In May, after Operation Sindoor, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting had issued an advisory directing Indian OTT platforms to remove all streaming content originating from Pakistan (This link is broken, May 9). As a result, Zee5 had pulled the plug on its Pakistani shows and Indo-Pak collaborative productions. Five months on, some of those acclaimed shows have found a new home in the Middle East. Executives based in Dubai tell mid-day that several Indo-Pak joint productions, which were formerly housed under Zee Entertainment’s cross-border entertainment vertical Zindagi, have now been acquired by Begin. Watch.
Launched in 2022, Begin.Watch is a Pakistan-based streaming platform. In recent months, it not only expanded its presence in the Middle East, but also secured rights to multiple shows caught in the crossfire of the May ban.
Sajal Ali in ‘The Pink Shirt’
A prominent example is The Pink Shirt, starring Mom (2017) actor Sajal Ali and Wahaj Ali. The romantic drama was originally developed under Zindagi along with Indian content studio Applause Entertainment. An industry insider reveals, “While The Pink Shirt did the festival rounds, its 2023 release kept getting pushed. In the aftermath of Operation Sindoor, it never hit Indian screens. In such Indo-Pak collaborations, there was ambiguity about who owned the show anymore. Begin. Watch negotiated directly with the Pakistani producers.”
After it became clear that Zee5’s Zindagi vertical had been shut down in India, Begin. Watch acquired several cross-border collaborations such as Churails and Qatil Haseenaon Ke Naam. Yet conspicuously missing from its catalogue is Barzakh (2024), director Asim Abbasi’s fantasy drama starring Fawad Khan. The show had streamed on Zee5 in India. The source explains, “Since the show was produced for Zindagi, which was part of an Indian platform, it’s tangled in a rights dispute. The now-
defunct Zindagi slate has led to a situation where many creators can’t access their own work. These collaborations were made with Indian money and Pakistani talent, and are now in a grey zone.”