By Anil Merani: Zee Zindagi, in response to the concerns of the Pakistani audience, has decided to withdraw their controversial show, Barzakh, featuring Fawad A Khan and Sanam Saeed, from YouTube Pakistan. This decision, made in consideration of the Pakistani public, was influenced by the show’s unconventional content.
This six-episode series (with the final episode set to be dropped tonight) has been controversial in Pakistan. The criticism was primarily directed at its portrayal of homosexuality (Saifullah played Fawad M Khan) and reincarnation content, seen as conflicting with Islamic rules and cultural norms. Several Pakistani YouTubers had publicly criticized the efforts of Waqas Hassan (producer) and Asim Abbasi (writer-director).
This withdrawal from Pakistan will not affect Zindagi, for the show continues to stream in all other territories. Zee always targeted the South Asian diaspora and the global audience in the West.
The series also streams on Zee 5 platform in India and globally. Zee also hopes to ride Fawad and Sanam’s India popularity crest and pick up significant hits. They did a lot of video interviews with both the cast. (They did not get them to Mumbai, though) However, Zee has yet to communicate with us regarding numbers. Usually, if you strike gold, you dish out numbers, but nothing of that so far.
The Pakistani market was an added plus at best.
Despite the show’s withdrawal, many Pakistani fans show determination and commitment by turning to VPNs to continue watching the series.
Zee must have always been aware of the pitfall, yet they collaborated with Pakistani makers to go beyond only Indian content. Its Urdu drama industry is robust and has a global reach.
One other reason for this withdrawal could be drop-in viewership. According to Daily Times Pakistan The first episode has attracted 2.2 million views, the second has drawn in 776 thousand views and the third has reached 288 thousand views as many Pakistanis have expressed that the series fails to resonate with them due to its portrayal of themes that they believe contradict Islamic teachings.
While queer content is not palatable to several South Asians yet it is an integral part of the narrative; if you wish to speak to target the cash-rich Gen Zee in the West.
Fawad and Sanam became known names in India courtesy of Zindagi TV’s show Zindagi Gulzar Hai.
It would be interesting to see how the makers, Fawad, and Sanam face the backlash and whether it affects their careers. Many Pakistani rivals might not like them to collaborate with the enemy (India), And here, the allegation is that content runs afoul of Islamic values.
This will also dampen efforts by others to create more Indo-Pak collaborations. Liberal believe that people-to-people contact is one good way to end the perpetual animosity between New Delhi and Islamabad.
