Actor turned producer Mahira Khan’s maiden project, web series Baarwan Khiladi, is a “true portrayal” of the challenges and problems faced by cricketers in Pakistan.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday Khan said, “When I started to read it (script of Baarwan Khiladi), I was like 'oh, this is different. I am not reading a sanitised version of a cricket story'.”

“Every sports series or film has the story of a boy going out there and Baarwan Khiladi is similar to that, but there also something very different about it. The dialogues in it, the way the boys talk to each other in the scenes, the boys (in the film) themselves said to me 'you know Mahira, this is how us boys talk to each other in real life as well',” she added.

The trailer for the series released on 11 February shows that the story is about a young man who struggles to become part of the playing 11 in the Shaheen XI cricket team that has qualified for a league. The series touches on the power dynamic, rivalries and nepotism that runs in the cricket system.

According to one of the heads of Tapmad TV, Yasir Pasha, “One of the big problems with content made in Pakistan —and many other places — when it is sponsor driven is that it is sanitised in a way that it has to fit into the image of what the sponsor wants, but when the consumer is paying for it, you get to watch what you want and that is what Tapmad wants to.”

The series stars actor and singer Danya Zafar as the main lead and Pakistani YouTuber Shahveer Jafry as the antagonist.

Produced by Mahira Khan and Nina Kashif, and directed by Motorcycle Girl’s Adnan Sarwar, Baarwan Khiladi will premiere on a local OTT platform Tapmad TV on 5th March.

Social media users can’t wait for the series to come out.

People praised Khan for “raising the quality of content” in the industry.