicts that Sonya Hussyn lets her husband (Zahid Ahmed) marry his boss (Mansha Pasha) to get rich – the same plot that Judaai had. In addition to that, those who have watched Judaai can easily spot the similarity in Sonya Hussyn’s acting with Sri Devi’s. From expressions to pauses and from dialogue delivery to exclamations, it doesn’t look more than a replica. The drama lacks realistic touches. Dialogues are very badly written i.e. superfluously. They bear no resemblance to real life. I was laughing hard at the selection of words and statements that are used in the office setting in the drama. Lack of understanding towards professional organization’s communication is the biggest turn-off.

Finally, after gathering a lot of negative sentiments on social media because of “Nepotism”, I watched Zebaish that is directed by Iqbal Hussain and written by Bushra Ansari. The drama is sloppily written and has many indecent terms that families might not feel comfortable when watching together. For instance, the words used by the character of Chhotey Sarkar are way too derogatory to be used for women. The unfortunate part is that this drama is written by a woman, and writing such demeaning terms for women is something that makes you wonder why women don’t get powerful characters with dignified words that used to be written back in the days of Tanhaiyaan, Nijaat, Dasht and Kashkol days. We have all seen such characters in dramas but the dialogues were aesthetically and smartly written back then.

Many other dramas are showcasing a ruthless, indecent and negative side of the society in abundance. If you want to make a society decent, mentally educated and groomed then you need to change your dramas. Drama is the cheapest form of entertainment and is served to everyone in their homes. Drama makers and channels should think thousand times about what they are serving to their market in their homes. Individuals from every age bracket watch these dramas and sending negative and ill messages to the subconscious mind will turn the society to bad. There are wrongdoings in society; no one is denying that but highlighting and glorifying it is not something that anyone will advise. Let’s hope someday Pakistani dramas will again find their respect based on the quality of the content.