A new 'zindagi' for India, Pakistan's cultural narrative
Radhika Bhirani
rbhirani@gmail.com
Strangely enough, in times where there is heightened chitter-chatter around #CreditDeDoYaar -- a call from lyricists, writers and crew members who are dismayed about the absence of credit in creative works across various streaming platforms -- it is indeed the unique credit roll that strikes you first about the new show on the OTT block, Churails.
Actors: Sarwat Gilani. Yasra Rizvi, Nimra Bucha. Meher Bano.... Director of Photography: Mo Azmi; Associate Producer: Zarmeen Ali; Executive Producer: Shreyashi Mukherjee; Producers: Asim Abbasi, Mo Azmi; Producer: Shailja Kejriwal; Written and Directed By: Asim Abbasi.
It's uncommon. A common credit roll for talent from India and Pakistan. But a first of quite a few collaborations between two nations where territorial disputes have been eclipsing any 'aman ki asha' through cultural exchange.
Churails is as unabashed in its Karachi-set, but universally appealing story about burqa-clad women avengers, as it is unflinching in its attempt to unify people from across the borders and nations to work on a common goal -- of telling stories that need to be told.
It's a new "high" for Indian media and entertainment industry veteran Shailja Kejriwal to be able to commission original content from Pakistan, while sitting in Mumbai. To put it more forthrightly, pulling through a cross-border collaboration in a politically volatile environment between the two nations.
"My ultimate dream is that dono taraf ke best se best log milke kaam kar sake. Where it is not an aberration... Making it normal is the dream. There should a normalcy about working with a talented music director, actor, writer and director, without looking at the geography," Kejriwal tells me as we discuss the re-emergence of the Zindagi brand, in an all-new avatar, in 2020, when a pandemic has unified humanity globally, in a fight against a common enemy.
"We (India and Pakistan) have grown together in the last 70 years, but we have grown differently. And that is very interesting to explore. This similar, yet not similar space excites me a lot personally, and professionally," she says.
The channel beamed syndicated shows from Pakistan, Brazil, Turkey and South Korea, but it was the Pakistani shows Aunn Zara, Behadd, Humsafar and Zindagi Gulzar Hai among others that won Indian audiences over with their simplicity and in some ways homogeneity, sparking not just more interest in content from across the border, but also in talent from the neighbouring nation. Fawad Khan, Mahira Khan and Saba Qamar landed plum projects in India. But the 2016 Uri attack changed the discourse of what could be, in the entertainment landscape of both the countries.
That happened at a time when frequent efforts were being made from different quarters to renew and nurture cultural exchanges in terms of events, exhibits, fashion shows, concerts, filmmaking, TV shows and theatre, between both the countries.
Music collaborations, especially, have been a driving force in the cultural narrative between both nations.
Indian films have been barred from releasing there off and on, but as per trade experts in Pakistan, they are what draw in the moolah the theatres. The latest ban was implemented last February, after the Pulwama terror attack that led to the Balakot airstrike by the Indian Air Force. In India, producers have been asked to refrain from collaborating with Pakistani artistes. Indian film bodies such as the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) has been reminding artistes not to collaborate with their Pakistani counterparts.
But here's Zindagi, back via digital platform ZEE5; in a re-imagined way, with a fresh tagline Zindagi Mil ke Jiyenge, pressing the brand's belief that art knows no nation, boundary or religion.
Ask her if it denotes an underlying hope of bringing the two nations closer through cultural ties once again, Kejriwal says, "I hope so... You work on hope, don't you. Everyone should have a creative purpose. There is a saying about having a job, career and calling in life. Mazaa tab hi aata hai jab job and career ke baad ek calling ho.
"Which sensible person won't have the hope, especially at these times of a Covid-19 pandemic, where so many people are coming out and helping each other? This virus has hopefully made us think beyond tera, mera, and I really hope there is a a positive fallout. People's perspectives and thoughts are changing. And so, the tagline becomes all the more relevant, where we say, that in this kind of a situation, hum mil ke hi jee paayenge."
Besides, as she explains, Zindagi is a brand that has stood for content from different parts of the world.
"The idea that Punit (ZEEL CEO Punit Goenka) mentioned to me at one point was that we want to take the brand Zindagi and make it South Asian, rather than about India and Pakistan. The question was 'Why can't we increase our talent pool? Why can't we make stuff together -- whether it's from Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka or wherever... it would just add variety. We are the biggest entertainment industry in this part of the world, and if we don't get diverse, where are we heading? We don't even work enough with people from South India. We have to become diverse to reach out to more people, and that not just makes creative sense, but also business sense," Kejriwal asserts.
And well, as for why it is still Pakistan that comes to the forefront when we talk of Zindagi, she says it's because "Pakistan is Pakistan". She adds, "For me, Zindagi is not about any particular country. It is about a thought process of making content where the story is the tool, and not the end in itself. It's a tool to say what you want to say to the world."
Specifically about Churails, where women from different socio-economic milieus band together for a detective agency to take on men who cheat on their women, she says the basic premise was to tell a woman's story from a woman's gaze, unlike from the conventionally done male gaze. In India, she cites Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti's films as exceptions, and it is that difference that she wanted to bring alive in Churails.
The burqa is as metaphorical in its use in the show's narrative to veil women's fury and angst, as it was to veil their fantasies in India's Lipstick Under My Burkha.
"Churails could have been made anywhere, to be honest. In India or wherever. But it's not geography that's important about Churails. What is important is why is that show being made. It has been made with an intention to make women's voices to be heard. And when you find a writer-director who thinks in that manner, you grab that that person and say let's do it. You have to find like-minded people to tell like-minded stories. Woh kahaan se aate hain, that's very secondary, frankly," says Kejriwal, pointing out that the show's director Asim Abbasi is of Pakistani origin but stays in London.
That, she says, also substantiates how the world has become so fluid. And with technology supporting that work culture, where artistes are collaborating across cultures and time zones, the creative industry is only poised to thrive.
Zindagi has been, what one could call the "star" in Kejriwal's over two decade long career, which has seen her set many milestones. An alumna of Kolkata's Jadavpur University, she backed the anthology format on the Indian small screen back in 1999 with Star Bestsellers, for which names like Anurag Kashyap, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Imtiaz Ali, Sriram Raghavan and Hansal Mehta, created episodics. Undeniably, these are some of the most formidable names in the Indian film industry.
In these pursuits, Kejriwal has been doing what many are complaining of not being done enough in the entertainment industry -- bringing inclusivity and diversity to the table, as well as working with new talent, both inside and outside the country.
"The fun lies in inclusivity and diversity. Who would have thought a Korean film would win an Oscar? It was unheard of a few years back, but it's happening. So even we have to move with the times. Warna pichhad jaayenge," she says in her trademark, as-a-matter-of-fact style.
When she talks of the virtues that the world of streaming platforms have brought along for content creators, Kejriwal sounds no less excited than a child left alone to explore Disneyland.
There's honest storytelling, honest casting and no star pressure, for one.
"The brilliance of OTT is that you don't have to be caged with your creativity. You can create with freedom. I can make something which we can watch as a family. I can create something which I would like to watch individually. I'm not confined to make shows for the bhabhi or for 15-24 year old people. That also helps one show differ from another. It's not one size fits all. You don't have to create and then follow some kind of a trend," she says.
What is worth celebrating is also the fact that, that freedom is there not just for a creator to taste, but also for the consumer.
Breaking that aspect down, Kejriwal says, "Consumers have started looking at artistes as artistes, rather than kahaan se aa rahe hain. Also, when we had first launched Zindagi, the Indian consumer was used to watching India produced content, and on English channels, they were used to seeing some Hollywood content. In that sense, by and large, janta ka exposure was India and Hollywood. And because it was all sort of scheduled, you had to make a choice what to watch.
"Today, they are free to choose what they want to see, where, how, on which platform, or on which device. That's a huge leap from 2014 to today."
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