Annie and Fakhir are both victims here: 'Mayi Ri' director defends drama serial

Naqvi recently sat down in an interview to address claims of glamorization

Mayi Ri has recently been taking the rounds on the internet as an insensitive glorification of the issue of child marriages within society. An intended-to-be thought-provoking series, this offering delves into the life of Annie, a vibrant 15-year-old schoolgirl whose world is turned upside down when she is compelled to marry her underage cousin due to her uncle's will.

However, the story has been getting flak for portraying the issue in a positive light – especially with its most recent development of Annie learning of her pregnancy. To address such criticism, director Meesum Naqvi sat down in an interview on Gup Shup with Fuschia to discuss the critique.

According to Meesum Naqvi, while the contents of the narrative are absolutely distressing, the story of Annie and Fakhir exists within a larger construct of a family that has also been subject to the horrors of child marriages. The director addressed comments he had received on the “good” relationship portrayed between the two, “They both are characters, and they both are victims. Because they are both victims, they will look for solace somewhere within each other.”

While addressing the claims of glamorization, Naqvi said, "The viewership of each episode is around eight to nine million … within a night, one of our episodes will have four to five million, Alhumdulillah. So, eight million people are just watching it on YouTube; that audience is separate from those who watch it on TV. So, if my average ratio for an audience is 2 million - for example - the 2300 comments out of those 2 million are saying this, then I do not call this glorification. These are those comments by those who say, ‘We only watch Annie and Fakhir’s scenes.’ Now, you need to understand those who are watching those scenes are not watching a different story.”

The director continued, “This is the kind of home where everyone has been married at a young age and is continuously saying this. So, whichever character has been wed early, all those characters are dysfunctional … they all have a trauma … Annie and Fakhir both are victims. So, if now they are consoling each other, I’m not glorifying child marriage.”

“I have not shown child marriages in a good light; I am trying to show people that both those children are human … they are human beings and they respect each other, it’s not because of the glorifying of child marriages,” clarified Naqvi as he spoke of wanting to humanise his characters in the wake of inevitable character development.