The present Pakistani serials are stereotypical and lack depth. They are a far cry from the good old PTV plays which were far more developed, had finer language, were intricate and nuanced in their writing and gave an insight into human psyche and our country’s culture. There are a few fine actors even now but it has become an assembly line, formulaic production factory. As a result, the good ones are also stuck in a rut. Yes, Pakistani serials may be lapped up in India but that’s because Indian productions are worse—most of them have no concept of script, no intelligent interaction between key characters, and no development of the main and side characters. Indeed, Indian serials are just shoddy with unreal and jerky screenplays. Pakistani serials right now have more of a semblance of character development and better screenwriting and this is thanks to the lineage of fine quality TV plays we once used to have, even though they are a highly deteriorated version of them.
The problem that Pakistan TV dramas face is the dearth of good writers. Writers of cheap stories in not-so-reputed magazines are writing plays. They really have no idea about teleplays or screenplays and they have limited exposure to TV or cinema. Not much time is spent on script development or direction, which used to be so involved earlier. Now they don’t have script-reading sessions, actors’ movement rehearsals or camera angle rehearsals which old PTV plays used to have. These days, plays are churned out quickly, scripts arrive on sets and often even interactive scenes are shot in the absence of the characters—in close shots to be edited in later. Also, earlier we used to have fine writers who incorporated wit and humour in plays like Doosra Kinara, Tanhayann, Unkahi, Mirza and Sons and so many more. Now there are no traces of humour and wit—if there’s any humour it is third-rate slapstick and tacky, below-the-belt jokes. Unfortunately, sophistication has left the studio.
Mohsin Sayeed is a social commentator based in Karachi
