On a rainy night in Karachi, Khirad, played by Mahira Khan, gets drenched in the rain. Her black Anarkali suit is an extension of her beauty, already elevated by her spontaneity and innocence. Ashar, played by Fawad Khan, falls in love with Khirad. This was Humsafar.

It wasn’t just Ashar, thousands of Indians also fell in love with Khirad. This scene from a Pakistani serial would become one of the most watched scenes in India.

Humsafar, the 23-episode miniseries, has garnered over 10 million views on YouTube. It was uploaded by a Pakistani TV channel, Hum TV.

Many of the millions of people who watched the clip are from India.

Humsafar first aired in India in 2014. But the saga of India’s love affair with Pakistani serials is not a decade-old story — goes back to at least the late 1980s.

For Indians, most things to do with Pakistan, be it cricket and politics, have been a love-hate affair. However, Pakistani serials have found lasting love from Indians, across decades and generations.

This is why even Gen Z in India enjoys Pakistani serials along with their regular Netflix binges.

While many of them discovered the series thanks to Instagram Reels and YouTube shorts, others inherited the love from their family members.

Gen Z India’s love for Pakistani dramas is visible on Instagram, a social media platform dominated by them, Humsafar reels are very popular with thousands of likes.

Love from India is visible in the comments section.

“Just looking at this reel makes me so happy,” wrote one Instagram user from India.

“What I would do to see this scene again for the first time,” commented another.

India’s ties with Pakistan have been spotty given the country’s history of harboring and exporting terrorism to India. Pakistan, which has been trying to bleed India over Kashmir, severed diplomatic ties after revoking Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.

However, it is a common culture and civilization that binds the two people together.

“I find Pakistani serials relatable because our cultures are similar. Our families are also similar,” Anamika, a 26-year-old political scientist from Hisar, tells India Today Digital.

It’s the “similarity” of people across the border that surprises some Netflix-watching Gen Zers.

“It’s interesting to see that people you’ve been told to hate all your life are so simple and so much like you,” Varul, a 22-year-old journalist from Noida, tells India Today Digital.

The young Indian audience finds Pakistani serials very interesting.

There are several factors, including tight storytelling with a limited number of episodes, that hooked Indians to Pakistani serials decades before Netflix brought the miniseries concept to Indian living rooms.

INDIANS’ LOVE FOR PAKISTANI SHOW GOES BACK TO THE 1980s

Indians have been watching Pakistani dramas since at least the late 1980s. Back then, people used to rent cassette players and video recorders (VCPs and VCRs) to enjoy movies and dramas.

“I used to watch Pakistani shows in the 80s and 90s. We used to watch them on VCRs rented from video cassette libraries,” Swaty Prakash, who works for a Delhi-based NGO, tells India Today Digital.

The whole addiction started with Pakistani comedy shows.

“Several slapstick comedy shows like Budhdha Ghar Pe Hai were really popular,” says 45-year-old Prakash. She started watching the shows when she was in her early teens.

Lamat Hasan, a Delhi-based journalist who lived in Islamabad from 2007 to 2013, says people like to watch comedy shows like Bakra Qiston Pay.

Tanhaiyan and Dhoop Kinarey were two of the widely watched Pakistani dramas in India in the 80s and 90s.

These series were a hit in Jodhpur, Lucknow, Srinagar and all over Punjab.

Those were the days of the Doordarshan-ruled television channel, and Pakistani serials were only available on VCRs in India.

Things have changed in the age of cable television.

HOW ZINDAGI popularized Pakistani serials in India

For the new generation, the peak of Pakistani dramas came with the launch of Zee’s Zindagi channel in 2014.

Shows like Zindagi Gulzar Hai and Humsafar gained instant success. Other shows like Daastan and Mere Afzal also gained popularity in India.

Even Indian filmmakers and actors participated in these shows.

“#ZINDAGI at #zee catches my eye for interesting plays with real people with real houses than our make-up and made-up twists,” wrote Shubhash Ghai in 2014.

“Man I fell in love and watched 3 serials in a row on Zindagi.. I think this channel with its content will be a serious threat to all viewers,” wrote actor Javed Jaafri on X.

However, Zee’s Zindagi was short-lived as it had to pull the plug in 2017. It discontinued all Pakistani serials, the channel’s USP, after the 2016 Uri terror attack.

REASONS WHY INDIANS LOVE PAKISTANI SERIALS

For both Prakash and Hasan, it was relatability and storytelling that drew them to serials across the border.

“Western shows like Friends were aspirational, but Pakistani shows were more relatable,” says Prakash.

“We used to watch shows like Tanhaiyaan. Also, these stories were told delicately and were interesting,” Hasan tells India Today Digital.

While Zee Zindagi aired the Pakistani serials, Indian audiences were also courted by lehza (etiquette) and libaas (outfit).

Now, as Generation Z takes pleasure in Pakistani shows available on OTT and YouTube, they are also developing an appreciation for Urdu and Pakistani attire.

“I like how they incorporate Urdu in their dialogues. It keeps me hooked on every word spoken,” says Anamika, the researcher from Hisar.

“The story and the theme, the depth and how they integrate their culture with the story is what’s impressive,” says Varul, the 22-year-old journalist.

One of the biggest reasons why Pakistani serials are a hit among Indians is that they are packed into around 30 episodes. With some I don’t even get past 15 episodes with the tight narrative. Contrast this with saas-bahu serials made in India, which sometimes run for 1,000 episodes.

Pakistani actor Fawad Khan, who was part of Zindagi Gulzar Hai and Humsafar, also hinted at the format in a 2014 interview.

“They (Indians) make soap operas. They don’t do miniseries. They don’t do a series of 10-20 episodes,” Khan told Ahmad Ali Butt.

He also linked the quality of Indian soaps with 1,000 episodes.

“If you do the math, 26 episodes versus 500 episodes, if the content is small, then obviously the quality will be better and the story will be engaging. If you stretch the same characters over 1,000 episodes, you’ll get bored of them after a point. That’s the difference,” the Pakistani actor added.

WHAT PAKISTANI DRAMAS ARE WATCHED BY GEN Z INDIANS

Pakistani serials are now on YouTube and OTT platforms like Zee5. Zindagi Gulzar Hai and Humsafar were also on Netflix India.

India’s latest Gen Z favorite is Kuch Ankahi (2023).

Swaty Prakash, says her junior colleagues at her NGO in Delhi, most of them in their 20s, are now the ones who suggest which Pakistani serials to watch.

Sar-e-Rah, a 2023 miniseries starring Saba Qamar, which tells stories of marginalized women and transgenders, is popular in India.

So is Bakhtawar (2022), starring Yumna Zaidi. It is based on a real-life story of a woman who lived in Lahore and dressed as a man to protect herself.

Kahi Unkahi and Mohabbat Subh ka Sitara Hai, both family dramas, and Suno Chanda, a romantic comedy, are also popular among Gen Z in India.

Some shows, like Dil Kya Karay (2019), even have Rabindra Sangeet, the music of Rabindranath Tagore.

These shows are also becoming popular through Instagram Reels and YouTube shorts. There are hundreds of reels of Original Soundtracks (OSTs) and performances.

Come to think of it, Pakistani serials have been watched by Indians for over three decades in all formats. Starting from VCR, to cable TV channels, to OTT and YouTube. The environment has changed, the love has remained the same. That love is now carried forward by the younger generation of Indians.