Pakistani Television's Conflicting Relationship with its Women
Writer | Urooj Mansab
When Nazir Ahmed Dehlvi gave us Akbari and Asghari in Murat Ul Uroos, the chances are, he did not now he was creating a prototype for Pakistani screenwriters of the 21st century to follow.
Pakistan’s female population of millions is only worth fitting in two caricatures on the Pakistani television screen. Or so the industry trends suggest. Women are either Khirads - confused, helpless, serving chai and asking their evil mother in laws “Mummy, yeh aap kya keh rahi hain?”; or, they are evil Rabis - ruthless, cunning, and plotting against the Khirads. The blatant categorisation of on screen women as only good or evil, or as the internet says, as a “bitch or bichari”, has been facing immense criticism from the Pakistani viewers and critics. The deep rooted misogyny and reliance, as well as an emphasis, on gender stereotypes suggests that Pakistani television has a conflicting relationship with its women. And a funny one too. By the time you finish reading this, a woman on television has already said “Aap fresh ho jayein, mein chai bana kar lati hoon” to her husband, another woman is crying, and another is plotting revenge.
(Source: @sugarmontings Twitter)
Roots of the rot
The modest damsel and vicious vamp portrayal is not just an entertainment trope, it is a result of a deep rooted conundrum that places women in merely two boxes - labeled good and bad. The dichotomy generally guides people in their judgement of women in the public sphere. The penetration of the ideals shown on screen is the reason for massive criticism and calls for a rehaul.
Kanwal Ahmed, founder of Soul Sisters Pakistan & host of Conversations with Kanwal, has shared her views on the Pakistani drama content on her social media platforms and her web show. She criticised the decision of one of Pakistan’s biggest female stars, Mahira Khan, for choosing conventionally regressive roles. She cited Mahira’s characters in Humsafar and Hum Kahan Ke Sachay Thay; especially the latter. Having the kind of agency and outreach that Mahira Khan’s voice has now, it is upsetting to see her continue to choose roles that show women as weak, crying and helpless.
“Mummy aap Kya keh rahi hain” se “Aswad aap kya keh rahe hain” ka suffer (pun fully intended). 10 years of promoting how to STAY “patiently” in (violently) emotionally abusive marriages on the top drama channel with the highest ratings.” – Kanwal Ahmed
Kanwal is not the only viewer tired of watching women like her cry on screen. Famous scholar Arfa Syeda Zehra has been a staunch critic of current-age dramas. In an interview to NayaDaur Pakistan she says, It saddens me. The kind of dramas that are being produced on television these days showing women as weak, helpless and wretched characters with no personality, no standing, no opinion, no dreams. How long will we keep writing stories of helpless women? How long?
“A story should motivate people to understand and stand for their rights. Instead, our dramas are portraying such a negative picture of women. If a woman is being suppressed or wronged, if she has no control over her life, she should be able to speak against it. If not with her words, she can defy with her actions. If not that, at least her expressions should convery what she likes and dislikes. We have taken that liberty from the women on our screen." – Arfa Syeda Zehra
Having lived the Haseena Moin era of television, Arfa Zehra is rightfully critical of the effects of regressive content. Her criticism has been echoed on platforms like Something Haute, Galaxy Lollywood and Images Dawn among various others.
"I don't know the agenda and purpose of these damas. Are they trying to say that women are beneath everything? That there is no one more stupid and more useless than a woman? If you portray half of the population of the society like this, what positive change can you bring?” – Arfa Syeda Zehra
Let's not turn it into a school
During the pandemic, Pakistani television screens had to undergo the pain of airing shows like Nand and Jalan - two huge Big Bang Entertainment productions. Both shows are an advanced prototype of all possible flaws the portrayal of women on screen could entail. When rightfully criticised, Fahad Mustafa, the producer of both shows had this to say:
“As a producer, there are hundreds of restrictions on us that we cannot show these subjects; now we’re only left with a handful which are about familial issues, domestic violence, romances or a few social stigmas. I believe TV is meant to entertain, let’s not turn it into a school.”
Let’s not turn it (TV) into a school, says one of the biggest producers in Pakistan. However, it is in fact TV that is still the most viewed medium of entertainment in Pakistan. As gatekeepers of the most consumed and most impactful medium, it seems like the rightful duty of producers like Fahad Mustafa to factor how quickly media shapes the thoughts of its viewers.
He further added, “Nowadays, everything is up for judgement and it is out of my hands. The success, itself, is a testament to the fact that people are watching them; I have not forced you to watch it at gunpoint, the audience is choosing it themselves.”
The people in question, however, have repeatedly criticised the themes of dramas he deems ‘successful’. Twitter, Instagram and the YouTube comment section of Pakistani dramas are a testament to its viewers disapproval. Let’s see a few for ourselves.
(Source: Twitter)
The Pakistani drama industry has come a long way since the infamous Zia Ul Haq’s regime. Labelled the worst period in Pakistani entertainment history, women in the media were mandated to wear the traditional ‘kameez dupatta’, their presence at large was restricted to selling detergents or household products on screen. Women’s agency on screen was juxtaposed as obscenity, which is a notion our country fights to this day. Mandating a dupatta to cover the head has also echoed on screen with dramas showing the ‘modest maidens’ dressed in traditional shalwar kameez and dupatta. If they are lucky and their life has more than one colour, their dupatta isn’t white.
An obsession with women’s virtue and modesty is clear as glass on Pakistani screens.
In more popular dramas like Humsafar (2011) and Hum Kahan Ke Sachay Thay (2021), we can see the false dichotomy between the modest damsel, who suffers poverty and grief, versus the modern Western tramp, who is trying to seduce the female protagonist’s love interest. In many ways, these media depictions affect our perception of women in real life. Conservatives know this too, which is why dramas like Churails (2020), which depicted the latter Western tramps as the protagonists of the story, received massive backlash. The backlash the show received indicated that not only should the ‘vamps’ not be represented, they should also not exist on our screens. Simply put, you can either be an ‘honourable’ female protagonist or you can not be happy on screen.
Pakistani feminists and women's rights activists are concerned about the portrayal of women in Pakistani dramas. Tasneem Ahmar, who runs a research institute on women-media relationships, says, “99.99% of TV drama in Pakistan is misogynist, patriarchal driven in its depiction and treatment of women issues.”
“No doubt that Pakistani Drama TV serials are hugely popular among all strata of Pakistani society, but unfortunately they waste their potential of doing better in projecting progressive values rather than regressive values vis a vis women’s depiction & support to equal rights.” – Tasneem Ahmar
No matter how incessantly Fahad Mustafa or his fraternity tries to convince that “this is what the masses want”, the playwrights of yesteryear disagree. So do we. The masses consume what is offered to them. If despite massive criticism, the industry can not judge what masses want, or better yet, what masses deserve, it seems like an insult to its viewers to offer the same recipe.
Is the audience to be blamed?
Characters like Shanaya and Azka from Ishq e Laa, Dr. Zubia from Yaqeen Ka Safar, Chammi from Aangan and Anaya from Sabaat are a testament to the audience wanting and appreciating progressive, complex, complete female characters. Characters that are not defined by what they wear or how many buckets of tears they fill. But, by how dynamic their personality is, their response in the face of adversity and their strength that is not defined by the support of a man in their life.
“My spirited heroines were a reaction to the regressive female characters in Urdu literature,'' – the iconic Haseena Moin.
Haseena Moin’s complex, yet progressive characters are still loved by the audience. Dr, Zoya from Dhoop Kinare, Zara from Tanhaiyan and Jahan Ara from Parosi are all ‘Haseena Moin girls’ who would have been vilified for over a dozen episodes if written today.
The problem with the dichotomy is not the storytelling, it is the reliance on and promotion of the idea it sells. It is not “offering what the audience wants”, it is lazy writing that refuses to acknowledge the problems it causes. It refuses to acknowledge its lack of respect for its audience, deeming it too ‘stupid’ to understand complex female characters. Or better yet, too ‘stupid’ to accept dynamic female characters.
A Pakistani woman’s experience is not limited to merely two shelves labelled 'good' and 'bad'. Its multifaceted portrayal has not just been accepted but also appreciated by the viewers. The industry's disinterest in offering better to its audience should feel insulting to an average viewer. For, it continues to shift the blame of its convenient stereotyping on the audience. Unless there is more than just recognition of a need for change, the audience must keep demanding its industry to do better, and offer better.
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