New Delhi, Sept. 24: Zindagi, India's only Hindi-Urdu entertainment channel that airs soap operas and telefilms from Pakistan, is set to stop broadcasting shows syndicated from the neighbouring country in the wake of escalating tensions between the two nations.
The channel, owned by the Zee group, was launched in 2014 with four dramas on air, produced in the neighbouring country, all starring local actors with stories based on families and relationships.
Sources said a formal decision to stop airing Pakistani shows is likely to be taken next week. The channel currently shows two family dramas from Pakistan, apart from one each from Egypt and Turkey.
"Unfortunate stance of Mia Sharif at UN. Zee is considering stopping Zindagi programs from Pak, as well artists from there should leave," the group's chairman Subhash Chandra tweeted today, referring to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's address at the United Nations 71st General Assembly earlier this week.
Sharif, while criticising India for its alleged human rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir, had also described Burhan Wani, a Hizb-ul Mujahideen commander who was killed by Indian security forces in July, as a "young leader" of the Kashmiris.
" Maine Zindagi TV chalakar Nawaz Sharif se kiya vaada nibhaya, jode dilon ka nara diya. Par pyar ektarafa nahi ho sakta na (I kept my promise to Nawaz Sharif by launching Zindagi TV with the slogan of joining hearts. But love cannot be one-sided)," Chandra's second tweet read.
An email sent to the channel seeking its official response on the plan to stop Pakistani shows remained unanswered. But executives attached with the broadcaster told this newspaper "it had made up its mind on carrying ahead with shows only from India, Egypt and Turkey for now".
"We are mulling to replace next week onwards the two dramas from Pakistan with Indian shows," a senior Zindagi executive said.
"As a fallout of the attack on our soldiers in Uri... this was bound to happen. On top of it, the Pakistani Prime Minister has rubbed salt on our injuries by criticising India at the UN," she added.
"In this atmosphere of heightened hostility between two countries, a TV channel cannot remain isolated. We are getting emails, letters demanding that the shows featuring Pakistani actors be stopped."
The channel had originally sourced over 200 shows - telefilms and dramas running in 20 to 25 episodes - from Pakistan, about 80 per cent of which have already been aired. Dramas like Humsafar and Zindagi Gulzar Hai were received particularly well in India and helped the lead actor Fawad Khan land several meaty roles by major production houses in Bollywood.
"There is no dearth of soaps made in the country," a channel executive said. "But Pakistani television still enjoys a reputation for being slightly classier than the local fare and it will be really sad if they come to an end abruptly."
The shows on the channel, however, have stirred controversy in the past too. Last year, the Broadcast Content Complaints Council had stopped the repeat broadcast of a Pakistani-made Partition-related serial, Waqt Ne Kiya Kya Hasin Sitam, that had generated a deluge of complaints from viewers across India.
