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Humayun Saeed has offered an explanation for the glaring absence of Pakistani dramas from global streaming platforms, arguing that the industry’s distinctive style does not align with how most over-the-top (OTT) platforms work.

The gap, he believes, is one of compatibility rather than quality.

The producer and actor made his thoughts known during an interview with Ali Salman published on Monday.

“Look, our dramas have a unique style of their own. [Our] writing has a style of its own. When we deliver lines, there’s a particular way to do it because we’re speaking in Urdu. Over-the-top is edgy, different content; we’re not really good at that,” Saeed said, before adding while there are some people in the Pakistani industry who can tell OTT stories, there aren’t any suitable platforms for them.

As the conversation inevitably moved towards Netflix, Saeed acknowledged that political reasons may play a role in Pakistan’s notable absence from it, though he did not elaborate on that line of thought.

Saeed said the local industry should prioritise the creation of its own OTT platform, which can help attract the attention of streaming giants like Netflix.

“Even in India, [domestic] OTT platforms came first. They’ve been developing for the past 12 to 13 years,” he said, before adding the Pakistani government should take steps to “talk to Netflix” for a resolution.

Saeed is one of many celebrities who have weighed in on the subject. Just last week, Urwa Hocane stated that Pakistan doesn’t need to obsess over Netflix because “we’re doing better than that”. Faysal Quraishi, Shamoon Abbasi, and Usama Khan have all offered different opinions on the matter, with the majority agreeing on the part about Pakistani dramas’ potential to attract large audiences.

Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal also announced in July that the government was “in talks with Netflix and other global streaming giants to adjust the regional framework”.