Pakistani model and actor Sanam Saeed said she was glad that Pakistani shows were having a positive impact on people in India – which was the same effect they had on people in Pakistan.

In an interview with the Times of India, Saeed, who has been associated with Pakistan’s entertainment industry in various avatars, said she did not understand why India and Pakistan were considered different nations when there was so much of similarity between the two countries stressing that both countries were indeed one nation.

The 29-year-old was grateful and happy that Zindagi Gulzar Hai, the drama where she enacted the role of a girl from the lower middle-class, was the first serial which broke the ice across the borders in recent times.

"India uses Bollywood, rather cinema, to tell its stories. It is one of the largest filmmaking nations in the world and so your talents get to tell stories about politics, love and drama through films. In Pakistan, our medium is the small screen.

"We don't make many films, and hardly have theatres. A majority of people seek entertainment while sitting at home and TV gives it to them, so we excel on that part," Sanam said.

The British-born actor, who shifted to Karachi at the age of six, also said that she selected roles which showcased a woman’s struggle.

Elaborating on how the people in Pakistan only had TV as a form of entertainment, she said she tried to do shows which had inspirational value and enacted characters that could be role models for young girls and help change people’s perspective.

Also read: I adore Kapil Sharma, says Samina Peerzada

Opinion

Editorial

Regional climbdown
04 Mar, 2026

Regional climbdown

WITH the region in flames, Pakistan must calibrate its foreign policy accordingly; it has to deal with some ...
Burning questions
Updated 04 Mar, 2026

Burning questions

BY most accounts, the protest was not massive. Nor was it unexpected. And yet, it ended in gruesome bloodshed. The...
Governance failure
04 Mar, 2026

Governance failure

BENEATH Lahore’s signal-free corridors and road infrastructure lies a darker truth: crumbling sewerage lines,...
Iran endgame
Updated 03 Mar, 2026

Iran endgame

AS hostilities continue following the Israeli-American joint aggression against Iran, there seems to be no visible...
Water concerns
03 Mar, 2026

Water concerns

RECENT reports that India plans to invest $60bn in increasing its water storage capacity on the Jhelum and Chenab...
Down and out
03 Mar, 2026

Down and out

ANOTHER Twenty20 World Cup, another ignominious exit — although this time Pakistan did advance past the first...