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Very early on in Asim Abbasi’s Barzakh, a character tells another, “Anything that has ever existed always exists, forever.” She is talking about the permanence of humanity even in the face of the impermanence of the human existence – how any person ‘lives’ in the minds of everyone they have interacted with, every life they’ve touched.
Even the show’s name ‘Barzakh’ carries multitudes – the show translates it to ‘limboland’ but the word can also be interpreted as a ‘separation’ or a ‘barrier’ between worlds. This is a lingering theme in Barzakh which is presented as a supernatural show that seeps into magical realism.
The show opens in the past with Jafar Khanzada (Salman Shahid) declaring his intention to give the woman he loves a better life. While he speaks of the importance of material gain, she speaks of her connection to the land and the one between their souls. This scene in itself is so important to their entire story – in the present when Khanzada says he is acting a certain way ‘for’ his love, you can’t help but wonder if that’s true.
Khanzada, now in his late 70s, has announced his third and final marriage to Mahtab. He is a man who is haunted by the ghosts of the living and the dead and he also refuses to accept that he is losing his memory. Nobody has seen this Mahtab and everyone wonders if she’s alive but judging by the show’s tone, you start to wonder if she’s even of this realm.
When they receive the news, his two sons Saifullah (Fawad M Khan) and Shehryar (Fawad A Khan) arrive at his sprawling bungalow in the ‘Land of Nowhere’ where he lives with a woman called Sherherzade (Sanam Saeed) who takes care of him. Saifullah, Shehryar, and Khanzada are tied by ‘death’ and they’ve all had a different relationship with it. Saifullah has spent his entire life as a caretaker and the toll that takes on him is mirrored in Shehryar’s wife’s arc.
This is a glimpse into how interconnected everyone’s stories on Barzakh and the way the director has a deep understanding of every character. Taking complex characters and putting them in a situation where they must confront their deepest desires and the strained relationship they share with each other is a difficult situation to balance. But the director and the brilliant cast pull it off.
If you listen closely, three distinct languages run through Barzakh – the way the men, the women, and the children react to the things that happen and the rumours they hear are all different and influenced from their lived experiences. In the ‘Land of Nowhere’, women seem to vanish into thin air and many people believe they’re called by the ‘mountains’. The men usually speak of this with regret or rage for the mountain spirit but the women speak of the mountain spirit with almost a reverence. Their rage comes from the misogynist violence they face in life. The children, on the other hand, ask questions and theorise about the connection between the real and the magical.
One of the best performances comes from Sanam Saeed as one of the ‘lost daughters’ – there is a resolve in her eyes that isn’t easily replicated in words. The way she is constantly stuck between duty to the Khanzada and to her land is portrayed brilliantly by the actor. But, one of the best character arcs is that of Saifullah – from him dealing with everything he has repressed over the years to understanding his connection to his father. And Fawad M Khan does justice to the sheer tragedy of his character.
Fawad A Khan as Shehryar is the heartthrob you expect him to be and more. Even in the character’s physical presence, you can see the strain his character feels – of protecting his son from the truth and from the cycle of generational trauma in his family.
One of the drawbacks of Barzakh is that it tends to feel self-indulgent at times and sometimes the flowery language and the slow drawl most characters speak in can feel exhausting. The show does require some patience – it also needs you to surrender to the world building. However, the latter is easy because of Aarij Hashmi’s spectacular production design and the camerawork. Every scene is arresting and the little details that make up the more fantastical elements are picture perfect. There are parts where the VFX feels a little artificial though. And the technical work goes a long way in making the show what it is.
I felt mesmerised by one particular scene – the father and the two sons lay on the floor in a triskelion as if emerging from a common centre and this simple frame ties their journeys together. There is a lot more to unpack in the show – one watch is perhaps not enough – but there are also parts that feel a little repetitive which begs the question, did the show require such a long runtime?
Barzakh isn’t a perfect show by any means but it’s a show that stays with you long after you stop watching. It’s a show that forces you to think and it’s one you will need to sit with for a while. For a while, I thought it was an ode to The Little Prince and in the off chance that is it, it’s a fitting one.
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