Last week marked the ending of what was billed as the most expensive serial on Pakistani television—Bashar Momin.
Anyone watching the show could not have failed to see the influence of Turkish dramas, but like most feats of reverse engineering, it produced mixed results.
Directed by the well-known Syed Ali Raza Usama, this A&B productions magnum opus was one among a crop of more male lead-focused dramas released this year. It is interesting to note that the tidal wave of Turkish dramas has subsided to a trickle, an afterthought, where once they threatened the entire Pakistani entertainment industry.
Meanwhile our own indigenous, original dramas are getting rave reviews and critical acclaim in India’s giant entertainment market.
Termed as a take on Beauty and the Beast the story describes how Belle (from the tale), in this case the innocent Rudaba (Ushna Shah), is manipulated out of her impending marriage to Buland (Sami Khan) and forced to marry political magnate and money laundering criminal: Bashar (Faysal Qureshi).
This is a story of transformation and redemption through unconditional love. The fabulous script by Zanjabeel Shah has been Bashar Momin’s strong point— well plotted, well-defined characters and some truly great dialogues managed to keep this serial’s head above water even when the director was playing around with special effects.
“Aurat do kisam ki mohabbat karti hai: aik hoti hai aurton wali mohabbat— khudgarz, lain dainn wali...aur aik mohabbat hoti hai jo Maa kay pyar ki tarha hoti hai selfless …bura hai bhalla hai mera hai” says Rudaba to a snapping press corp , hungry for information on her recently indicted husband.
To which Bashar (in his safehouse) responds: “abb mujhay koi nahi haraaa sakta” as he watches her on the television screen.
The dialogues above do not only explain Rudaba’s feelings for Bashar but in the nutshell, the concept of the entire drama. She accepts him completely into her heart, for better or worse and whether he deserves it or not. This, unconditional love is a rare painfully bought gift which finally heals Bashar’s much damaged psyche.
Hurt and broken by his faithless mother’s childhood abandonment, followed by his father’s suicide, Bashar is a man, who stoops so low that he tricks his own wife into an abortion simply because he absolutely fails to trust anyone. His transformation begins when his remorse awakens after realising that Rudaba does not stop loving him even after all the pain he has caused.
