Finally something worth watching

Docu-dramas have wide-ranging appeal and the potential to bring about meaningful change in society.

When I wrote rather vehemently about the ‘mindless media-ocrity’ of our news channels, I did not anticipate anything but a speedy decline into the abyss of televised tripe. However, with the advent of high quality investigative programmes and docu-dramas, Pakistani television has taken a new direction. Good television is not just entertaining but also socially relevant and if not educational, then at least informative. Docu-dramas, documentaries and even soap style dramas are setting a new trend by providing top-notch viewing whilst imparting useful information and playing a constructive role in society.

It is unfortunate that major networks are still busy investing huge sums in tiresome talking heads and tacky Bollywood award shows. Up and coming channels, with less money to throw about, are the ones leading the development of original and compelling content. Content that is not only entertaining but also informative and blissfully free of the blatant agendas, grandiose moralising and hackneyed arguments of nightly political talk shows or the inane verbosity and depressing futility of dolled-up morning shows. With this new genre of docu-drama, the viewer actually comes away with new information, a clearer understanding of issues and sometimes even a dose of inspiration. A wide variety of social, economic and topical issues are presented in a creative yet constructive manner. Like many residents of this teeming metropolis, I was unaware of what happens when a corpse is found on the street until “Equinox” on Dawn News ran an episode documenting the whole process, from the eyes of the Edhi Foundation mortuary team. Picking up hundreds of bodies each year, mostly of drug users and beggars, these silent workers provide a decent and dignified farewell to those who die unattended. Factual, yet inspirational television.

“Consumer Crimes” on Express News is a brave and breathtaking exposé of the sheer audacity with which counterfeit products and other scams are duping the public and even endangering lives. In the latest programme, the fearless host and her daring team accompanied a dedicated government food inspector to unmask the operation of a counterfeit soft drinks factory in Orangi, Karachi. With thousands of used bottles being ‘cleaned’ with filthy water and filled with substandard, harmful counterfeit liquids, this team brought the whole sordid affair to our screens. They even endured rounds of gunfire and flying shards of glass as they were assaulted by goons working for criminals heading the scam. The crew were lucky to escape with a back-up copy of the footage and their lives intact. Daring, social-action television.

“Qaidi Number” on Aaj News tells the stories of those who end up in prison, drawing on real life accounts. Dramatised re-enactments provide gripping viewing as well as invaluable insight into how ordinary events turn sinister and eventually lead to devastating consequences, such as the young woman recalling how her apparently loving fiancé and his family trapped her into transporting drugs. The series skilfully uses these accounts to serve as a warning to viewers. Samaa’s “Crime Scene” often highlights the plight of victims of crimes which have not captured the headlines. With the ability to follow up cases until victims receive adequate police assistance, such programmes are making the police more accountable directly to the public, often more effectively than the legal system itself.

Meanwhile, dramas are also realising their true potential by deviating from the run-of-the-mill, love-triangle sagas. Hum TV’s superb period drama series “Dastaan” hauntingly recreated the ideological and physical journey of a Muslim family in India, through the tumultuous events of 1947, evoking the intensity of emotion and aspiration that created Pakistan. Skilfully layering the subsequent travesty of the original ideal of society onto the tragedy of the family, “Dastaan” powerfully reminds us to honour the ultimate sacrifice that was made by thousands of ordinary families, by cherishing the freedom they won for us and standing up to those who now subvert that very freedom.

Docu-drama is an exciting and encouraging trend in Pakistani television which has the ability to appeal to a wide-ranging audience and the potential to bring about meaningful change in society. Now that is television worth watching!

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th, 2010.