Filmmaker Asim Abbasi is all set to present his first web series, Churails, on an Indian platform and the premise certainly looks intriguing as well as quirky. Titled Churails, the project is the first one for Zee5 as Zee revives Zindagi channel, which used to air TV shows from Pakistan in India.
Asked how did he manage to bag the first project for a brand that had to shut down three years ago, Asim says he was just lucky. Zindagi TV channel was pulled off air amid growing demand for stopping any kind of culture exchange between India and Pakistan. “I think I was just lucky that everyone at Zindagi and Zee5 watched Cake (Asim’s previous feature film) and reached out to me. I genuinely believe culture and art should be kept away from political strategies,” he said.
Churails is about four women who run a detective agency in Karachi under the garb of a garments shop. “The idea for the show came from a lifetime of observing women thinking about ideas. I have mostly done films with female protagonists. My last film (Cake) was also about women. However, with this project, I got the opportunity to go bigger on scale. I had the luxury of 10 hours at hand to narrate my story, add layers and nuances to it. And it was on a much bigger scale, bigger cast. The clothing store was also very important - it could not be any other business as I also address female dressing in the series - the idea of women being dressed and undressed according to the whims of men, as to what a woman should or should not wear are dictated by men. I think that was very important,” Asim said.
“Burkha is used to subvert something that is historically considered something very oppressive. It is not about whether one should wear a burkha or not, it is a choice. In the show, the women choose to wear it like a superhero’s cape. While on their missions, it helps them hide their identities as detectives,” he added.
The web series features Yasra Rizvi, Nimra Bucha, Sarwat Gilani and Meher Bano. Each one of them enjoyed the entire process of working on the show, which was mostly shot in Karachi last year. “ It was a great experience for me as I got to work with so many women and great actors on top of that. Working with great actors makes you a better actor. I am not such a good actor to perform too well by myself, I can deliver when I have better actors around me. I do not know how to perform well, all alone, I need great actors around me to give a better performance,” Yasra told us.
“I always dreamt of working with a all women, a predominantly female cast and it was such fun. Specially Yasra did such fine work, it would always inspire me,” ,Meher added.
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