Racy TV offers respite for conflict-weary Pakistanis A scene from Forbidden Love. Photo: YouTube As Nihal prepared to marry Behlul, not everything was going to plan. Wielding a gun, the bride's stepmother declared undying love for the groom and said she couldn't live without him. Illicit liaisons were at the heart of Ishq-e-Memnu or "Forbidden Love," the Turkish series that was the biggest hit on Pakistani television last winter. At its peak, the show was watched by a third of the country's cable and satellite audience. Still, the racy plot lines proved too much for conservative politicians, and a parliamentary committee found the "onslaught of foreign dramas" so harmful to the nation's culture it suggested a ban. Undaunted, Pakistani networks have ordered more overseas shows. As viewers seek relief from news reports of sectarian violence and the war with the Taliban, the success of foreign programs has also sparked a revival in locally made dramas almost 30 years after an army-sponsored censorship drive that sought to create a stricter Islamic state. "A major shift is taking place in Pakistan's entertainment scene," said Salman Danish, chief executive of Medialogic Pakistan, which assigns audience ratings. Women's rights, domestic violence and gay couples have featured in broadcast dramas. Shows have dissected a mullah's relationship with his wife and daughters, and featured a poor girl struggling at an elite school. Samina Ahmed, an actress and producer, is playing roles unthinkable earlier in her four-decade career. "Some social taboos are slowly breaking," she said. But this freedom is also creating tension between conservative and liberal mindsets. Ahmed's recent characters have included a mother of call girls in serial Akhri Barish ("Last Rain") and a grandmother who runs away to get married. For many of Pakistan's 196 million people, the soap operas are an escape from the news networks. "I'm sick of news," said Zermeena Shah, 35, an Islamabad housewife who spends six hours a day watching drama and cooking channels. Television is the only viable entertainment option for the majority of women. Tightly controlled state TV and radio channels had a monopoly before then military ruler Pervez Musharraf opened broadcasting to private investors in 2002. Now Pakistanis have 84 satellite television and 120 FM radio choices. From zero access to private channels five years ago, 4.8 million households now watch the networks in Pakistan's villages, Mr Danish said. In cities, four-fifths of households tune in. The national regulator still aims to prohibit programs that might offend "cultural values, morality and good manners." Mohammad Ahmed, a dramatist behind successes from the 1990s, said the industry might be moving too fast in a country unable to curb violence against religious minorities and liberal politicians. When you and your kids start watching shows with dialogues like 'Sarfraz's wife is very beautiful but actually she's a prostitute,' then it's not freedom. You're actually playing with illiterate minds," he said.