'Bholi banno' to 'Dou takay ki larki'; Pakistani dramas portraying women in either extremes!
As a regular viewer of Pakistani dramas since a decade now, one thing that irritates me is portraying female leads as either the oppressed, very innocent girl who is forced to give up all her dreams and goals for the sake of others in the plot or recently, women like 'Mehwish' from 'Mere Paas Tum Ho' who is the worst example of a woman one has ever seen.
Recently, I have seen a common trend in Pakistani dramas that the women are portrayed in extremely negative light. Pakistani dramas have had only two extremes while portraying women. Previously, it used to be that women were shown in a very submissive position. Men were shown in a position where they would hit and abuse women. Thus, previously women were shown in an extremely submissive position. Now the trend has shifted to an opposite extreme which is showing women in a negative or a villain role. Now the women are shown as rebellious, plotting negative things against men and other women in the show.
These two extremes have become very common in Pakistani dramas. Whereas, I believe the portrayal of women should have been very different. The portrayal should have lied somewhere in between these two extremes. Women should be shown powerful in a positive light, making ways for themselves and finding opportunities for themselves. Thus portrayal of women in negative light is the major problem for Pakistani dramas these days. These dramas have a very negative impact on the youth of Pakistan and also the mentality of people. We need to understand the importance of media and its impact in lives of people. Thus, if media is portraying women in a negative light, people would start taking negative impact. The impact would be that they would stop women from achieving their goals, going out of the homes etc. Thus, the makers of dramas should realise the importance of media in the lives and minds of people.
However, very few dramas have actually portrayed women as normal human beings who can have goals and perspectives just as men can and are shown as grey characters who have a journey and transition over time such as 'Raqeeb Se' and 'Zindagi Gulzar Hai'. But the majority needs to normalise women having normal lives and possessing both good and some bad qualities as every human being does!