Satrangi (English: Seven Colors of Rainbow) was a 2008 Pakistani travel adventure drama series produced and directed by Imran Hussain, which broadcast on Geo TV. Jawad Daud wrote the drama. This drama was the first of its kind as it focussed on what youngsters think, what they are going through and how their families do not understand their problems. Though this series did not get much publicity, youngsters loved it as they could easily relate to the story.
Plot summary
It is a story of seven friends (four boys and three girls) who came from different backgrounds and clashed with their parents. They all decided to leave their homes and go somewhere to live on their terms. They travelled the whole of Pakistan from Karachi to Azad Kashmir. They started their journey from Karachi and went on to visit all of the provinces of Pakistan. On that journey, they went to all the famous and historical places. Their trials were also shown, from family issues to love affairs and humour to suspense. It was a mixture of travel, adventure and struggles. It also tells how one can manage to live with different personalities. Behzaad is a filthy rich guy who is always at daggers drawn with his busy lawyer father. Nashmia is a middle-class girl who has stopped eye contact with her mother ever since she remarried. Raayaan is a middle-class guy with a white-collared job. Shehzore is from a remote village and believes he is meant for urban life. Khayyam thinks that he is a musician who has yet to find his instrument and his style of music. Rushna acts nothing like a girl because she has become a tomboy completely. Bisma is more in need of love than being in search of love. These seven people embark on a journey of a lifetime. Behzaad builds a special mini-bus for this purpose. These youngsters board it and leave from Karachi. Superficially, for all of them, this is just a tour that will take them to Khyber in just three days. But, the travel stretches to months as they discover that everyone on this journey has a lot of emotional baggage. And, more importantly, they don't have to be together to form a rainbow. Each one of them is a rainbow.
Fawad Khan sang the Satrangi Re title song and lyrics by Nadeem Asad.
Scripting
The first draft of the initial concept was written in November 2006.
The first version of this soap was based in a college with these seven friends. Even the first few episodes were also written. At that time, another soap was being made by Everready called College. To break new ground, the writer and director sat down to think. The writer took the same characters and put them on a bus instead of a college or hostel.
Shehzore's character was supposed to fall for an English girl over the Internet. She was supposed to actually travel from England and fall for Khayyam instead.
During discussion and development, the writer had six characters (three boys and three girls) in mind. But then the writer felt if the show had an odd number (two guys and three girls or four guys and two girls), it would add more dynamic and improbability to the equation: there won't be any fixed couples. The writer also had Satrangi (Seven Colored) stuck in his head. He thought of the title first and went backwards to the characters. He came up with four girls and three guys. But due to casting constraints and the non-availability of girls, the production had to settle for four guys and three girls.
The scenes of the jungle in the third and fourth episodes were shot in Malir, Karachi. The village was also near Karachi. The dhaba where they met the Pathan kid was half an hour from Karachi.
The writer was particular about Neshmiya and Behzaad, as these two characters were closest to his heart. With them, he could bring insanity to sane moments and humour to the most banal scenes. The first character trait he wrote about both of them on his thinking board was the same: 'unpredictable'. With Sawera Pasha on board, the show had a surefire hit character. The writer wanted to gradually make her intricate and add layers to her in coming episodes. Sawera Pasha showed she had the panache to carry those emotional outbursts and confusions that came as part and parcel.
Casting
During the scripting process, the writer and director knew that Fawad Khan had to be part of this soap. This decision was based on an Independence Day play Kal, that had the same writer-director combo. The only difference was the director wanted him as Khayyam, the musician because Fawad Khan is a musician and vocalist in real life. But the writer saw Fawad Khan as the driver of the bus: metaphorically, the one steering the lives of the remaining six characters. Driving them together and apart at his discretion, the writer saw Behzaad as that powerful a character. Mercifully, he was able to drive his point home and Fawad Khan appeared as Behzaad.[1]
