By TOM WRIGHT

KARACHI, Pakistan— Komal Rizvi is betting an MTV reality series will reignite her long-dormant career in pop music. But this is Pakistan, and Ms. Rizvi—a voluptuous singer who wants to become the country's equivalent of Rihanna—has to carefully calibrate what she can show on screen.

On a recent afternoon, Ms. Rizvi was planning a wardrobe for her first pop video in a decade, an R&B song in Urdu that contains elements of Pakistan Bhangra, a fusion of Western pop and Punjabi folk music. The song is titled "Chahiye," which means "I want." Standing in front of a ceiling-to-floor mirror in close-fitting black culottes and a stretch top, Ms. Rizvi, 32 years old, parried the advice of a stylist to opt for a Lady Gaga-esque jacket and show generous cleavage.

"I'm personally not going to be showing too much skin," Ms. Rizvi says, the reality-TV cameras rolling. "I actually think it's sexier to leave something to the imagination."

Pakistan remains a deeply conservative country, where female decorum and arranged marriages are prized. Alcohol is officially banned, and there are no public bars or nightclubs. It is considered inappropriate for women to smoke. Yet an explosion of cable television stations in recent years, following deregulation of the industry, has led to an eclectic range of cultural imports, including racy Indian Bollywood music videos and a local MTV franchise. Some of the new stations are pushing the boundaries of what's culturally acceptable. Ms. Rizvi, star of the first Western-style reality program in Pakistan, embodies the new balancing act.

The show, called "Komal," charts her attempts to make it again in the pop business after a decade out of the limelight. In one episode, Ms. Rizvi hits the gym in stretch lycra to shed about seven kilograms (15 pounds) put on after a divorce. In another, she attends a fashion industry party in Karachi, the country's bustling business capital, where bootleg alcohol flows freely and the glitterati chat in English rather than Urdu, which most Pakistanis speak. She even fights openly with her manager over whether she has what it takes to make it again. But she steps off set for an occasional smoke.

The show also offers glimpses of a Pakistan most Pakistanis never see: that of Karachi's American- and European-educated elite, which for years has pursued Western-like lifestyles behind closed doors. Karachi has even become known abroad for its raves on deserted beaches and drug-filled parties in luxurious, sea-facing villas in the city's posh Clifton district. Earlier this year, Karachi attracted global attention for its fashion week.

Whether Pakistan becomes more culturally liberal or continues to be shaped by rigid interpretations of the Quran is viewed by U.S. policy makers as a key issue. President Barack Obama's administration, as part of the $7.5 billion civilian aid package for Pakistan over the next five years, is funneling millions of dollars into local campaigns aimed at supporting projects working on subjects like the rights of minorities and women.

Putting the lifestyle of Pakistan's elite on television is bringing it to a wider slice of the population, most of which makes a living from agriculture and is conservative in outlook. Already, Pakistanis have embraced scantily clad Bollywood stars from India on cable TV. Now the question is whether they will accept more liberal cultural standards for homegrown talent.

MTV Pakistan is a franchise of Viacom Inc.'s MTV run by Indus Television Network, a local channel that has pioneered music television in Pakistan.

Talk shows have emerged in recent years. "Matches," aired by Eye Television Network Ltd.-owned Hum Television, was based on the Jerry Springer Show from the U.S. but has featured topics that aren't controversial for Muslims, like whether a man was neglecting his first wife after taking a second.

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Massimo Berruti for The Wall Street Journal

Ms. Rizvi hopes her reality show will revive her singing career.

"We can't discuss sexual issues openly on TV. No one desires to talk about his girlfriend or personal issues on TV," says Siraj ul Haq, a film and television director who has worked for Hum Television.

Things are changing. Wajahat Rauf, a senior executive at a music and entertainment channel run by Geo Television, one of the country's largest English-language networks by viewership, says it used to receive threatening phone calls from Islamic groups for airing Bollywood music videos, but no more. Nor are acts getting banned for politically charged lyrics, as happened to rock band Junnon in 1997—when the prime minister was Nawaz Sharif—after it released a track called "Accountability" about corruption in government.

"What changed everything is the media boom," Mr. Rauf said. After years of seeing female anchors wearing veils on state-owned Pakistan Television, local audiences now had access to Bollywood videos. "Suddenly it was OK for a Pakistani teenager to come on TV wearing a T-shirt and jeans."

Still, Shahbaz Sumar, the creator and director of "Komal," has faced difficulties filming his reality show in Pakistan. For one, he's had trouble getting the upper classes of Karachi to open their houses for settings.

"I can't go to too many places; people won't let me in," he says. "It's showing a slice of life that no one has really seen here. Viewers are shocked to see it."

Ms. Rizvi is the daughter of a banker and is the product of U.S.-style schools in Africa and the Persian Gulf. She sees the reality show as a vehicle to restart her career at home. In the 1990s she became a star on state-run PTV and went on to try to break out in Bollywood—as many top Pakistani acts do—where she started as a TV host and pop artist.

She stepped out of the spotlight about a decade ago when she got married. The family of her then-husband, a Pakistani industrialist, didn't want her to work in front of the camera anymore.

The MTV reality show, which went on air a few weeks ago, has a niche audience of urban viewers. During shooting, Mr. Sumar, the director, constantly urges Ms. Rizvi to use Urdu to make her more accessible to the masses, but she keeps slipping back in to English.

Ms. Rizvi makes no bones about the fact she'd like to make it again in India and is planning a trip there soon to meet her Mumbai manager and to discuss the possibility of a Bollywood film role.

Whether she'll succeed in Pakistan is another question. Tariq Amin, a fashion stylist and music label owner, says Mr. Rizvi could carve out a mass market through her show. But she faces an uphill battle. "For a woman to be out there, it's not easy," Mr. Amin said. "Here, this isn't done."

Write to Tom Wright at tom.wright@wsj.com