Zarqa is a Canadian comedy web series, which premiered in 2022 on CBC Gem.[1] The series stars Zarqa Nawaz as Zarqa, a divorced Muslim woman whose ex-husband is remarrying to a younger white yoga instructor; she responds by inventing a fake white boyfriend of her own and sets out to find an appropriate man to portray him as her date at the wedding, but ends up being drawn into a love triangle when Brian (Rob van Meenen), the man she finds on a dating app, wants to establish a serious relationship rather than just being revenge arm candy, while at the same time Zarqa's former boyfriend Yusuf (Rizwan Manji) returns with an interest in rekindling their relationship.[2]
The series was inspired in part by the cultural and media response to the 2017 romantic comedy film The Big Sick, which centred on a relationship between a Muslim man and a white woman.[1]
The cast also includes Husnain Sher, Krystle Pederson, Nimet Kanji, Anand Rajaram, Kris Alvarez, Darianne Galden, Gerald Lenton-Young, Sangeeta Gupta, Omar Alex Khan, Bonnie Senger, Danny Balkwill and Katie Murphy.
Production on the series was announced in 2021.[3] It was shot in Regina, Saskatchewan, partially in Nawaz's own real-life home, in the fall,[3] and premiered on CBC Gem on May 13, 2022.[1]