Lifafa Dayaan, an upcoming web series on Urduflix has stirred much controversy even before its release.
The trailer for the series invited both awe and criticism for its bold and exaggerated content. The lead actress Mashal Khan has been in the spotlight since the release of the trailer. BBC Urdu did an exclusive story to reveal insight into a glamorized story based upon the allegations of bribery and greed in journalism.
The trailer shows an anchor named Aleena Ali, smoking and drinking in almost every shot while speaking the same hackneyed old dialogues. Foreign curse words are added in every scene in an attempt to catch the attention of youth. The trailer is prepared in accordance with the dramatization easy to be sold on YouTube. The protagonist is a drug addict, asks for bribes and what it appears in the trailer, and is destined to die as a consequence of her actions.
The producer of the series, Farhan Gohar claims that his idea is original and based on reality and he came up with it after he heard the word “lifafa” used frequently for anchors. In reality, the series is a distasteful copy of an Indian film “Fashion” and the producer in his “originality” has replaced the character of the model with an anchor. According to Farhan, he had several female anchors in his mind while creating the series but he refuses to name a single saying ‘everyone knows about them.’
The series is a hit even before its release and it has triggered fury and dissension in both public and journalists. Many female anchors have come forward and voiced their condemnation against the attempted vilification of the news industry.
Senior journalist and news anchor Nausheen Khan while talking to The Blind Side expressed her despair and disgust regarding the series. According to Nausheen, the trailer made her wonder if any of the people who made this series knew anything at all about the news media industry because they couldn’t even tell the difference between news anchor and program anchor. Drinking, and smoking are personal habits and no one in their sane mind would do it publicly let alone in the studio.
As a former anchor and news media person, I was shocked to watch the trailer. During my 6 years in the industry, I have known at least 100 female news and program anchors combined and I cannot find even a bit of the series’ protagonist in them. It is so far-fetched.
Nausheen called it exploitation of Cinematic liberty and a bid of vilifying the respectful profession of journalism.
She also called out the producer Farhan Gohar for his incompetence and asserted the fact that he was fired from 2 channels and perhaps he did it because of the grudge he holds against media.
Absa Komal, a renowned anchor, also shared her two pence on the development during an exclusive talk with The Blind Side. She termed the series as laughable fiction which has nothing to do with reality. Absa said while she was against the ban culture, series like Lifafa Dayaan can’t be promoted either because of immaturity and misleading content.
The anchors have to particularly take care of their mental health so they can discuss national issues every day without exhaustion. In journalism, content matters the most and one cannot be simply hired on the base of a pretty face.
According to Absa, it is common to show characters from every profession throughout the world, but targeting a whole profession and calling it ‘reality’ instead of fiction is unacceptable. She also mentioned that even if makers of the series wanted to copy a Bollywood idea, they could still have done better and made it realistic.
Anchor Rameen Syed also rejected the grotesque portrayal of female anchors. She said that instead of maligning an already stereotyped industry, makers should start covering stories that break those stereotypes and pave the way for more women to come forward without any fear.
“I have been working in the news media field as a news anchor for 4 years now and I definitely don’t work in the glamorous sort of industry that has been portrayed in the series. News anchors occupy very respectable positions.”
Anchor Sehrish Mansoor told The Blind Side that the series appears to be created by someone who doesn’t have even a slight idea about the media industry.
“Only someone so immature and naive would do it who’s inspired by the street gossips and created a series out of it.”
Anchor Ayesha Khalid lashed out at the team of Lifafa Dayaan for an extremely irresponsible dramatization of the media industry and said that Mr. Farhan was only exploiting the emotions of people.
“The cast and the crew don’t care if their selfish approach aggravates the impression of media and already ill-famed journalists. No one cares about the real issues faced by the media industry and how many people have lost their jobs in the last 2 to 3 years.”
Many male anchors also stepped forward and raise their voices against the negative representation of media. Senior news anchor Salman Hassan expressed his disappointment in the series while talking to the website.
“I specially subscribed to Urduflix for this drama. I was so curious and intrigued to know what might have inspired them to create this story. But when I watched the series it was a total disappointment.”
According to Salman, it is very obvious that someone has victimized the whole news industry out of a personal grudge without any know-how about the media fraternity. He said that idea of success through Casting Couch was very misleading and in his 16 years in the industry, he hasn’t seen anything like this.
“I strongly condemn Lifafa Dayaan because it does not contain even a grain of truth. You’re endangering the future of many struggling and pursuing female anchors because of your low mentality.”
News Anchor and seasoned journalist Neelam Aslam urged the Producer Farhan Gohar to either prove his allegations or apologize publicly for the damage he has caused.
I have seen female anchors struggling and working harder than men in the industry. If the word lifafa intrigued you why didn’t you depict a male anchor for whom the word was originally used.
Here is what Neelam had more to say on the issue:
To sum up, the series is based upon lies fake propaganda against journalism especially targeting female journalists. It is a sketch of the typical misogynistic approach which is propagated, sold, and bought in our society. Not only it is a misuse of a big platform, but it has also endangered the future of many struggling anchors and young girls who want to pursue journalism in the future.
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