A Modern Parody of Classic Tracks

“Life is an obstacle course. You succeed at one thing and then you move on to the next. When an obstacle is tough, you try harder. When an obstacle is insurmountable, you change course. But you never sit down and refuse to finish.”

‘Zindagi’ channel alighted like a refreshing morning cup of tea in the lives of those Indian viewers who were fed up with Ekta Kapoor ‘s soap opera trend, just three months ago when Zee Entertainment launched it. Melodious soundtracks, realistic shows, incredible acting, and incredibly beautiful Urdu came to characterise the colours of the Zindagi Rainbow.

‘Zindagi Gulzar Hai’ based on the novel of a Pakistani writer Umera Ahmed and directed by Pakistani director Sultana is the signature show of the channel. Fawad Khan a super charming hero got a sudden fillip among Indian fans. ‘Aunn-Zara’ and ‘Noorpur ki Rani’ also entertained the public in a unique and aesthetic way, showcasing cultures and emotions. These were and are different from the typical glamorous shows on other Indian entertainment channels. Even the ones centred around women marked a paradigm shift from the unending Saas-Bahu sagas.

The channel started with the tagline ‘Sarhad Paar bhi Zindagi Vaisi hi Hai’ to stress the commonalities amongst the peoples of India and Pakistan, and indeed South Asia and the world. We share the same stages and layers of thinking and concerns across borders. These are the same as in all the countries the struggles of the poor, the plight of women and the hard living conditions for the man without resources have a common thread. The serials on the channel in that sense present the mainstream conversation of Pakistan.

Women characters are revealing the discourse of Pakistani women. Zindagi Gulzar Hai, Noorpur Ki Rani both present a lower middle class background where the protagonists make their lives with hard work and education. They wish to lead an independent life with dream and self pride intact, but face the hard reality when they get married. They are unhappy and unsatisfied as they do not want to live their lives as defined by the Man. Their story is of hardship and they ultimately choose the path of compromise, accept male supremacy and become a subsidiary organ of the family. Only after fulfilling the ‘preordained’ duties they get their due respect in the society. Working women who strictly follow the ‘sacred woman’ aconcept are the central characters of these television serials.

There is a certain visible hatred for liberated women. The central male characters are clearly against rights and freedoms for women, in that women with interests other than the home are not tolerated, and their characters portrayed negatively.

In the Indian serials this is not said as directly. Our television producers are smart enough to ignore the voices of the liberated women and thereby ensure that they are not able to claim the public space without declaring it from the rooftops. Of course insofar as women are concerned there is little difference in the message in the serials of both countries, just a little difference in craftsmanship. Working women are frowned upon, and do not have a positive space in these shows.

The rich Urdu on the Zindagi channel is very refreshing and has successfully blasted the rusty wall of “Ekta Kapoor’s K-Fort.” Recently Kashaf Murtaza (ZGH) real name Sanam Saeed said in an interview” This success is a sweet revenge of us what Bollywood does to our film industry.”

It is true that we don't know what we've got until we lose it but it's also true that we don't know what we've been missing until it arrives. So Zindagi has come to with a return to romance, culture, like a modern parody of classic tracks.