About Tabadla-e-Khayal
Tabadla-e-Khayal — Batein Kahi Unkahi is an Urdu podcast where Dr. Akif Khan and Anila Ansari discuss social issues faced by South Asian society, particularly Pakistan and the South Asian community abroad. The name translates roughly to “an exchange of thought,” and the show leans into candid, unscripted conversation rather than a scripted format.
The podcast launched in December 2019 with a teaser and curtain-raiser episode, then moved through two seasons covering a wide range of ground: gender equality and misconceptions, child sexual abuse prevention, intolerance in Pakistani society, the COVID-19 pandemic and the anti-science conspiracies around it, forced migration as a human rights crisis, online behaviours and moral policing, and Pakistan’s selective outrage on human rights violations, among other topics. Alongside the social-issue episodes, the hosts also run a recurring film-review strand, discussing movies like The Matrix, Contagion, Hindi Medium, Perfume, and Manto through a sociopolitical lens.
The hosts
Dr. Akif Khan holds a PhD in natural sciences. He co-hosts the podcast and also writes; more of his work can be found at drakifkhan.com.
Anila Ansari is the podcast’s co-host and Dr. Khan’s conversation partner throughout both seasons.
Where to find it
Episodes are available to watch on YouTube, and this site’s Listen page is where audio versions will be posted as they’re uploaded.