“Fitrat” is undoubtedly a show that is, by all means, a fan favorite. A show that initially aired 7 days a week (now reduced to 5), “Fitrat” has been a regular on the lists of most viewers. 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 and others also star in prominent roles.
The greatest problem with “Fitrat” is simply the editing. Is it necessary for the story to hit 100 episodes before it can come to a conclusion? At present, we are 82 episodes into the show, but had the show been edited differently, we would have been on episode 25. Each episode features an 8 minute recap of the last scenes from the previous episode. We are then treated to a generous sprinkling of flashbacks that take up a solid 10 minutes. Sequences featuring dreamy looks, lengthy prayers and expressions of horror are also inserted. In the end, only five minutes of substantial content is delivered in each episode to actually push the story forward.
In episode 82, the most worthwhile event is that Haaris (Raeed Muhammad Aalam) and Alizeh (Maryam Nafees) get married and, on their wedding night, Alizeh reacts badly when Haaris tries to touch her. Fortunately, Haaris is a genuine guy and he reassures Alizeh that he’s there to protect her. That being said, this track is ridiculous, because Alizeh is experiencing a lot of trauma and the solution to extreme trauma is not marriage. It’s fine, because Haaris is her husband and he’s aware of the situation, but had it been any other man (as they were initially planning), it would have been a disaster. Other than this, the second scene of interest is that Faria (Saboor Aly) is now 100% positive that Bilal has ditched her and left her to the dogs – the dogs, in this case, being the police, who are now on her trail. Generally speaking, I do, as a viewer, tend to sympathize somewhat with even negative characters towards the end – but Faria is one such character who does not bring out any sympathetic feelings at all. Initially it felt as though she was simply greedy and had no values, but was harmless overall. It seemed more as though the men in Faria’s life, particularly Arbaaz (Mirza Zain Baig), were too dim to compete with her manipulations. However, after Faria’s involvement in Alizeh’s kidnapping and “ruin,” Faria is now a criminal and there is no retribution or even “karma” in sight for her. She simply belongs in jail and that’s the end of this story.
Overall, “Fitrat” has become a muddled, dragged out mess. The reason this is so frustrating is that this is a show drama fans love to watch. The characters are interesting, the proceedings are perfect guilty pleasure material and, more than anything there is a solid storyline to work with. It’s unfortunate that the story has been dragged to such a point that the audience just wants to see it wrapped up in a somewhat sensible way.
