Sometimes you can really hate on the things that happen in Pakistani dramas, right?
While there will be the odd anomaly in the form of a Pakistani drama that restores your dwindling faith in television, at most you’ll find yourself watching a monotonous, painful loop of the same tropes over, and over, and over again. Our dramas have lost the essence they once held, from the glorious days of ‘Zindagi Gulzar Hai’ and ‘Dastaan,’ where they simmered in essence, hope and a beholding beauty.
These days it’s really easy to hate on Pakistani dramas, with plot lines recycled, reused with the same few themes.
Not only have they become uninteresting, but they’ve also become both crass and dull. While we must commend the few that bravely address societal taboos, they barely scratch the surface of them and simply take the easy way out – by merely ‘highlighting’ them (take ‘Ranjha Ranjha Kardi’ for example, when it was criticized for normalizing marital rape).
We asked the audience what they disliked the most in our current dramas, and we got some fantastic responses that serve as a red flag about the fading future of our entertainment industry.
1. One thing people really hated was Pakistani dramas showing that religious people only concentrated within the economically underprivileged classes
2. Is rain being idealized?
3. Religious characters seem to be shown as regressive and more often than not, antagonists.
4. Strong women are a rare breed these days – minus ‘Inkaar’ and ‘Cheekh.’
5. Clothes shouldn’t define who you are.
6. Women don’t have goals apart from getting married in most dramas.
7. Most dramas have become tedious in the plot, mostly because they’re verging on 40 episodes!
8. Urdu seems to have strayed from its correct use.
9. Characters are at most, very predictable i.e. “black or white.”
10. People are tired of seeing the same few themes recycle.
11. More relationships should be explored.
12. THIS IS VERY TRUE!
13. Are we being influenced by Indian culture?
14. Shalwar Kameez seems to be shown as not a dress of choice for the rich
15. Locations should change.
16. Life isn’t lived just by the extremely rich or the extremely poor, dramas often show two stark extremes.
17. An entire community is yet to be discovered in the realm of our dramas.
Do you agree with any of the points made?
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Cover image via: Hum Network Limited
