s Pakistani television’s portrayal of society accurate?

Yes and no.

The educated guess is that the likely response would be a firm ‘no.’ That is if you were a part of Pakistan Television’s bygone golden age.

Your response might be a resounding ‘yes’ and you may cite the burgeoning volume of television productions to support the argument that today’s drama industry is thriving. After all, why would the audience be licking up the numerous soaps and serials that are released each month if they did not represent the local culture and society?

Eight panellists explored how our society was represented on-screen and discussed whether Pakistani television was attuned to it in a session of the three-day Pakistan Literature Festival, held in Lahore this year.

Broaching the subject of television dramas in front of a packed hall audience, the participants wondered if they portrayed Pakistani society accurately.

The panel included veteran TV playwrights Asghar Nadeem Syed and Noor-ul Huda Shah, contemporary screenwriters Bee Gul and Amina Mufti, producer Kashif Nisar and actors Sohail Saeed and Sanam Saeed. Yasir Hussain, a television and movie actor, presided over the discussion.

As the session progressed, contemporary television dramas became the punching bag for most of the panelists, who voiced their disapproval of them. Nobody seemed willing to defend the new-age drama.

Although television broadcasts much more than drama serials; infotainment, news, documentaries and talk shows are as much a part of the TV as plays, the composition of the panel suggested that drama would remain a major talking point throughout the discussion.

Munawar Saeed opened the discussion on an optimistic note about the present-day drama, saying that he had watched a couple of good-quality plays in recent times.

“People like to complain about modern products, but they forget that in PTV’s heyday, drama production was limited to one play per week. That gave actors a lot of time to rehearse and reach perfection,” he said, adding “as time passes, things change. We should be open to accepting change.”

Saeed did, however, advise television drama producers to improve their content and incorporate more reformative themes in their work. He opined that while it was true that television was supposed to reflect society, it was also responsible for ‘reforming it.’

“TV drama can reflect the society only if the writer has creative freedom,” Asghar Nadeem Syed thundered. “When I ask my students at various universities if they feel that dramas represent their lives, their answer is always ‘no’,” said Syed.

As the session progressed, contemporary television dramas became the punching bag for most of the panelists, who voiced their disapproval of them. Nobody was willing to defend the new-age drama.

“Today’s drama centres around the theme of women’s marriage, whereas, in reality, women have other priorities. Today women are thinking about their profession, identity, political rights and so on. The disconnect is evident,” said Syed.

His statement was met with thunderous applause from the audience. “TV is not showing what is happening in Balochistan. It will never depict how a Sindhi woman is suffering,” Asghar Nadeem Syed added.

“It appears that repetitive themes plague our drama industry at a time there is plenty to say about democracy, rights, education and women’s emancipation,” he added.

Noor-ul Huda Shah, the next speaker, told the audience that she had stopped writing plays because she believed that the television industry was treating the viewers as a commodity.

“TV drama is all about ratings and nothing else,” she complained. “When I used to write dramas, I used to represent society by focusing on people’s problems; now the entire focus is on ratings,” said Shah.

Criticising the actors, Shah said that there was a dearth of television actors who could smoothly deliver their dialogues. “Actors try to sway the writers by saying, ‘Oh, we cannot recall such a lengthy dialogue, keep it short,’’” she explained.

Sohail Ahmed, the evergreen comedian, carried the conversation forward with his serious, occasionally amusing, remarks. According to him, new authors and producers were skilled at imitating foreign cultures.

“This is only happening in Pakistan,” he said. “Otherwise, culture preservation is valued across the globe,” he added. “Writers are the ambassadors of the society. They should take the lead in conserving culture,” said Ahmed.

He held that, contrary to popular belief, television did not show the type of content that the public wanted to see. Pointing out how social media had altered the dynamic altogether, he said “a viral video can make you famous. Who cares about the quality?”

Yasir Hussain was curious as to why today’s writers were unable to create projects that resonated with the people. Amna Mufti took the floor to respond to the question. “When society becomes a commodity, it becomes averse to high-quality work,” posited Mufti. “We are attempting to deliver something under challenging working conditions,” she stated.

Bee Gul said that television was a collaborative medium. It was impossible for anything to work out in isolation. She surmised that the actors, writers and producers were all responsible for the downfall of TV drama.

Sanam Saeed joined the chorus, criticising the content of the contemporary TV plays. Speaking of the characterisation, she complained that it had become weak over time. “I haven’t acted in the past four years because, unlike ten years ago, the roles offered to me wield little to no power,” she said.

While it was an insightful discussion, the session could have had a smaller and more balanced panel and a moderator armed with a greater variety of questions. A judicious allocation of speaking time among the panellists too could have helped.

The writer is a media veteran interested in politics, consumer rights and entrepreneurship