Zee5 removes Churails for Pakistan-based viewers
The Pakistani web series Churails has been removed for Pakistan based viewers from Zee5, the online streaming platform. Since a clip from the series went viral on various platforms after which social media backlash started.
Churails starring Sarwat Gilani, Nimra Bucha, MeharBano, and Yasra Rizvi is about women’s rights. Pressing on other important issues such as child abuse, forced marriages, shameful labour conditions, racism, suicide and crime, as well as the misogyny. The series showed some harsh realities of Pakistan society.
Asim Abbasi’s Reaction on Twitter:
The director of Churails, Asim Abbasi took the matter to Twitter and expressed his feelings at the decision. Pakistan has suffocated the Churails while other countries are appreciating the content.
How strange for #Churails to be lauded internationally, and now be shut down in its country of origin. In the very country where hundreds of artists came together to create something that could initiate dialogue and open doors for new narratives. (1)
— Asim Abbasi (@IllicitusProduc) October 7, 2020
Artistic freedom squashed because it is wrongly perceived by some as a moral threat. Predictable, and yet, still disappointing. For this is not just my loss. This is a loss for women and marginalised communities that this show meant to re-represent. (2)
— Asim Abbasi (@IllicitusProduc) October 7, 2020
This is a loss for all actors, writers, directors and technicians across Pakistan, who were hoping for digital/OTT to be their saviour. And it's a home-run for all the misogynists who have once again proven that they are the only voice that matters. (3)
— Asim Abbasi (@IllicitusProduc) October 7, 2020
Living in a country like Pakistan, we all have faced the circumstances when websites like Youtube and Games got banned. But we never gave up visiting those websites and playing those games by using alternative ways. To those who haven’t watched Churails, VPN is the only way you can now.
