KARACHI – TV drama Parvarish is making waves for its progressive narrative and portrayal of generational conflicts within joint family, but the soap opera garnered unwanted attention for allegedly promoting LGBTQ culture in Pakistan.
The drama written by Kiran Siddiqui, and directed by Meesam Naqvi, Parvarish garnered praise for breaking stereotype content and showing lives and struggles of Gen Z within traditional family setting. However, a particular scene in episode 31 has drawn backlash from a segment of viewers on social media.
In this episode, the character Wali is seen singing at a café and during this performance, the camera momentarily focuses on a wall poster featuring a rainbow-colored Pride heart flag which is a symbol commonly associated with LGBTQ+ community.
The brief shot sparked outrage online, with viewers accusing creators of subtly promoting LGBTQ content in family drama. The scene quickly went viral, triggering a wave of negative comments across platforms.
One social media user commented, “I loved this drama, but after seeing that pride heart, I’m done watching it.” Another said, “They are trying to normalise such themes for our youth, and this is unacceptable.”
Another said, “This goes against our values, and the media is deliberately introducing these concepts to the younger generation.”
While the creators have yet to respond publicly to the criticism, the controversy highlights growing divide between progressive storytelling in mainstream Pakistani media and a section of the audience holding traditionalist views.
This is not the first time a local production faced backlash over perceived social messaging.
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