Made in Pakistan and released on Indian OTT platform ZEE5, Churails has won the ‘OTT Platform Show of the Year’ at the British Asian Media Awards (BMA).
Sharing her thoughts on the win, Chief Business Officer at ZEE5 Global, Archana Anand said: “Churails with its rich, bold narrative and the globally relevant storyline has broken stereotypes and opened up the fresh conversation around gender equality not only in South Asia but also in other markets across the globe by putting strong women at the center of its story.”
“Winning this award is a recognition of the tremendous impact that our content has created across key markets and how deeply it is resonating with the audiences,” she added.
Read more – The ‘Churails’ are the superheroes we wish we had
According to details, “The British Asian Media Awards (BMA) acknowledge the growing and persistent influence of different cultures and communities living in the UK.”
The awards aims to help the industry develop by showcasing exceptional work and proving the value of Asian media to the wider market.
Written and directed by Asim Abbasi and featuring, Sarwat Gilani, Yasra Rizvi, Nimra Bucha, Meher Bano and Omair Rana among others, Churails is the story of four self-proclaimed ‘Churails’ who come together to open a covert detective agency to expose cheating husbands amongst the city’s elite. As their operations expand, they come to be saviours of abused, harassed and mistreated women. The 10-episode series covers a myriad of issues such as child abuse, sexism, the domination of class and race and aims to challenge the hypocrisy of patriarchal societies.
In October 2020, the show was banned for viewers in Pakistan. However, it was restored in less than 48 hours. According to Abbasi, the show was taken off after the streaming platform received complaints from authorities here.
Meanwhile, in November 2020, the State Bank of Pakistan ordered all banks to block Pakistani users from subscribing to Zee5. Zee5 had commissioned five original web series from Pakistan. While two of them have released, three more are in the pipeline including Saba Qamar and Naumaan Ijaz’s Manjogi and Ahad Raza Mir and Sajal Aly’s Dhoop ki Deewar.
