New Delhi, Aug 4: Fresh from the success of the Pakistani show “Barzakh”, Zindagi’s Shailja Kejriwal says her “ultimate desire” is to see writers and artists from India and Pakistan on the sets together. After all, the way forward for the industry to flourish is to be “more open and inclusive”.
Kejriwal, chief creative officer, special projects, Zindagi, from the Zee stable, said she realised very early in her career the importance of such collaborations.
“My ultimate desire, I don’t know whether it will happen or not, is that we collaborate… writers and artists from both sides should be on a set together. I am trying to follow that path. Hopefully, we will be able to do something because we flourish more if we are open and inclusive,” Kejriwal told PTI in an interview.
It has been a journey of one step forward, two steps back for the producer who was instrumental in making Pakistani actors Fawad Khan, Sanam Saeed and Mahira Khan household names in India by showcasing dramas such as “Zindagi Gulzar Hai” and “Humsafar” through the Zindagi platform launched in 2014. Ten years later, she has brought back Fawad and Sanam, both with a huge fan following in India, in “Barzakh”. The supernatural family drama is being streamed on Zee5 and Zindagi’s YouTube channel.
“I felt my work would be incomplete if I didn’t have a role in bringing these artists back,” Kejriwal said.
The years till the Zindagi produced “Barzakh” were challenging.
After the success of the Pakistani shows, Fawad went on to star in the big ticket Bollywood films “Kapoor & Sons”, “Khubsoorat” and “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil” while Mahira played the lead opposite Shah Rukh Khan in “Raees”. Then came the Uri attacks of September 2016. Pakistani artists were banned and Zindagi eventually closed down only to be relaunched in 2020 on the streaming app ZEE5 and as a YouTube channel.
In its second iteration, Kejriwal started producing projects in collaboration with Pakistani directors. The big successes have been “Churails” and “Qatil Haseenon Ke Naam”.
She is hoping the buzz around “Barzakh”, written and directed by UK-based Pakistani filmmaker Asim Abbasi, is the beginning of a new phase.
“Nobody liked what happened at the time. It is never a pleasant experience when you have to shut down something. It has happened to me twice. It (‘Barzakh’) seemed like a completion for me,” she said. Kejriwal recalled that she faced a similar situation during her stint at Star in 1998. “Tanha”, the show she produced at the time, was the beginning of her “love affair” with Pakistani content. Written by famous Pakistani writer Haseena Moin, it featured artists from both the countries.
“It was a family drama and then political stuff happened and the show had to be curtailed. I have been at it since then,” she recalled.
Kejriwal cites the example of “Kalki 2898 AD” to make her point. The film, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Kamal Haasan and Prabhas, the biggest stars of the Hindi and the southern film industries, has emerged as a true pan India film. And that has happened only because it moved past the north-south divide, said Kejriwal.
(PTI)
