Abstract
Television drama has been a popular source of entertainment in Pakistan. Throughout its history, this medium has been focusing on society's social and human rights issues when the main attention was given to class, religion, and political problems. Among these, some dramas also focused on the rights of Pakistani women. Lahore centre, being a hub for drama production, addressed the issues of women of central Punjab. However, women living in South Punjab, which have been subject to serious human rights violations, were given lesser attention throughout history. Some of the earliest exceptions in this regard are Darya (River, 1986) and Pyas (Thirst, 1989). Both dramas were written by Asghar Nadeem Syed and aired on Pakistan Television. Despite being anti-patriarchy, both dramas gained huge popularity among the audience. The current study aims to offer a qualitative analysis of both dramas so that to explore how the women of South Punjab were presented historically and how these earliest examples of popular dramas were narrated patriarchy through their stories and characters. This study also argues that women's rights in South Punjab highlighted in the two dramas are still relevant and need to be addressed by the state and society.
Keyword(s)
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