Fasih Bari Khan is a Pakistan television writer who surfaced in the mainstream media with the popular and critically acclaimed drama Quddusi Sahab Ki Bewah. Like most playwrights, Fasih has a signature style and is well-known known for his wit and sarcasm to deliver meaningful messages in dramas. His recent hit — Ghisi Piti Mohabbat — has become a phenomenon for its leading lady, Samiya (remarkably played by Ramsha Khan) and her journey in life. The drama was more like a social commentary which was much appreciated by viewers and critics alike.
“I usually don’t plan what I’m about to write in a drama. I create characters and then my story revolves around them. I met and spoke to many women and incorporated their experiences in this society through Samiya and others in Ghisi Piti Mohabbat,” Fasih said in a recent conversation with Something Haute.
“It is loosely based on a real story of a woman I met once. She told me that she has got a divorce and to my surprise, she wasn’t sad or gloomy about it. I found it very interesting and I heard her story and then I found out that she has been divorced thrice and will remarry again. However, she had all sorts of experiences that we have shown hundreds of times in our dramas like a ruthless mother-in-law etc. So, I imagined and build new characters around it,” he said.
Read: I was scared to get out of my comfort zone for Ghisi Piti Mohabbat, says Ramsha Khan
Any challenges that he faced while writing this drama?
“I took a break for four years and when I started watching dramas again, I realized what one of my friends used to say that it feels all dramas have been written by the same person. I realized that writers also have to progress with times and I wrote Ghisi Piti Mohabbat how viewers want dramas to be. There must be relevant conversations in every scene and the story should progress rather than digress,” the writer added.
How do you view the representation of women in our dramas?
“We have to develop this belief in our society that men and women both are human beings. Unfortunately, we tend to forget that women are human beings as well. I believe it is very difficult to understand in depth the mystery that a woman is. And mostly male as well as female writers don’t try to delve into this mystery. I try to humanize my female characters, unlike most dramas that present women as a goddess who will bear all sorts of unjust behavior, only to forgive in the end,” Fasih commented.
Watch the full interview here to find out what he views as a problem in our drama industry and what more he is working on:
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