Written by: Hurmat Majid
Posted on: October 31, 2019 | 
(Top Left) Cheekh, (Bottom Left) Hasad and (Right) Khaas
Pakistani dramas are popular, but are handicapped by poor scripts. While most dramas produced in the country have no significant impact on its popular culture, once in a while the cast, production house or channel airing the drama creates an interest or a buzz. Another growing trend is the social media hype created around the serial, attracting viewers to the TV screens.
Last season, viewers were given three very popular dramas by major television networks. Sadly, none of the dramas could boast about strong plots nor could they question the societal issues which took place in them. Take three dramas as samples of everything that's ailing our drama industry.
Minal Khan as Nain Tara and Shahroz Sabzwari as Armaan in Hasad
Hasad
Director: Aabis Raza
Writers: Abida Ahmed and Maimoona Aziz
This ARY drama made a promising enough start, with a married couple, Eman and Nain Tara (Shahroz Subzwari and Minal Khan), shown doting on one another while the mother-in-law approves of the union. Even the antagonist, Farhan's (Noorul Hassan) wife Zaree (Arij Fatima), whose own husband neglects her while trying to make a name in the world of architecture, seems interesting enough on her own.
However, three episodes down the road, Eman dies whilst heroically trying to save his family from a house robbery, the family decide to keep Nain Tara living with them because she's going to 'bear an heir’, who would be the reminder of their Eman.
The jealous Zaree then proceeds to make life a nightmare for Nain Tara, who never exposes her machinations, because of her angelic nature. In this day and age, the concept of a suffering, silent and passive woman is archaic. Women today are fighting endless battles to claim an equal space in society, while our dramas reinforce the traditional stereotypes of a woman. Zaree’s plan to use her brother to harass Nain Tara, was too poorly written, and unrealistic.
The way second marriage is treated in the drama is questionable. Farhan marries Nain Tara to 'give the family's heir a shelter', rather than admit his obvious affection towards her. Nain Tara proceeds to simply accept her lot, as opposed to marrying someone else or remaining a single parent. The writer sentences her to a life-long rivalry with Zaree, which reinforces unhealthy stereotypes about female relationships in extended families.
Saba Qamar as Mannat and Bilal Abbas Khan as Wajih in Cheekh
Cheekh
Director: Badar Mahmood
Writer: Zanjabeel Asim
This drama showed real promise from the beginning, and established a good pace in the first two episodes. Cheekh promised to be a fast-paced thriller, tackling important themes such as sexual assault and confrontation of abusers, even when they are family. Saba Qamar as Mannat acts beautifully, but that's not enough to save the serial. Shayaan (Emad Irfani)'s role as a husband who chooses to believe his wife rather than the rest of his family, is astonishing to the audience. It is no surprise that the writer felt the need to kill him off mid-drama.
Here, we watch a woman pursuing justice slowly, while her mental health deteriorates. Mannat’s role feels like a deterrent for women watching, to never want to pursue justice against sexual assault, for fear of losing everyone they love. Again, the last episode of the drama stayed true to the trend, and made the drama completely unrealistic, more on that later.
Ali Rehman Khan as Ammar and Sanam Baloch as Saba in Khaas
Khaas
Director: Danish Nawaz
Writer: Sarwat Nazir
For a more in-depth review of Khaas, click here
Hum TV's Khaas was by far the best produced drama of this lot. Sanam Baloch's return to serials was worth the wait, as she does complete justice to her role.
The drama revolves around a narcissistic man Ammar Saud (Ali Rehman), and his lack of b empathy for anyone around him. His first wife is Saba (Baloch), who is initially timid but transforms into a strong character as the show progresses. After losing his first wife to his best friend Fakhir (Haroon Shahid), Ammar proceeds to marry another woman (Hira Tareen), who is the opposite of Saba.
By pitting these two women against each other, the makers of the drama seem to insinuate that a bold woman will always be ill-mannered, while a 'good woman' needs to be timid and always play the victim, once again reinforcing the stereotype.
The last episode: where Pakistani dramas derail themselves
In all three dramas, the last episode was the undoing of what little integrity their plots had left.
In Hasad, we see Nain Tara being doused in acid by Zaree, only to recover miraculously and completely. This is certainly not the case for real acid attack victims.
Cheekh's last episode, showed Saba Qamar winning the retrial of the court case she had earlier lost. The scene seemed to go to smoothly, with the judge believing everything she said. Meanwhile, the villain bursts into a 5-minute monologue, in which he confesses to all his crimes. He has a major epiphany in the final 20 minutes of the show. This kind of major psychological change is unrealistic.
In Khaas, the last episode has a few good moments, like Saba’s realization that she's strong enough to survive alone. However, killing her second husband felt extremely excessive and unnecessary.
Commercialism: The bane of good TV
Today, it's more important for dramas to attract ads, by using star studded casts, than to focus on any depth or character development. Until that remains the norm, we will always see half-baked plots, and useless camera zooms on characters' faces.
While initially, each of these dramas seemed to be refreshing takes on the way social norms should be questioned, but all of them failed in the development of the plot and he characters. Until this changes, viewers will have no reprise from poorly-written serials.
To read about female leads in TV serials, click here.
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