The year is 2014, you switch on the TV and realise there is a new channel bringing you shows from across the border. Zindagi Gulzar Hai comes on, and you immediately fall in love with Fawad Khan and his chemistry with Sanam Saeed. And if you didn’t fall head over heels with Fawad Khan in Zindagi Gulzar Hai, you must have been charmed by him in movies like Kapoor & Sons, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil and Khoobsurat. We might not have seen the actor on the big Indian screen for about eight years, but Zee5’s latest series, Barzakh, brings Fawad Khan back to the screen for the Indian audience.

Directed and written by Asim Abbasi, Barzakh is a Pakistani and Indian co-produced series. The fantasy series stars Fawad Khan, Sanam Saeed, Salman Shahid, Fawad M Khan, and Sajid Hasan.

A tale of longing, love and loss

A young Jafar Khanzada (Khushhal Khan) has dreams in his eyes and love in his heart for his young lover Mahtab (Anika Zulfikar). His dream is to become rich and build the Mahtab Mahal for his lover. In his quest to fulfil his dreams, Jafar takes up a job at a construction site and works part-time as a mime artist.  Soon, the scene shifts to the present day as Shehryar (Fawad Khan) drives into the Land of Nowhere with his son. His ailing father, the elderly Jafar (Salman Shahid), has invited his sons to his third and final wedding.

From the moment we meet Shehryar, we know his relationship with Jafar is far from loving, and it’s evident from how he talks of his father. Saifullah (Fawad M Khan), Shehryar’s brother and Jafar’s eldest son, doesn’t have the best father-son relationship either. As a young boy, Saifullah was left to care for his mother when his father abandoned them. The brothers have come to Mahtab Mahal on their father’s insistence to celebrate his third wedding to the lost love of his life, Mahtab.

Nobody has met the bride, but Jafar insists she exists. The series teeters on the edge of the land of the living and the dead, as the name of the place, Land of Nowhere, suggests. Mahtab Mahal is built on the gravestones of the villagers’ ancestors, who played a key role in Jafar’s lover, Mahtab’s death. To avenge his loss, he refuses to open the atrium where the gravestones are. According to the local legends, Jafar’s marriage with the dead Mahtab, a union of the world of the living and the dead, will bring doom to the land. Despite the opposition, Jafar is insistent on marrying Mahtab.

Hidden truths and trauma

All characters in Barzakh have skeletons in their closets. It’s quite evident, but you don’t fully know what they are. Saifullah is a gay man who was never accepted by his mother and is seeking validation. Shehryar is still reeling from the death of his wife, and though he seems to have a good relationship with his son, there is a bit of tension there as well. Both Saif and Shehryar have a strained relationship with their father, Jafar. Then we have Scheherezade (Sanam Saeed), Jafar’s caretaker and the manager of Mahtab Mahal, who seems to have secrets of her own.

A thread that connects all these characters is the trauma they have faced. We might not yet be privy to what their trauma is, but it is clear all of them have painful secrets of their own. Barzakh is a slow burn, and therein lies the show’s beauty. Watching the series is like peeling off layers of an onion, and if instant gratification is what you seek, Barzakh is not the show for you. But if you can be patient, allow the story to unfold at its pace, and enjoy the world-building, you are far more likely to be delighted by it. 

Fawad Khan and Sanam Saeed’s Barzakh is a limited series with six episodes, with one episode each on Tuesdays and Fridays. You can catch the show on Zee5. 

Can you watch it with your family?: The first episode has a slightly seductive scene, but otherwise, the series is worth a family watch. Though beautiful, it is also heartbreaking, so beware.

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