Pakistani actor and director Yasir Hussain has blamed producers chasing the Indian market for the decline in quality of Pakistani dramas, saying that this has resulted in lower standards.
Speaking on a private channel, Hussain argued that the audience base is the fundamental difference between Pakistani and Indian dramas.
“Pakistani and Indian dramas have one key difference, and that is the kind of viewers they have, which creates a major distinction. Most Indian viewers watch cringe content, while Pakistani viewers are quite mature,” he said.
Hussain went on to explain how Pakistani dramas, once celebrated for their quality, lost their edge the moment they found an audience across the border.
“The quality of Pakistani dramas was once very good, but when our dramas started reaching India, our standards declined. Now dramas have changed because our makers began catering to the Indian market. Although Indians started watching our dramas because of their class and quality, instead of bringing them up to our standards, we declined and started making cringe dramas for them.”
The remarks come at a time when Pakistani dramas continue to draw massive viewership from India despite the Indian government blocking major Pakistani channels on YouTube.
Dramas like Tere Bin, Khuda Aur Mohabbat and Mere Humsafar have already crossed billions of views on YouTube. This comes after Sanwal Yaar Piya became the first Pakistani drama of the year to cross one billion views on the streaming platform, reaching the milestone in just 33 episodes.
This high in India rides on a wave of popularity that followed several Pakistani dramas’ release across the border last year, among which the most popular was Kabhi Main Kabhi Tum starring Hania Aamir and Fahad Mustafa.
