the dramas, announcers, and songs that taught a nation its accent
For decades, one channel raised the whole country. Pakistan Television. PTV, went on air in 1964, and its announcers' crisp Urdu became the sound of correctness itself, while its dramas gave the language its shared stories. This site's whole look is a salaam to that era; here's what it's saluting.
گلوکارgulūkār: singersame -kār ending. A doer of song
ہدایت کارhidāyatkār: directorhidāyat = guidance. The one who gives direction
کہانیkahānī: storythe same kahānī as your reading units
Good to know
✨ PTV's first broadcast aired on 26 November 1964 from a makeshift studio in Lahore. Among the first faces and voices on air: Tariq Aziz and Kanwal Naseer, Pakistan's pioneering announcers.
✨ The nine o'clock Khabarnāma (news bulletin) was a nightly national ritual, and its newscasters' formal, precisely-pronounced Urdu became the prestige accent of the whole country. Generations learned talaffuz (pronunciation) from the news.
✨ Tariq Aziz went on to host Neelam Ghar (from 1974), the beloved quiz show whose greeting, 'dekhtī āṉkhoṉ, sunte kānoṉ ko Tariq Aziz kā salām' ('Tariq Aziz's salaam to watching eyes and listening ears'), is quotable to this day.
✨ Khuda Ki Basti (1969), the pioneer, adapted from Shaukat Siddiqui's acclaimed novel of Karachi's struggling classes. Serious literature, on television, for everyone.
✨ Waris (1979), the feudal family saga. The stories say streets emptied at airtime; the legend is unverifiable, the devotion was real.
✨ Tanhaiyaan (1985) and Dhoop Kinare (1987), writer Haseena Moin's masterpieces: witty, urbane women leading stories decades ahead of their time. Still binge-watched on YouTube by the diaspora.
Urdu Ustaadh is a free Urdu-learning resource: native audio, daily games, the Nastaliq script, and Pakistani culture. A project of Muneeb Ata Enterprises. Start learning free →