Actress Mehwish Hayat opened up about Pakistan’s OTT platforms and the type of content being created.
Mehwish often voices her views on important topics.
In an interview with Gulf News, the Punjab Nahi Jaungi actress said, "Our content is not good enough. The global audience is far more sophisticated, and our content is too geared for the home market. Not that there is anything wrong with that but what works here does not travel internationally; our storytelling conventions and production aesthetics are too brash and melodramatic."
Hayat continued, "It is worth noting that even the work from India that has done well on these platforms is a far cry from their regular commercial cinema and TV dramas. The aesthetics and storytelling are very different.”
She added, "It’s not that we cannot do it. If a small country like Korea can top Netflix's global charts, why can’t we? I’ve been watching a lot of international work in the past year, and I am amazed at the simplicity of the productions—it’s not just about having big budgets. However good we may think our work is, I cannot see any of our dramas or films working on these platforms. If we are to have the likes of Netflix and Amazon take Pakistani content, we are going to have to start from scratch with a totally different mindset and be a lot more professional. Our “challay ga” attitude will not wash in a global marketplace.”
The Load Wedding star signed off by saying, “The pandemic provided a good opportunity for us to take stock and really rethink where the Pakistani cinema should go from here. There are a few big movies ready to go but I wonder if during the last couple of years the whole dynamic has shifted, and audiences are now more tuned into the vast variety of content available to them in their homes.”
