A good beginning makes a good ending

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: Aaj News is all set to broadcast the country’s first talk-show – Aghaz-e-Safar – that discusses social and ethical degradations with clear solutions to lessen a fractured society’s woes.

A beaming Oscar winner Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, the show director, told a jam-packed house at the premiere of Aghaz-e-Safar that the stories are meant to create discomfort among viewers to help them appreciate the gravity of simmering social problems.

A big crowd thronged the show to watch the clips of first few episodes which a renowned TV anchor, Fakhr-e-Alam, hosts.

Sharmeen thanked Aaj News and SOC Films for their efforts to collect different stories which people of the country face for a number of reasons. She also introduced the SOC team to the audience. “Aghaz-e-Safar is going to be [a] groundbreaking [venture],” she said.

Talking of her reluctance towards working with local media, she said the country lacks a culture of freedom of expression which western world possesses for pride. She hoped the show will bring solutions to the same unattended problems.

To a question, she said the show is a new way of looking at issues which reflects stories from villages and towns. She said the show episodes will also be put online for a worldwide audience.

The show is a package of 12 episodes on different issues to start from April 13, Sunday at 8 pm, on Aaj News. It discusses issues such as domestic violence, underage marriages, water crisis, child abuse, land grabbing, threats to minorities and sectarian violence and women police officers.

Deputy Chief Executive, Aaj News, Ahmad Zuberi, said the compilation of stories that truly depict the sentiments of a common man is a difficult task. He said the show is an effort aimed at sensitizing society about such social issues to help reduce human miseries.

He hoped the show will open a window of fresh thoughts for society to search for solutions to old problems within it and stop looking outward. He appreciated Sharmeen for her travel to various parts of the country to find such human interest stories. Fakhr-e-Alam said the show is going to stoke sentiments towards marginalized sections of socity.

A number of TV and film celebrities attended the premiere which Sidra Iqbal hosted.