“Mere Ban Jao” is a story rooted in reality, a story about how social media has taken over our lives and how it can also be used as a tool for revenge. Starring Kinza Hashmi, Zahid Ahmed and Azfar Rehman in lead roles, the story the story has been written by Samira Fazal and directed by Syed Ahmed Kamran. In previous episodes, we have seen how Azmia (Kinza Hashmi) has found herself in a dilemma after Fardeen (Azfar Rehman), her ex fiancé, blackmails her with a private video.
In episode 25, Fardeen has not only released Azmia’s video on the internet, but is also basking in the glory of “defeating” her. Fardeen is beyond narcissistic and seems to be inherently evil, unable to see beyond his own desires and recognize the feelings of others. Azfar Rehman is doing a great job of playing this role and we, as an audience, truly detest Fardeen. That being said, it would be nice if there were more flawed dimensions to this character and everyone around him weren’t so unintelligent. There’s a scene where Fardeen and Azmia are having a private conversation over the phone and Fardeen is, quite literally, still threatening her as she spills the details of what he did. Instead of recognizing that Fardeen is behind this entire situation – especially considering he was her ex – , the entire family, including his educated, once-intelligent fiancée Farah, blasts Azmia over the phone and asks her to stop blackmailing Fardeen. This scene is laughable and illogical. While it’s true that most want to see the good in their loved ones, Fardeen has never earned the kind of blind trust his mother and Farah award him in this scene. And while Fardeen’s mother confronts him, confused on his potential involvement, Farah continues to defend Fardeen as though she has lost every ounce of thinking power in her skull. The way these scenes have been executed are less than ideal.
There is a strong moment between Hassan and Zaki (Zahid Ahmed) when Hassan almost seems to realize Zaki is pure of heart and his words against Fardeen may ring true. Unfortunately, this newfound thought does not extend to the conversation between Hassan, Azmia and Azmia’s sister-in-law. The two throw Azmia back out into the street (after she has already been kicked out by Zaki’s family) without even listening to her story, though Hassan has much more sense than Bhabi. The Bhabi character has been a foolish one from the beginning, but to see her recording Azmia as “proof” and then later calling Fardeen in solidarity is a disgusting moment that really villainizes this character to the full extent.
Zaki winds up in jail for sharing an indecent video of his wife, a story that doesn’t make any sense from start to finish. We do have to wonder how long this story will continue on this track, because episode 25 was not an enjoyable one, though the show is, overall a good one. While Zahid Ahmed, Kinza Hashmi and Azfar Rehman are all performing excellently, the audience would like the intelligence of these characters to come back. They are all behaving in a certain way just to move the story forward without any real thought process – and these are the worst kinds of mistakes. Why haven’t Zaki or Azmia told Hassan that Azmia’s mother gave her blessings for the marriage? Why hasn’t Farah remembered her mistrust of Fardeen? Why would anyone believe Zaki would share an indecent video of his now wife? These questions are not answerable in a solid way and so the team needs to ensure that, moving forward, these questions are cleared up. Overall, “Mere Ban Jao” is still a great show with a good storyline, but this particular episode is not great.