OTT platforms like ZEE5 have been providing consistent opportunities to Pakistani actors, directors, musicians and technicians a chance to go beyond what is acceptable and otherwise on local cable channels and laws imposed by PEMRA. And, these laws can be as arbitrary as your mood on any given day.

In such an uncertain environment, embracing a streaming platform that provides a larger audience and creative freedom is not a bad idea. Pakistani players from show business certainly have understood this.

Zee5, for instance, after being home to web series like Churails or Qatil Haseenaon Kay Naam to name just two is now hosting the recently released (not in Pakistan) web series Mr. and Mrs. Shameem. Featuring acting heavyweights Nauman Ijaz and Saba Qamar, it pays a nod to the queer community with the kind of nuance we’ve become accustomed to from web series released by Zee5, by breaking gender stereotypes.

What’s common between web series and cable productions is a soundtrack though, and a great deal of them tend to sound the same. However, Mr. and Mrs. Shameem gambled - not just in the story department - but also in the music department. The late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s iconic qawwali ‘Dilliagi’, has been recreated for the web series. In what is now a saturated market, when we talk about television or even web series OSTs due to an overflow of musical content, this version is actually pretty good. Co-composed by Sami Khan along with NFAK, this version of ‘Dillagi’ features a list of celebrated singers such as Fariha Pervez, Sahir Ali Bagga, Zain Ali and Zohaib Ali with lyrics by Purnam Allahabadi and Sami Khan.

The web series isn’t the first one to take the song and make a newer version while keeping in mind the original. Soch (the band) made a cool version of ‘Dillagi’ for Asad-ul-Haq’s film Dekh Magar Pyaar Se which featured Humaima Malick and Sikandar Rizvi.

We prefer the version delivered by Soch for its originality a tad bit more, but this one also has its moments and complements the idea behind the series which is out to break conventional norms we often find ourselves bound by.