Nausheen Shah's new TV drama stresses on the evils of child marriage

Nausheen Shah is working on a much-needed project about child marriage.

In conversation with Images, Nausheen Shah revealed that she is working on producers Samina Humayun and Sana Shahnawaz's serial Tootay Taray, which is based on child labour and underage girls being married off. The serial has been directed by Shahid Shafaat and will be aired on ARY. Its launch date is yet to be announced.

Shah said, “When young girls get married, they are so young they can’t take care of themselves so obviously they can't take care of their children either".

The story, she said, "starts with my character (Farah) who is very young and is married off to a very old man who only uses her to produce kids. Unfortunately, she dies during childbirth too. The story is then taken forward by Neelam Muneer who is playing the role of my younger sister."

Nausheen Shah also emphasised on how important it is for girls to study and become independent before getting married.

"The idea behind this serial is that please don’t marry off young, especially underage, girls, please let them learn and study and stand on their own feet. Girls get medical complications and even die when they are married off at such young ages."

Conversations on child abuse are important, especially in light of the child marriage bill that was recently passed. The bill amendment stated, "Marriage under 18 years can lead to a fine of Rs100,000 and three years of rigorous punishment or both". Despite addressing such an important issue, the bill faced a lot of opposition from a number of influential politicians like the Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Noor ul Haq Qadri and State Minister Ali Muhammad Khan, who thought it was un-Islamic.

Nausheen Shah is also working on a couple of other interesting projects. One of them is a period play named Dewar-e-Shab, directed by Iqbal Hussain, and the other one is a love story with Faysal Qureshi.