Writer-director Asim Abbasi appears to have deciphered the trick to successfully portray dramas that are both liberating and crushing at once. Following the 2018 poignant family drama, Cake, Abbasi earned acclaim for his feminist take on interpersonal relationships in the 2020 Zindagi series, Churails.

Up next is Barzakh, another Zindagi offering that puts the spotlight on complex human emotions, and has a touch of supernatural fantasy. Speaking of the project that brings together the winning duo of Fawad Khan and Sanam Saeed after Zindagi Gulzar Hai, Abbasi says, “The title, Barzakh, encapsulates those multiplicities. It implies a barrier, obstacle, or a place between two spaces. The characters are seen attempting to bridge their past with their present to move on with their lives. But, the word also has a metaphysical meaning — the characters are in the land of nowhere, where the seen and unseen worlds collide.”

He recalls that the origin of the series, which premiered at the Series Mania Festival on Friday, traces back to a conversation he had with the show’s producer, Shailja Kejriwal. “I was processing the loss of my father a few years ago. The story is layered and is open to multiple interpretations.”

Kejriwal adds, “[We] create a world that is both mystical and modern, loving and tumultuous, hopeful and hopeless. This is a story about a family reunion where the living and dead are both in attendance.” 

Apart from the narrative that he has penned, Abbasi has evidently hit the target by roping in Khan and Saeed 11 years after their popular show. “Sanam and I feed off each other’s creativity and together create memorable characters. Fawad came into this project prepared, and had a great connection with the story,” he signs off.