'I think because India is a bigger country and Bollywood is such a well-oiled machine, the star thing has become so much bigger than the actor thing.'

Film-maker Asim Abbasi has been on the forefront of the Pakistani industry since the success of his 2018 film, Cake. In 2019, Pakistan sent Cake as its official entry for the Best International Film Oscar. Two years later, Abbasi was back with his explosive feminist series Churails, backed by India's Zindagi channel and Producer Shailja Kejriwal.

Kejriwal and Zindagi are once again the producers of Abbasi's new show Barzakh.

Currently streaming on the ZEE5 platform and its YouTube channel, Barzakh is a gorgeously shot ensemble drama, about a patriarch (Salman Sahid) struggling with dementia and his estranged sons Shehryar (Fawad Khan) and Saifullah (Fawad M Khan), with elements of the supernatural and the other worldly existence.

The show also stars Pakistani actress Sanam Saeed as Scheherezade, the patriarch's adopted daughter whose origins are part of the show's other worldly mystery. This is the first time Fawad Khan and Saeed have appeared together in a project since their hugely popular 2012 series Zindagi Gulzar Hai. But the two actors are not cast as romantic leads in Barzakh.

Set in a picturesque mountain location, the show's haunting quality slowly pulls the audience into a part imaginary world that Abbasi has created. He recently said that Barzakh is like Cake, but on acid.

Aseem Chhabra spoke to London-based Abbasi about Barzakh, his star cast and the controversies the show is beginning to generate in Pakistan: "There is a queer subplot and from episode three onwards, there has been some negative buzz about it. There is an almost kiss between two men. It happened during Churails also, where they took one clip out of context, and released it on Twitter. It became such a huge deal that ZEE5 had to be shut down in Pakistan."

Asim, from Cake and Churails, how did you transition into the area of the magic realism, the other worldly life. What were you thinking as you were writing this show?

As it is clear from the show, I was thinking of so many themes.