Multi-award-winning Pakistani animated television series, Burka Avenger, featuring a Muslim warrior girl from Pakistan, has premiered on the big screen in London. Created by musician Haroon Rashid, the show was screened at the Royal Festival Hall and is now part of London’s Southbank Centre arts festival.
Multi-award-winning Pakistani animated television series, Burka Avenger, featuring a Muslim warrior girl from Pakistan, has premiered on the big screen in London. Created by musician Haroon Rashid, the show was screened at the Royal Festival Hall and is now part of London’s Southbank Centre arts festival.
Burka Avenger garnered mixed reviews among Western audience when it was earlier screened in 2013. On one hand, it’s central character Jiya, a school teacher who becomes a burqa-clad avenger to fight against evils was among Time Magazine’s most influential characters of 2013, while on the other, the lady’s alter identity didn’t resonate well with some of the critics.
Responding to those who think that the cartoon glorified the traditional Muslim attire for women, Rashid told IANS, “[I]t’s not about how [the character] looks or what she’s wearing, it’s about what she is doing.” He also maintained that the burka-clad avenger is fighting evil and promotes education with “books and pens as her weapons” unlike “sexualized Western characters like Cat Woman and Wonder Woman”.
Aimed at educating and entertaining audiences, Burka Avenger is Pakistan’s first ever animated TV series and has taken viewers by storm, not only in Pakistan but Afghanistan as well. According to Telegraph, more than 85 percent of children living in urban areas watch the show in Afghanistan.
