The serial “Tamas” shown on Doordarshan comes to one’s mind immediately on thinking about a serial around the trauma of Partition and continues to be a favourite with audience moving on to watching it on CD. Similarly across the border the show “Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam” directed by Haissam Hussain telecast in 2010 on the same subject went on to become a classic though its opening was pretty low key. Now Zindagi brings the serial for Indian viewers having started the telecast last week. The director who addressed the Indian media through a video conference expects the programme to get good TRPs.
“It is based on a very popular novel ‘Bano’ written by Razia Butt. When I read the novel it impressed me a lot and made me think of making this show. We started in 2010. After completing the show and going through it several times I knew it’s a great show and will be a hit. Initially, it did not get the response it deserved but later on people started understanding it and it became a classic. People started keeping CDs of the show,” said the director.
Starring Fawad Khan as the adoring lover, Hasan, his love interest Bano is essayed by Sanam Baloch. It also features other legendary and popular actors like Samina Peerzada, Ahsan Khan, Saba Qamar and Mehreen Raheal. Set in the 1940s “Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Haseen Sitam” is a heart-wrenching love story which depicts the myriad emotions that people went through and the period drama is set in the troubled times of India and Pakistan history.
“I wanted a star cast which could do justice to the characters they played, even though it was a difficult task. Luckily for me things went quite smoothly. Fawad and Sanam with whom I have worked earlier were in my mind and the other actors were shortlisted as the show progressed.”
Partition is a sensitive subject and looked at from a different prism in India. “It is a love story and Bano’s journey. What happened during the days of Partition was really tragic and while making the show I met many people who had shifted to Pakistan and people who had experienced those harsh and tragic days. I have done it very carefully and I can assure that there is nothing which can hurt the sentiments of the Indian viewers,” commented Hussain.
Hussain claimed that he does not watch television in order to avoid being influenced by the work of other directors. “I do not watch television, I get depressed by watching it even if it is a news or sports channel and as an artist I think my creativity will vanish after watching other shows. As far as my shows are concerned, I watch them at the time of editing. I watch each and every episode at least 50 times.” Talking about other televisions shows, he said “People are just running after the TRPs. They are not thinking about the message it is sending. They are creating infighting within families with small issues taken in negative ways.”
Contrary to our soaps which run for years together, this serial has 30 to 35 episodes.
(The serial airs onZindagi from Monday to Saturday at 8 p.m.)
