Media Campaigns

Raising Awareness about Social Issues through Mainstream Media

Through its advocacy program, Kashf has used multiple media sources to convey its messages; this includes street theatre performances, newspaper articles and features, public service messages, radio campaigns, and television series. While street theatre and news are effective media, their outreach is limited. Television has massive potential in reaching out to a great number of people and providing a new narrative to society on issues faced by women and practical ways of addressing these issues. Moreover, most televised representations of women in the Pakistani media are negative, especially with regards to economically active women, i.e. women that are financially independent are shown as careless of their household duties, negligent of children’s/family needs and thus perpetuate the logic that economic activity should be restricted to men while women should remain focused on social responsibilities of child rearing and household upkeep. There is therefore an obvious need to develop appropriate social content in a sensitive manner in order to address the above gaps in the way popular media represents women and violence against women.

Keeping this in mind, Kashf Foundation chose to innovatively address women’s issues through its television campaigns that focus on important social issues, deconstruct the myths around the issue, create dialogue and discussion amongst viewers and most importantly provide a solution oriented approach to dealing with these issues. Being involved in the economic mainstreaming of low-income women, Kashf’s television productions have laid great emphasis on the positive spillover effects of women’s economic empowerment, while also questioning deeply held views about women and girls in society. Kashf’s television series are based on real life stories and narratives, and were the first of their kind to be aired on television, as they not only provided an opportunity to hold up a mirror to society by highlighting gender inequity, but also provided a message of hope in terms of not delineating women as victims, but as survivors of abuse. Moreover, Kashf’s series have questioned the general impression that to be a commercial success the story line must show a submissive female character, who is just there to accept whatever fate has in store for her. This malaise is not just specific to the Pakistani entertainment industry as even in Hollywood women account for 34% of the major roles and represent 33% of all speaking characters ; in other words males tend to get more face time on screen. Kashf’s dramas have worked counter to this notion, and have shown that audiences appreciate strong female characters, those that espouse dignity and question the current norms. Some media representatives have stated that both Rehaii and Udaari (particularly Udaari) has established a new normal when it comes to representing women based issues on screen.

Watch Aakhri Station on ARY Digital

Kashf’s current mini-series, Aakhri Station went on air on 13th February at 9PM on ARY Digital. Each episode is receiving an overwhelming positive response and is scheduled to go on air each Tuesday. It is a seven episode mini-series touching upon important social issues plaguing our society and aims to highlight women and gender specific issues in a sensitive and realistic manner. Like its predecessors Udaari and Rehaii, the serial is based on real life stories and narratives, developing strong female characters that are not shown as victims but as protagonists who deal with harsh circumstances. Depicting the concept that ‘women can be the heroes of their own stories,’ each episode is unique but brought together through a train journey.

Seven separate women who do not know each other coincidentally ride in the same train compartment. All of them are on a journey of empowerment as a means to change their circumstances and each of their stories illustrate important, yet often misunderstood, social issues.

The lead protagonist is Sanam Saeed playing the role of a woman battling depression. Other main characters are played by Nimra Bucha, Malika Zafar, Eman Suleman, Farah Tufail, Anam Gohar and Amara Butt with acclaimed actors like Mikaal Zulfiqar and Irfan Khoosat as the supporting cast.

Produced by Kashf Foundation, written by Amna Mufti and directed by Sarmad Khoosat, Aakhri Station touches upon topics like HIV, drug addiction, mental health and depression, forced prostitution and more, all of which are considered taboo but prevalent in our society. Music is also a key component of the series and in addition to Amjad Islam Amjad’s lyrics for the original sound track titled ‘Mujhey Apney Jeenay Ka Haq Chahiyeh,’ a special rendition of the poetry is done by Shabana Azmi.

Ultimately, Aakhri Station is about lending voice to women, bringing them to the front of their own stories and providing hope to those women who lack agency or support.

Rehaii

Kashf’s first television production, Rehaii was focused on the issue of child marriage and through its multiple sub-plots and characters highlighted the issues and constraints faced by women from low-income households in Pakistan. The series empowered women to recognize their own worth and find sustainable solutions to empowerment through their associative strength. Rehaii was a top of the line production which aired during prime time on Pakistan’s most popular drama channel Hum TV. The 15 episode drama was directed by award winning director Mehreen Jabbar, the writer for the show was Farhat Ishtiaq and the cast comprised of stellar performers such as Sameena Peerzada, Maria Wasti, Nauman Ejaz, and Danish Taimoor.

Kashf has also adapted Rehaii for radio and it is airing in the Urdu language on FM 101, Radio Pakistan every Monday and Friday at 11:35 AM. Using radio as a medium provides Kashf with access to downstream listeners where Kashf aims to create dialogue and change prevalent mind-sets through edu-tainment. Owing to Rehaii’s social relevance and theme, i.e. early marriage and girls education, Kashf is also planning on having the radio script of Rehaii translated into the Pushto language to touch base with the audience in Pushto speaking areas such as Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, FATA and tribal areas where the problem is quite acute.

Click here to listen to the Rehaii radio episodes on Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/kashffoundation

Udaari

Kashf’s second television production, Udaari was a trail blazing success. It had child sexual abuse as its main theme and explored other themes such as economic empowerment of women, legal hurdles and issues faced by low-income households, social taboos around music, and differences between urban and rural life. The television show had two story tracks; one which was more serious and the other which was lighter and more entertaining. Udaari was co-produced by Kashf with MD Productions and aired on Hum TV. It was directed by Ehtisham-ud-Din, penned by Farhat Ishtiaq, and its star cast included Bushra Ansari, Ahsan Khan, Samiya Mumtaz, Urwa Hocane and Farhan Saeed.

Udaari was touted as the most popular television drama of 2016 and this has resulted in Udaari winning multiple awards in this year for its production, story-line and acting.

Impact and Success

Both Rehaii and Udaari were very successful both in terms of articulation of key themes and popularity and viewer appeal. Rehaii and Udaari were able to effectively captivate followers from the beginning as evidenced through the response the shows received in the media, social media, letters and emails to Kashf Foundation, and phone calls received as a result of the shows. Both the television series were not only appreciated for the social messages they contained but the immense entertainment value with the vibrant cast and numerous plot twists. Overall, feedback from audiences lauded the story/script, character development, acting skills and quality of production. Hum TV is one of the most popular Urdu drama channels in Pakistan. TRP ratings for Hum TV for the Rehaii timeslot showed a great appeal for the show; getting higher ratings for most weeks compared to closest competitor for the show. The show also had a huge fan following with appreciation and support from all corners of Pakistan and the Pakistani diaspora abroad. The TV show out-performed closest competitor channel in Segment C viewers for 10 weeks according to the TRP ratings. Udaari was a complete trailblazer with respect to popularity and outperformed all other shows not just for the time-slot but for the year. Udaari has been touted as the best television drama for the year 2016 and has received mass scale appreciation for all aspects, i.e. story, production, acting, theme. With regards to TRP rating, Udaari consistently outperformed all other channels for the time-slot for the 25 weeks that it was aired.