Pakistani dramas

Humsafar was directed by Sarmad Sultan Khoosat and starred Mahira Khan, Fawad Afzal Khan and Naveen Waqar. It was based on a novel written by Farhat Ishtiaq and was the highest-rated Pakistani television series of all the time.

A Pakistani drama (Template:Lang-ur) is a limited-run serial drama popular in Pakistan and among its diaspora. Most Pakistani dramas are produced in Urdu as well as other Pakistani languages.

Format

File:Pyaray-Afzal-1.png

Pyarey Afzal (Urdu: پیارے افضل, English: Dear Afzal) is a Pakistani romantic drama serial directed by Nadeem Baig and written by Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar.

Pakistani dramas are known for being short and usually end after a run of less than one year. This makes them shorter than soap operas, but still much longer than serials. Most Pakistani dramas are based on Urdu novels, however sometimes the story tends to deviate away from the novel in order to be television compatible. They have also been used repeatedly to transmit socio-cultural messages, by incorporating them into story lines. Traditionally, Pakistani dramas have been more appealing to women rather than men, however newer action dramas have slowly attracted younger male audiences in recent years and has overall helped in attracting a wide audience across the country. Recent Pakistani dramas have evolved in the structure of their plots and in the themes they address. For instance, women are now seen having more non-traditional roles. Moreover, previously taboo themes such as divorce, sexual abuse and racism are now beginning to appear. Kissing on screen however is still considered unacceptable for Pakistani TV.

Genres

Pakistani dramas tend to fall within these six categories:

• Middle-class melodrama set in urban regions and usually features a woman or man falling in love with one another and the hardships that follow.
• Rural drama set in rural regions and tends to me more traditional and tends to portray a poor woman or man who falls in love with a rich man or woman. This genre is usually noted for its simplicity and strong dialogues.
• Comedy drama have elements of comedy and drama, having both humorous and sometimes serious content.
• Historical drama usually portrays the life of a famous Pakistani in the past.
• Teen drama is a new genre which portrays the lives of teenagers and features coming-of-age related issues.
• Mystery/Thriller drama typically portray a major problem (death, disappearance, stolen money, kidnapping) which may tear couples and families apart.

List of Pakistani dramas

See also: List of Pakistani television series

Notable dramas

Pakistani dramas with the highest views of all time

Dramas	Channel	Date
Humsafar	Hum TV	September 24, 2011 - March 3, 2012
Pyarey Afzal	ARY Digital Network	26 November 2013 – August 12, 2014
Khuda Aur Muhabbat	Geo Entertainment	February 17, 2011 – May 26, 2011
Zindagi Gulzar Hai	Hum TV	30 November 2012 – 24th May 2013
Aasmanon Pay Likha	Geo Entertainment	August 18, 2013 - 5th March 2014

Music

See also: Pakistani music

Original soundtracks, abbreviated as OST, are explicitly made for each series and plays an important role in Pakistani dramas. They are generally pre-recorded by professional playback singers. OST have its own status in Pakistani dramas and play an important in enhancing the reputation and/popularity. In a drama, OST has been used for many purposes including heightening a situation, accentuating a mood, commenting on theme and action, providing relief and serving as interior monologues.

Actors and Actresses

See also: List of Pakistani actors

See also: List of Pakistani actresses

Producers

See also: List of television channels in Pakistan

Awards

File:Hum award.jpg

Fawad Khan receiving award from Hamza Ali Abbasi

The annual PTV National Awards were presented by the Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) to honor the best drama programs on Pakistani television of the preceding 12 months

The Lux Style Award ceremony is one of the most prominent events given for Pakistani Drama. The awards have been dubbed "Pakistan's Oscars" .

The Pakistan Media Award Over a year the ceremony garnered great attention due to the wide range of categories they presents for awarding.Pakistan Media Awards televised recorded in more than seven countries.

The Hum Award is reputed as an official ceremony of Hum TV. Hum channel present the awards only to its own channel dramas, but in Fashion and music, Hum honor all the artists from the country. Hum officially set this awards its annual event.

Award	Year of Inception	Network
PTV Awards	1970	PTV
Lux Style Awards	2002	ARY Digital
Pakistan Media Awards	2010	--
Hum Awards	2012	Hum TV

Popularity

Pakistan

Pakistani dramas have a cult following in Pakistan among the women and have recently also garnered the attention of men. Television in Pakistan is a growing industry.

Kashmir

Pakistani dramas have also gained a large following in Indian-administered Kashmir. The cultural affinity between the people of Pakistan and Kashmir and similar language (Urdu) has generated a huge response from Kashmiris.

Middle East

The Pakistani drama Humsafar was dubbed into Arabic and aired on MBC under the name Rafeeq-Al-Rooh which means "soul mate" in Arabic. It took no time for the show to gain immense popularity and only after a few episodes, became the most watched drama on the channel. In previous years, Pakistani dramas were not as popular in the Middle East due to language barriers and from the popularity of Latin dramas. However the new wave of Pakistani dramas have generated a large response and has appeared to have carved a niche for itself. Following Humasafar, Malaal and Zindagi Gulzar Hai were aired on MBC and again have generated a large response.

India

File:Zee Zindagi Jodey Dilon ko Imran Abbas.jpg

Pakistani actor Imran Abbas at Zindagi (TV channel) Launch.

Pakistani dramas have been hugely popular in India for a decades, even though the Indian government has imposed a ban on all Pakistani TV for over 20 years now. In the late 1980s, Indians were noted for queuing up outside video shops to get their hands on Pakistani dramas like Dhoop Kinare and Tanhaiyaan. Many Indians were installing TV antennas in a bid to access PTV to watch Deewarein, Waris and Jungle and Alpha Bravo Charlie.

In 2012, due to increased pressure from civil society, India began debating if it should reverse the ban on PTV as well as private Pakistani channels, both news and non-news, however nothing as of yet has taken place.

In 2014, Zee Zindagi launched in India with the intention of airing syndicated shows from Pakistan. The channel has been very well received by the Indian public and among the most popular series are Zindagi Gulzar Hai,Aunn Zara and Maat. The recent surge in Pakistani dramas airing in India has created a whole new generation of Indian fans. The drama Zindagi Gulzar Hai was so popular that it aired twice back-to-back due to immense popularity and demand.

According to "BizAsia", Humsafar managed to break the record on Rishtey for being the first non-film event to attract such a huge rating. Aasmanon Pay Likha was another hit as well.

Elsewhere

The Pakistani diaspora is also noted for its hunger for Pakistani dramas and are now being aired on Asian channels in the United Kingdom, United States and Canada.

See also

• Lollywood
• Pakistani theatre