“Fitrat” has been a fan favorite throughout the course of its run. A show that has kept viewers on their toes with the antics of Faria, brilliantly played by Saboor Aly, “Fitrat” is a show that remained a guilty pleasure of sorts for many Pakistani drama fans. It is a show that had a solid storyline with many interesting tracks and characters. Written by Nuzhat Saman and directed by Asad Jabal, “Fitrat” stars Saboor Aly as the big pull, playing the manipulative, moral-less Faria, a woman who will do anything for money. Ali Abbas, Mirza Zain Baig, Zubab Rana, Seemi Pasha and many others play prominent roles. After over ninety episodes (93 to be exact), does “Fitrat” manage to give viewers the sort of ending they’ve patiently been waiting for? The answer is a strict no.
Episode 93 (which is ridiculous in itself) gives us approximately ten minutes of content, similar to what we’ve been experiencing in recent episodes. Things are brought to a “neat” conclusion rather quickly with Faria (Saboor Aly) being murdered by Bilal’s henchman. Meanwhile, Shahbaaz (Ali Abbas) and Maleeha (Adla Khan) take the decision to adopt Soni, but Khalid (Kamran Jilani) steps in to cause trouble. Realizing his name isn’t on Soni’s birth certificate, he confronts Shahbaz, but Shahbaz threatens him with the police and he runs away. Unfortunately, when he arrives home, he stumbles on Faria’s body and runs out of the house in a frenzy, which alerts the police who arrest him. The show ends happily with the family taking Arbaaz’s proposal for Rafia, the two getting engaged and a happy photo is taken of the close-knit group.
Sounds like a perfect ending, right? Wrong. First of all, ‘Fitrat” manages to do exactly what many Pakistani dramas do at the end of their run – blame women for the actions of men. The angle with Alizeh and Faria never should’ve happened. Faria was certainly selfish, characterless and value-less, but she was not a criminal. Alizeh’s kidnapping turned her into a criminal, a woman who belonged in jail. However, she didn’t even go to jail. She was simply murdered – and that too by the true criminal. Bilal remains out of country and goes unpunished for human trafficking. How is that acceptable? Faria is the only one “punished” when she was the accomplice. Again, this storyline leaves a bitter taste in the mouth and one wishes it had never been included. Faria should have left her family behind when they made their loyalties to Arbaaz, Shahbaz and co. clear, moving on to the next man (“victim”) and continuing with her cheating, manipulating ways. That would have been the ideal ending. But that’s not what we got. Coming to Khalid – he was a skeezy man, a man who was a womanizer and “cheap,” but why did he end up in jail? He couldn’t defend himself? They already knew Bilal was after her, so why would the police keep Khalid? This was simply a neat way to keep him out of Shahbaaz and Maliha’s hair.
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The greatest problem with “Fitrat,” as has been mentioned before, is that the show has been stretched from what was originally planned as a once-a-week show with 35 full episodes into a show with 93 episodes. How is that possible, you may ask? Well, the format for “Fitrat” has been as follows – 8 minute recap (which was later extended to 18 minute recaps), 15 minute flashback sequences, scenes showing random, dragged out actions, leaving only 10 minutes of new content in every episode. Towards the end, there were only 5 minutes worth watching in each episode. Why would viewers want to watch a show in this format? Viewers who remained committed to the show throughout its run found themselves bored of its incessant dragging. The audience would much rather have 35 solid, strong content-filled episodes than 93 repetitive, lazy ones that don’t provide any entertainment. Who was the one who made this decision? They should be ashamed of themselves for destroying what could have been an excellent show. At the end of it all, the one who walks away a winner from “Fitrat” is Saboor Aly, who played the conniving, wicked Faria so perfectly that she will have to play an out-and-out positive role to make viewers forget Faria. Saboor Aly deserves a round of applause. As for the show overall, it was a great show entertainment-wise and boasted of some strong episodes for half its run, but it slowly tapered off and was a less-than-ideal product, though it will be missed.