Why Pakistani serials continue to hook Indians, from VCR to Netflix era

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.
Not just Ashar, thousands of Indians too fell in love with Khirad. This scene from a Pakistani series 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 the people who viewed the clip are from India.
Humsafar was first aired in India in 2014. But the saga of India’s love for Pakistani serials isn’t a decade-old story — it goes back at least to 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 enduring love from Indians, across decades and generations.
This is why even the Indian Gen Z are binging on Pakistani serials along with their usual Netflix dope.
While many of them discovered the serials because of Instagram Reels and YouTube shorts, others inherited the love from their family members.
The Indian Gen Z’s love for Pakistani dramas is visible on Instagram, a social media platform dominated by them, the reels of Humsafar are widely popular with thousands of likes.
Love from India is visible in the comments section.
“Just looking at this reel, makes me so happy,” wrote an Instagram user from India.
“What I would do to watch this scene for the first time again,” commented another.
India’s ties with Pakistan have been patchy given the country’s history of harbouring and exporting terrorism into India. Pakistan, which has tried to bleed India for Kashmir, snapped diplomatic ties after the revocation of Article 370, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
However, it is a shared culture and civilisation that binds the two people together.
“I find the Pakistani serials relatable, since our cultures are similar. Our families are also similar,” Anamika, a 26-year-old political science researcher from Hisar tells India Today Digital.
It is the “similarity” of the people across the border that surprises some of the Netflix-watching Gen Z.
“It is interesting to watch people you have been told to hate all your life are so simple, and they are so much like you,” Varul, a 22-year-old Noida-based journalist, tells India Today Digital.
The young Indian audience also finds the Pakistani serials very relatable.
There are several factors, including the taut storytelling with a limited number of episodes, that hooked Indians to Pakistani serials decades before Netflix brought the concept of miniseries to Indian drawing rooms.

Indians have been watching Pakistani dramas at least since the late 1980s. That is when people used to rent out video cassette players and recorders (VCPs and VCRs) to binge on movies and dramas.
“I used to love watching Pakistani shows in the 80s and 90s. We used to watch it through VCRs rented from video cassette libraries,” Swaty Prakash, who works for an NGO based in Delhi, tells India Today Digital.

Swaty Prakash has watched Pakistani dramas since the VCR-era and has always found Pakistani serials relatable to watch. (Image: Swaty Prakash)

The whole addiction started with Pakistani slap-stick comedy shows.
“Several slapstick comedy shows like Budhdha Ghar Pe Hai were really popular,” says 45-year-old Prakash. She began watching the shows when she was in her early teens.
Lamat Hasan, a Delhi-based journalist who has lived in Islamabad from 2007 to 2013, says people loved watching comedy shows like Bakra Qiston Pay.
Tanhaiyan and Dhoop Kinarey were two of the Pakistani dramas widely watched in India back in the 80s and 90s.
These serials were a hit in Jodhpur, Lucknow, Srinagar and all over Punjab.
Those were the days of government-run TV channel Doordarshan, and Pakistani serials were available only on video cassettes in India.
Things changed in the age of cable television.
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. Others shows like Daastan and Mere Afzal also gained popularity in India.
Even Indian filmmakers and actors lapped up these shows.
“#ZINDAGI at #zee draws my attention for interesting plays with real people with real homes than our serials full of make up and made up twists,” wrote Shubhash Ghai in 2014.
“Man, got hooked and watched 3 serials in a row on Zindagi..I think this channel with its content will be a serious threat to all soapers,” wrote actor Javed Jaafri on X.
However, Zee’s Zindagi had a short life span, as it had to pull the plug in 2017. It discontinued all Pakistani serials, the channel’s USP, after the 2016 Uri terror attack.
For both Prakash and Hasan, it was the relatability and story-telling that attracted them to the serials from across the border.
“Western shows like Friends were aspirational, but the Pakistani shows were more relatable,” says Prakash.
“We used to watch shows like Tanhaiyaan. It is also that these stories were delicately told and were interesting,” Hasan tells India Today Digital.
As Zee Zindagi beamed the Pakistani serials, the Indian audience was also wooed by lehza (etiquette) and libaas (attire).
Now, as Gen Z is taking a liking to the Pakistani shows available on OTT and YouTube, they are also developing a liking for Urdu and Pakistani attire.
“I love how they incorporate Urdu in their dialogues. It keeps me hooked to every word that is spoken,” says Anamika, the Hisar-based researcher.
“The story and theme, the depth and how they integrate their culture with the storyline is what is impressive,” says Varul, the 22-year-old journalist.

Varul has followed Pakistani shows for more than a decade now and Pakistani serials are his go-to when it comes to his binge-watch list. (Image: Varul)

One of the biggest reasons why Pakistani serials are a hit among Indians is because they are wrapped up in about 30 episodes. With some not even going beyond 15 episodes with the tight narration. Compare this to the India-made saas-bahu serials that drag on for 1,000 episodes at times.
Pakistani actor Fawad Khan, who was a part of Zindagi Gulzar Hai and Humsafar, also pointed to format in a 2014 interview.
“They [Indians] make soap operas. They don’t make miniseries. They don’t make a 10-20 episode series,” Khan told Ahmad Ali Butt.
He also linked the quality of the Indian soaps to them running into 1,000 episodes.
“If you do the math, 26 episodes vs 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 to 1,000 episodes, you will get bored with them after a point. That’s the difference,” the Pakistani actor added.
The Pakistani serials are now on YouTube and OTT platforms like Zee5. Zindagi Gulzar Hai and Humsafar were also on Netflix India.
The latest favourite of the Indian Gen Z is Kuch Ankahi (2023).
Swaty Prakash, says her junior colleagues at her Delhi-based NGO, mostly in their 20s, are the ones who now suggest her which Pakistani serials to watch.
Sar-e-Rah, a 2023 miniseries starring Saba Qamar, that tells stories of marginalised 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 up like 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 the 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 with the original soundtracks (OST) and of the shows.
Come to think of it, the Pakistani serials have been watched by Indians for over three decades across all formats. Starting from VCRs, to cable TV channels, to OTT and YouTube. The medium has changed, the love has remained the same. That love is now being carried forward by the younger generation of Indians.