Pakistan has officially embraced the digital wave of web shows and a local streaming platform like UrduFlix is a testament that there is hope and space for this new medium in the country. A recently released web series on the portal is Mashal Khan starrer Lifafa Daayan, which refers to journalists (females here) who take bribes under the table. While I tried to ignore the sexism in the title as well as in the story — daayan is a female paranormal entity and all of these “daayans” were surrounded by morally corrupt men in the show – I was happy that at least Pakistani writers and directors challenged themselves with something new and daring. But happiness, like always, is a fleeting emotion!
Lifafa Daayan (the title in Urdu is a misspelled Daayans) is a story of a young female anchor, Alina Ali (Mashal Khan), who rose to fame by grilling politicians and other bigwigs on her current affairs show. She crosses paths with a school teacher, Soniya Khan (Hina Choudary) in an event where she challenges her and within a day or two, Soniya becomes the newest sensation in the news industry. What follows is a game of dirty politics in which Alina is trying to get back her position as the top news anchor while drowning in alcohol and drug addiction, meanwhile Soniya is edging towards the same dark pit.
Mashal Khan as Alina Ali
The premise sounds fresh but the writer(s) – Adil and Mansoor Saeed (there are two different names in opening and closing credits respectively) – couldn’t go beyond that; all we see is a one-dimensional plot that lacks luster. Who are these female journalists and why are they behaving like headless chickens? Each episode of the series last for 15 minutes and all seven of them begin and end with unnecessary drama and no depth. The series attempts to explore that news industry in Pakistan is brimming with dirty politics, bribery, lies, illegal influence of politicians and revenge schemes. Unfortunately, all it delivers is that journalists are addicted to drugs and alcohol, and work place harassment is a normal practice, and women sleep around to get promotions.
Hina Choudary as Soniya Khan
Mashal Khan’s performance as a junkie journalist is praise-worthy in most of her scenes. She is the only one who delivered the English curses quite convincingly. It was a bold script which is a risk for a new actor but she has done justice to the character she was given. The new entrant Hina Choudary seems promising; we also got to see veterans like Rashid Farooqui and Akbar Islam. Any comment on their performances will be unjust as there wasn’t any room to perform.
Rashid Farooqui & Akbar Islam
However, what baffles any Gen Z viewer is how people who are working on projects for these digital spaces undermine the intelligence of the Pakistani audience. Although you’re targeting millennials, who are now watching and praising international content which is catering to every genre and taste, does it normalize the ‘formula’ to add bloodshed, profanities, sex, crime and drug usage as ye sab bikta ha? Well, most definitely not, because the execution is where we get lost.
Mind you, the objection is not against the use of expletives or bold content, but it is about the relevance of it. The raw talk or actions – be it obscenity or a vulgar scene — fuses seamlessly in fiction when you have a gripping narrative and screenplay. When a curse word pricks like a thorn while the rest of scene, dialogue and actor are hardly noticeable, the show is already going down the drain.
Directed by Rao Ayaz Shahzad, Lifafa Daayan is available on UrduFlix to stream. Season 1 has 7 episodes and has ended with a cliffhanger, ensuring viewers that there will be a second season.
Watch the trailer here to get an idea:
