Pakistanis Want Their Trashy TV, Too

As the beautiful Nihal prepares to marry Behlul, there’s a glitch: Her gun-wielding stepmother declares undying love for the groom. Dangerous liaisons are at the heart of Ishq-e-Memnu, or Forbidden Love, a Turkish drama that was the biggest hit on Pakistani television this past winter. At its peak, the steamy story of a Turkish tycoon and his family was watched by a third of the country’s cable and satellite TV audience.

The success of the imports is spurring Pakistani producers to explore new themes. Samina Ahmed, a TV actress and producer, is playing roles that earlier in her career would have been unthinkable, including a mother of call girls and a grandmother who flees her family to get married. “The success of these dramas shows that a number of Pakistanis consume entertainment in a manner no different than that of any other society,” she says. Women’s rights, domestic violence, and gay couples have been featured in dramas made and broadcast in Pakistan. Serials have dissected a mullah’s relationship with his wife and daughters, and depicted a poor girl fighting to survive in an elite school.