ARY Digital has been releasing a plethora of new shows lately. Berukhi, Mere Apne, Amanat, Baddua and Main Haari Piya are the latest offerings from ARY, most having released this week (with the exception of Main Haari Piya). Written by Samina Aijaz, “Baddua” has been directed by Ramish Rizvi and stars Amar Khan, Muneeb Butt, Maryam Noor, Mohsin Abbas, Samina Ahmed, Mehmood Aslam, Shaheen Khan, Saba Faisal, Komal Rizvi and many others. The first episode aired on September 20.
In episode 1, we are introduced to Abeer (Amar Khan), a spoiled middle-class girl who is selfish and thinks of herself before others. When her grandmother is ill in the hospital, she can only think about how she is missing her friend Neelam’s (Mariyam Noor) engagement. Abeer is involved with Mohsin (Mohsin Abbas), a young man who is genuinely in love with her and has been made to believe that she feels the same way. However, when Abeer meets Junaid (Muneeb Butt), Neelam’s fiancé, she decides that she must have him for herself. This leads to a lot of sneaking around behind Neelam’s back and soon, the two are engaged in a “secret relationship” of sorts. Meanwhile, we see that Mohsin has broken off his childhood engagement for Abeer, causing chaos in his own household – only to spot Abeer with Junaid in a restaurant immediately afterwards.
Looking at Junaid, it’s clear that he’s a character similar to Abeer himself – why else would he carry on a full-blown phone conversation with a random stranger and then set up a meeting? He did not even realize it was Abeer to begin with; and when he did, he was only too happy to immediately plot concealing their “friendship” from Neelam. Where is this story headed exactly? Will Junaid deceive Abeer, only to leave her empty handed at the end?
This isn’t a new story – we have all seen stories of young girls becoming captivated by their friend’s fiancée/husband on-screen before. We even saw this recently with Ayeza Khan’s character in Hum Tv’s “Laapata” (though it was well-done here with a positive outcome). Generally speaking, this is a cliché that isn’t particularly enjoyable to watch. However, there is something about “Baddua” that manages to click. The casting is appealing, to begin with. Each character suits their character and the supporting cast is also appealing. This is not to say that “Baddua” will be an exciting watch – rather, this may fall into the “guilty pleasure” category. One can only hope that it remains a weekly show with well-written episodes and doesn’t gradually turn into a drawn-out daily stretched beyond redemption.
