Having immortalized strong women-oriented roles on TV screens here, young and multi-faceted Sanam Saeed, known to Indian audiences as Kashaf Murtaza of Zindagi Gulzar Hai, says that while India makes the most of its filmmaking capacity to tell stories, the medium in Pakistan is TV.
The 29-year-old is ecstatic and grateful that Zindagi Gulzar Hai, one of the most popular ongoing shows in India, has turned out to be the “first drama to have broken the ice across the borders in current times”, says Sanam.
“India uses Bollywood, rather cinema, to tell its stories. It is one of the largest filmmaking nations in the world and so your talents get to tell stories about politics, love and drama through films. In Pakistan, our medium is the small screen,” says Sanam.
“We don’t make many films, and hardly have theatres. A majority of people seek entertainment while sitting at home and TV gives it to them, so we excel on that part,” she adds.
Shows from Pakistan are high on content and quality and Indian audiences are gradually getting acquainted with them courtesy new channel Zindagi – Jodey Dilon Ko, a first-of-its-kind initiative that shows content from Pakistan.
The show Zindagi Gulzar Hai, based on prolific writer Umera Ahmad’s novel of the same name, is a romantic drama focusing on women, portraying equality of the girl child and importance of a career for women.
