Veteran actor Mehmood Akhtar has issued a strong warning regarding the perceived decline in quality and morality within the Pakistani drama industry. The renowned artist from the golden age of PTV, currently residing in Canada, claims that foreign funding and an alleged Western agenda are destroying the core identity of Pakistani dramas.
Speaking in a recent program, Mehmood Akhtar, who has witnessed every shift in the industry, noted that in the past, dramas were “sincere and high-quality,” possessing genuine depth in their storylines. According to him, the quality began to drop when condensed digest stories became common.
However, his deepest concern lies with the current trend. Akhtar explicitly alleged:
“Now a new fraud is going on. Funding is coming from the West to create dramas on specific themes, and all this is destroying our ethics. Nobody is paying attention; rather, both the drama producers and the audience are satisfied. If this continues, what direction will our society take in the future?”
He lamented that Pakistani dramas are losing their original cultural and social values and are becoming subservient to a Western agenda, which he believes is severely damaging the moral foundation of Pakistani society. His statement is likely to ignite a fresh debate, both within and outside the drama industry, about the extent to which cultural and ethical values are being compromised in the name of creative freedom.
