“We are very careful about how women are portrayed in our plays.”

With one episode left, drama serial Khaani is nearing its end and it wouldn’t be wrong to say that it has created history for several reasons, including the fact that its popularity is not based on the onscreen romance or compatibility of the leading couple; it’s actually hard to believe that the extremely popular leads of Khaani – Feroze Khan as Mir Hadi and Sana Javed as the titular character Khaani - have no actual romantic scenes together. There are very few drama serials that have managed to rivet the audience with a social or political message as Khaani has, and that too with unprecedented popularity.

These are highly politicized times we live in, where crime and violence overshadow our very existence. This is what established the root and foundation of an idea that was then written so effectively by Asma Nabeel and directed brilliantly by Anjum Shahzad. We spoke to the producers, Abdullah Kadwani and Asad Qureshi of 7th Sky Entertainment, who took Khaani under their wing as their signature project and worked on creating this drama serial that was realistic, tragic but progressive at the same time.

It is a common belief that regressive plays get higher ratings and that tears and misery help the numbers. It helps ratings to show a woman getting slapped or physically violated, miserable and crying. How true is that?

“As producers, we have to show a certain misery because that’s what the reality is and therefore that’s what people relate to. But if people believe that misery is the only thing that sells, then that’s completely wrong,” Abdullah Kadwani, one of the two directors at 7th Sky Entertainment replied. “Shehr-e-Zaat and Daam proved that theory wrong. A man raising his hand on a woman is something that we’ll never advocate. We are even working on some projects where we have tried to create a sense of confrontation but at the end of the day, it’s the good that’s the winner and not otherwise. We are in fact very careful about how women are portrayed and treated in our plays because we both have daughters and that changes our perspective.”

“The thing is that oppression and regression is happening in reality and we often have to show reality,” Asad Qureshi, the other director at 7th Sky Entertainment, added. “But the emphasis is not to encourage heroism of the person who’s the oppressor because where we talk about women empowerment; we also address that oppression is looked down upon and there’s no justification for it. You can show oppression as a symbolic thing but not make it repetitive.”

The character of Khaani, one has to say, is portrayed in a very progressive light, where the heroine may be crying and mourning the loss of her brother but she takes a stand against his murderer and does not fall for his declarations of love, even until the bitter end. It would have been unforgivable had Khaani actually fallen in love with her brother’s murderer, as many had expected and perhaps even feared.

Should TV dramas, which influence millions of viewers across the country, strike a balance between what is real and what has aspirational value?

“We actually need a debate on this and this dialogue should be open for all,” said Asad. “We both have daughters and I am not in favour of presenting anything I am not comfortable with sitting down and watching with her. My biggest self-censorship is that anything that I make should be viewed by my daughter, my wife or my sister.”

They added that the biggest underlying theme of Khaani would be the focus on “upbringing and the impact of good or bad upbringing on the youth.”

Indeed, this was focussed upon in the latest episode, in which Mir Hadi’s mother Sitara acknowledges the fact that she did not raise Mir Hadi as a responsible and respect worthy citizen. These are all messages that are very important to go out and influence people. One can only hope that beyond the hype and hoopla, drama serial Khaani will manage to achieve just that.