Barzakh: A Family Drama with a Fantastical Twist
The creators of the Zindagi original show Barzakh unveiled the show poster in the French city of Lille, prior to its world premiere at the Series Mania Festival. The festival brings together the best screenwriters, directors, and artists from across the world under one roof, and Barzakh is the only series selected from South Asia. The show will debut in the showcase’s International Panorama, a 12-title competitive section where it will be eligible for the best series, director, actress, actor, student jury, and audience awards.
The Cast and Production
Barzakh is helmed by critically acclaimed director Asim Abbasi, who also directed Zindagi’s first original Churails and the feature film Cake. The cast includes Fawad Khan and Sanam Saeed, who both graced the event along with producer Shailja Kejriwal. Asim shot the series in Karachi and the picturesque Hunza Valley in Pakistan. Barzakh blends magical realism and supernatural fantasy within a family reunion setting and deals with themes of love, loss, and reconciliation. The series is produced by Waqas Hassan and Shailja Kejriwal.
The Plot
Barzakh is a family drama centered around an elderly man’s quest for love. It explores intergenerational trauma between fathers and sons and is framed within a fantastical world of supernatural beings and otherworldly events that reveal the chasms between life, death, and rebirth.
The Cast’s Reaction
Fawad Khan portrays the role of a single parent who is charming but filled with a lot of guilt for something he has lost. Elated at Barzakh making the Series Mania cut, Fawad said, “Coinciding with our Series Mania premiere, our poster that we now reveal to the world offers an early glimpse into what can be expected from the series – abstract beauty and ambiguity that reflects the complexities in navigating human relationships in a post-modern world.” Sanam Saeed, who plays the central female character, said, “It is simply surreal to be attending the Series Mania Festival. Barzakh is a story that I connected with from the minute I heard it, and in Asim Abbasi’s hands, it’s been crafted into a moving, beautiful series that will renew our faith in love and life.”
The Poster
Talking about Barzakh and the poster, Asim adds, “Love and memory are both central thematic components of Barzakh. We wanted a visual that represented love in its eternal manifestation, but, which like memory, also had a fleeting, ephemeral quality about – like time slipping by and evaporating around us, leaving behind a distant, but vivid, memory of the moment it all began.”
Conclusion
Barzakh is the first ever Indo-Pak cross border series to premiere globally, and presenting it to the world together as a team is truly an emotional moment. Shailja Kejriwal adds, “Barzakh has come to fruition through unified passion, vision, and bravery from all involved and I would like to extend my wholehearted gratitude to each artist and crew member, as we could not have mounted this ambitious project alone. We hope audiences and fans of original storytelling from around the world will share in our passion and love for this series.
Also read this: https://www.skipper.pk/first-masterclass-in-lahore-hosted-by-spotify-for-artists/
