Written by Hiba Shehzad
Some trailers announce a drama. Others announce intent. Mitti De Baway appears to belong firmly in the latter category.
Within days of its trailer release, Green Entertainment’s upcoming mega serial has become one of the most talked-about projects in Pakistani television. The response has moved well beyond the usual excitement surrounding a star-studded drama, with audiences dissecting frames, performances, costumes and characters, while members of the entertainment fraternity have also poured in with appreciation for what Green has put together.
And then there are the numbers and trends.
Mitti De Baway dominated conversations in the entertainment section on X around its trailer launch, while its trailer climbed YouTube’s trending charts in Pakistan. Its momentum travelled beyond the border too, trending across Bangladesh, UAE, Qatar, Oman and Saudi Arabia and drawing enthusiastic cross-border appreciation.
For a drama that has not even gone on air yet, that is quite a beginning.
Of course, some of the anticipation was inevitable. Mitti De Baway brings Mahira Khan and Wahaj Ali together for the first time, a pairing powerful enough to generate headlines long before audiences knew anything about their characters. But the trailer has managed to move the conversation beyond simply seeing two major stars together.
Now, audiences are talking about Bilquees and Bala.
Set against a striking rural Punjab backdrop and moving across different periods, the trailer feels expansive in both scale and emotion. Mahira’s Bilquees carries a formidable presence, while Wahaj’s Bala appears raw, volatile and unpredictable. Between them is a relationship that already looks anything but straightforward. Early reactions have particularly celebrated the drama’s cinematic treatment, performances, costumes and earthy visual identity, with viewers repeatedly comparing its presentation to a film.
The drama brings together an impressive ensemble featuring Junaid Khan, Amar Khan, Aena Khan, Hina Afridi, Noor ul Hasan, Sohail Ahmed, Syed Fazal Hussain, Ahmed Randhawa and Faryal Mehmood among others. Written by Faiza Iftikhar and directed by Syed Wajahat Hussain whose distinct vision and style is evident throughout the trailer, the project has the creative pedigree to match the scale visible on screen.
Since its arrival, Green Entertainment has consistently attempted to create television that looks, sounds and thinks differently.
Kabli Pulao became a cultural conversation through an unconventional relationship and characters that challenged perceptions. Duniyapur demonstrated Green’s appetite for scale, while Pamaal, and Aik Mohabbat Aur showed its willingness to build mainstream entertainment around emotionally complex subjects.
Different genres. Different worlds. But a common ambition to keep expanding what a Pakistani television drama can look like and what it can talk about.
Mitti De Baway feels like the next evolution of that ambition.
Rather than shrinking a major story to fit traditional television boundaries, everything revealed so far suggests Green has given the project the canvas it requires. The locations feel lived-in, the visual language is distinctive and the ensemble gives the story an unusual breadth.
One mega project can be an experiment. Returning with ambitious projects year after year begins to look more like a content philosophy.
The young producer behind some of Green’s biggest bets is Tehreem Chaudhary who is running the TV channel alongside her brother, Fasih Rehman, the CEO of Green Entertainment.
For Tehreem, however, Mitti De Baway has been a particularly long journey, as she manages the production side of the network.
“Mitti De Baway has been a very special project for us. The script has been with us since Green Entertainment’s launch and over the years, it came close to going into production more than once. But I truly believe that some stories are meant to find their moment and there couldn’t have been a better time for Mitti De Baway than now.
I hope this project becomes one of those rare stories that stays with audiences long after they’ve watched it; a project that, much like Kabli Pulao, Duniyapur and Pamaal, challenges the conventional and leaves a lasting impact.
We have always promised to create entertainment that pushes boundaries and redefines what Pakistani television can be and I hope Mitti De Baway becomes a true reflection of that promise.”
That thought perhaps explains why Mitti De Baway matters to Green beyond its impressive cast or the immediate response to its trailer.
The channel has spent its first few years building an identity around stories that are not merely watched but discussed. Some challenge conventions; others experiment with scale, genre or visual storytelling. They may not look alike, and perhaps that is precisely the point.
Mitti De Baway arrives carrying that same ambition on a considerably larger canvas.
The Mahira Khan-Wahaj Ali pairing brought the initial eyeballs; the cinematic trailer intensified the conversation. Now, the social media trends, cross-border attention and industry appreciation show just how far that excitement has travelled.
If Mitti De Baway delivers on what its trailer promises, Green Entertainment may not simply have another major drama on its hands.
It may have its clearest statement yet of the television it set out to create.
The author is a writer for entertainment and drama portals.
