Why Churails banned in Pakistan?

08th October, 2020

Censored Churails – The slow death of diversified perspectives

The often apprehended moral threat coming from the web-series “Churails’ has been the reason to ban it for Pakistan based viewers from an Indian-based platform Zee5.  However, from directors to artists and even the audience is not happy about it.

Asim Abbas in his latest tweet expressed his outrage towards it. “How strange for #Churails to be lauded internationally, and now be shut down in its country of origin. In the very country where hundreds of artists came together to create something that could initiate dialogue and open doors for new narratives. Artistic freedom is squashed because it is wrongly perceived by some as a moral threat. Predictable, and yet, still disappointing. For this is not just my loss. This is a loss for women and marginalized communities that this show meant to re-represent”.

Several other artists also depict their support like Sarwat Gillani, Osman Khalid Butt, and Sanam Saeed with their tweets.

View this post on Instagram

Bol kay lab azad hain tayray…bol kay zaba’n ab tak tayri hai! Waqai? @shahbazshaziofficial @maheenshayanae @bryan.makeupartist1 @awaisraza__hairstylist @nabila_salon

A post shared by Churail Sarwat (@sarwatg) on Oct 7, 2020 at 2:19am PDT

Oh, you got Churails banned? Congratufuckinglations. Now please focus your outrage on the fact that police have failed to arrest the prime accused in the motorway rape incident.

— Osman Khalid Butt (@aClockworkObi) October 7, 2020

Banning dancing ads, outspoken films and webseries will not end rape if that's the agenda. Why are we riddled with such hypocrisy? Buss bandh darvaazon kay peechay ho sub. God forbid hamari bholi awaam influence na ho jai if we take creative liberty to be honest and open.

— Sanam Saeed (@sanammodysaeed) October 7, 2020

However, many of the spectators think that moral policing of the content especially when they provide the difference of opinion, initiate dialogue, and give groundbreaking narratives need to set some boundaries.  

The series feature Sarwat, Yasra Rizvi, Nimra Bucha, Meher Bano, and Omair Rana as the leading roles of the ones appeared to be Churails for the stereotyped society breeding on patriarchal mindset.

Many believed that the action was taken after the clip of Hina Khawaja Bayat’s character that showed indecency and intimacy

Thereby, overshadowing the most appreciated dialogue from Sarwat Gillani

A dialogue from churails really stuck with me and it goes somthing like :

Hum apnay beton ko dunya banana to sikha detay hain, magar ye nahi sochtay kay us dunya main hamari betyan kese rhain gi.

— Rohma rajpoot (@Ro_bruhh) September 10, 2020