The strength of Pakistani programming has always been the tight scripting

IMAGINE Tulsi (Kyunki…), Parvati ( Kahani…) and Kashish (Kahiin To Hoga) delivering their lines in Urdu, bereft of silks and sapphires, with no background score to complement their histrionics. This is not the twilight zone of Indian television, but the Pakistani counterparts of our popular serials on the GEO TV and ARY Digital Networks channels.

Karachi-based actor Humayun Saeed may have watched few Indian soaps but it’s enough for him to compare himself to Rajeev Khandelwal (Sujal of Kahiin To Hoga). ‘‘The romantic heroes I play are similar to his boy-next-door persona,’’ he explains.

Samina Peerzada, wife of reputed Pakistani TV actor Usman Peerzada, recently played Marhab in Pakistan’s just concluded serial, Sheeshe Ka Mahal. She plays the autocratic mother-in-law who dominates over her entire family, ultimately losing them all and succumbing to loneliness. Ramola Sikand (Kahiin Kissi Roz), are you litening? The similarities don’t end here…