“They’re both characters, they’re both victims."
The director of Mayi Ri has responded to claims that the show glorifies child marriage.
Meesam Naqvi appeared in an interview and spoke about the uproar, which escalated after 15-year-old Annie (Aina Asif) discovered she was pregnant.
Speaking to GupShup with FUCHSIA, Meesam defended the show and said:
“They’re both characters, they’re both victims.
“Because they are both victims, they will look for solace somewhere within each other.
“The viewership of each episode is around eight to nine million, and within a night one of our episodes will have four to five million.
“So, eight million people are watching it on YouTube.
“That audience is separate from those who watch it on TV.
“So, if my average ratio for an audience is 2 million for example, the 2,300 comments out of those 2 million are saying this, then I do not call this glorification.
“These are those comments by those who say they only watch Annie and Fakhir’s scenes.
“Now you need to understand that those who are watching those scenes are not watching a different story.”
Meesam went on to say that Mayi Ri highlighted a family where everyone had been married at a fairly young age and as a result, all the characters are fighting their own battles and traumas.
He stated that his intention was not to show child marriages to be a good thing.
Instead, Meesam wanted to highlight that as young children, they respect one another, despite their situation, enabling character development through the process.
Mayi Ri is about Annie and her younger cousin Fakhir (Samar Abbas) who are made to marry each other after Fakhir’s father becomes ill and expresses his desire to see his son married in his lifetime.
The mothers of both children disagree with the decision as both say the children are too young and that it would be a replay of their own early marriages.
Fakhir’s father, played by Nauman Ijaz, continues with his desire and the children are bound together in a relationship.
Although the drama began positively, viewers are now unimpressed with the new storyline that Annie is pregnant.
Many viewers claimed the storyline was unsuitable to be shown on TV.
Mayi Ri is aired on ARY Digital and also stars Maya Khan, Maria Wasti, Sajida Syed, Amna Malik and Saad Faridi.
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