From slapping women to sexual abuse being used as pivot points, Instep explores 5 things that need to be taken off Pakistani television right now…
The last few years have been huge for Pakistan’s television industry and the whopping TRPs are testament to that. However, amongst all the highs the industry has seen, there are some definite lows too – things, which have made the connoisseurs of Pakistani television, question the future of the craft.
From slapping women to sexual abuse being used as pivot points, Instep explores 5 things that need to be taken off Pakistani television waves right now…
Glorification of abusers
Leave it to television screenwriters to make any criminal or abuser look good for the impressionable minded audience that doesn’t think twice about what they’re consuming. Be it narratives about murderers being forgiven and getting their heroine or abusers getting away with crimes, there’s a desperate need for some stereotypes to be swept away soon. Some of the plays that have been criticised for romanticizing / glorifying rapists include Saba Qamar and Zahid Ahmed starrer Sangat.
The girl next door
Remember the time when television plays didn’t just revolve around the story of the quirky girl next door whose only wish was to find true love? Apparently a lot of writers and producers don’t. Recent years have seen numerous TV plays that revolve around the same theme. Some of them are Ghar Titli Ka Par, Mera Khuda Janay, Khamoshi and the recently concluded Hina Altaf and Azfar Rehman starrer Aatish. One wonders if the new generations to come will realise that there was more to television when shows like Dhoop Kinare and Tanhaiyaan existed.
The evil saas
Long gone are the days of evil mother-in-laws but it seems that television is stinking to this stereotype strongly. Apparently, the mother is so insecure of her own child finding happiness that she can’t help but destroy things around him. If that isn’t enough, the lifelong campaign to ruin reputations of people who the stereotypical saas makes one question if any sense of accountability exists in the world of Pakistani plays. We can’t forget Ashar’s mother, essayed by Atiqa Odho, in the super hit drama Humsafar but we have had enough of it.
The victim
A stereotype Pakistani television just can’t seem to get out of, the victim is the easiest hackneyed thing to put in the screenplay, it seems. Prevalent throughout narratives seen on most television channels, these women are made into cookie-cutter examples of those who despite being in unhappy marriages, abusive relationships and torturous families accept their fate with a smile. If this wrongful glorification of abuse for TRPs isn’t ruining television, then what is? Tumse Hi Taluq Hai, Khamoshi, Lamhe and Mere Khudaya are some of the names that come to one’s mind while we think of suppressed women on the small screen.
The crazed lover
Pakistani television and its plays may have tried to work and change this stereotype the most, but unfortunately, we’ve only seen it getting worse. Using problematic premises to introduce the future ‘knights in shining armours’ to the audience, the obsessive lovers are often shown through villainous ways in the start, who go crazy on a scale of buying love through money to actually murdering their heroine’s family members. However, like magic, all they need is a romantic fantasy to change their minds, and voila, they reform!
