Vulgar Witches

Producer Asim Abbasi’s Churails (Witches) are unwelcome in Pakistan. They have been deemed too vulgar. The show streaming on ZEE5 was barred for Pakistani audiences when a dialogue concerning sexual favours went viral. The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority on receiving multiple complaints requested the Indian platform for a ban. After some pressure, the decision was reversed.

But this is not the first time Churails has been criticized. Upon its initial release, the creators and actors faced heavy backlash for depicting immorality. Yet the stories the show lays bare stray little from the reality of individuals in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

Abbasi brings the truth too close for comfort. He makes us face the dark sides of our society we deliberately choose to overlook. His team of Churails is comprised of women downtrodden by men: raped in the name of marriage, beaten in the name of paternal guidance, mocked in the name of care.

And these women, after having sacrificed everything and getting nothing in return, have had enough. They choose to fight back against an entire gender: men too shall feel the pain. Donning burkas and naqabs the sisterhood is here to change society. Abbasi brilliantly transforms the face-covering from a symbol of oppression to an instrument of empowerment. Their identities hidden, the witches are free to dole out justice in a patriarchal Pakistan. They are harbingers of equality. Yet the leading ladies drinking, smoking, and wearing dresses has somehow taken center stage.

Audiences accustomed to seeing dupatta clad women crying on televisions are scandalized. The verdict is out: weed and booze in a woman’s hands make her vulgar. Now the men too were depicted drinking. Yet no one complained about them leading the nation astray.

At no point does the production depict women’s lifestyle choices as vices or virtues. Churails simply stay true to reality and the reality is that drugs and alcohol are consumed by both genders within certain circles in Pakistan. Abbasi bravely takes all taboos head-on with no reluctance- racism, pedophilia, homosexuality, transphobia and more.

Hina Bayat’s explicit dialogue for instance horrified viewers. The actress was reprimanded for being vulgar. And yet we refuse to label men who demand sexual favours as vulgar. Sherry’s character in the drama is the reality of many poverty struck women in Pakistan who are compelled into sexual submission for survival. It is a reality we as a society refuse to face.

Pakistan has topped the list of porn searching countries in the world and yet we term a show with no nudity vulgar. Change cannot come if one continues to live in denial of the truth.

Too often a child’s body is found violated and thrown into a garbage dump.Women are raped in public places and at home. Transgender persons are barred from working ordinary jobs and entering shops. Drug addicts scrounge off women to fund their cravings. These are the wrongs the ‘vulgar’ Churails set out to right. Their message is one of reclaiming female bodies, minds and lives from the male gaze.

Aristotle once wrote: ‘It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.’ The approach of the leading ladies and their lifestyle may be distasteful to some, but it shouldn’t overshadow the ideological change the show pushes for: seeing beyond the female body as an object for male pleasure. Only upon confronting the dark realities of our society can we begin to address them. And drama is a powerful vehicle to do so.