“Bebasi” has never been a show to pull in mass ratings – and yet, it wasn’t a failure either, still amassing a million views per episode on YouTube. Starring Ali Rehman Khan, Alizeh Shah, Khushhal Khan, Nausheen Shah, Anoushay Abbasi and others in prominent roles, the story has been written by Aliya Bukhari and directed by Barkat Sidiki. The cast itself guaranteed viewership…..but did the viewers deserve this show?
The show has been flawed from day one with the treatment and the weak storyline, but as the story progressed, the show became more and more illogical. Ifrah (Alizeh Shah) was raised as a modern, independent young girl who is educated. After finding out about her stepfather not being her real father, she not only leaves the home in tears to live with her real father in poverty and listens to everything he says with a bowed head…..she completely abandons the mother and father who actually raised her and gave her all the love and attention she wanted. What was that about? In the finale, Ifrah goes back “home” to visit Tameezuddin (Wasim Abbas), her father, but does not even give her mother a second thought, despite the fact that her mother and stepfather have desperately been looking for her and praying for her all along. This is pure nonsense.
Of course, Ifrah completely tossed aside Sahir (Khushhal Khan), the man who truly loved her and sacrificed everything for her. Not once does she realize that she is the one who betrayed him. He never abandoned her, he always considered her his fiancée, he asked her to wait for him and…..she not only did not wait for him, but she also continuously behaved as though he did her wrong. How so? Sahir was, ultimately, the only sane character in the entire show. Ifrah didn’t deserve him – but she also did not deserve to live in the la-la land that she continued to live in, thinking she was a good person. She was not a good person – and neither was Ahmer (Ali Rehman Khan). Ahmer led Nadia (Anoushay Abbasi) on for ages, initially saying he wasn’t interested in marriage and then, later, after already marrying Ifrah, agreeing to marry Nadia as if she was important to him. Of course, Nadia was a hot mess herself and there was not any reason for her to ever have continued pining over this loser of a man, but he led her on every step of the way. Ahmer also allowed Ifrah to be abused at the hands of Mahnoor (Nausheen Shah) on a daily basis, knowing she was being horribly mistreated under his roof, even sleeping in the servant quarters – and he simply allowed it. Ifrah and Ahmer deserved each other, only because they were the two worst human beings.
“Bebasi” is one of those shows that does not offer any lessons whatsoever. There isn’t any point to the story. One should value their self-respect, their loved ones and have enough independence to be able to get out of difficult situations. This drama promoted every idea and relationship that went against these thoughts. Daily soaps that follow a saas-bahu format offer more life lessons and more positive messages than “Bebasi.” The entire team should take a cold, hard look at what went wrong with this show (read: everything) and learn from it – otherwise we, as an audience, will shy away from anything by this writer-director duo in the future. Viewers do not deserve to have their time wasted with dim shows like this.