“Sabaat” is a show that has everything going for it. It has a great cast, including Mawra Hocane, Ameer Gilani, Usman Mukhtar and Sarah Khan, a great storyline, wonderful acting, good production values and is an overall appealing project. However, over the past several weeks, the story has begun to drag and is heading down a path that viewers are less than excited about. With the death of Anaya’s father and Hassan and Anaya’s separation, the show continues to move down a sad, prolonged path.
In episode 26, Anaya (Mawra Hocane) and her mother (Seemi Raheel) are now not only grieving the loss of their father/husband, but are now also worried about the security of their future. Anaya makes it clear that she will not sell the house or anything that belonged to her father and both ladies are seen sharing beautiful memories and thoughts of the man they loved so much. This family bond is one that continues on and pulls at the heartstrings even after Anaya’s father’s death. However, with Anaya’s determination that Hassan not find out about the baby, Anaya looks at other avenues to earn, finally deciding to open a bake shop from home. Anaya is a working woman. She has a stable job, one that was enough to sustain both her and Hassan for some time until Hassan also began working. While her depression over her father’s death is understandable, coupled with her grief over Hassan’s betrayal and her pregnancy being the icing on the cake, Anaya’s decision to simply stop going to work is a ridiculous one. It’s not difficult to, instead of requesting months off from work, simply put in a request to a (very understanding) boss, asking not to come face-to-face with Hassan. Instead, Anaya, a woman who was not only a star student but is also a star worker in her profession, decides to sit home and make pastries to earn a living. Making pastries and cakes is a great profession if that were Anaya’s passion, but her passion is her work, her education, and her degree. Therefore this entire scenario of Anaya baking to earn money for her household simply comes across as silly and it’s difficult to muster up sympathy for the financial angle when she’s more than capable of returning to work and providing for her mother and her baby.
Still, it’s endearing to see Anaya’s journey with her mother and her highly supportive gang of girls as they begin the business, take off financially and then wrap it all up. It shows the wonderful bond Anaya has with her friends as well and the strength all these ladies have. These sequences come across as a motivating, “woman power” sort of moment, especially when Anaya gives birth to her baby boy and is surrounded by this group of loving, caring women. Hassan (Ameer Gilani) continues to be ignorant towards the existence of his child and is seen sharing a moment with Miraal (Sarah Khan) as she tries to convince him to divorce Anaya. Hassan is shocked when he hears that Miraal is divorcing Haaris (Usman Mukhtar), unable to understand the suddenness of the decision. Miraal’s parents are no less, disapproving and taken aback by Miraal’s decision to divorce. Her father, a man who usually takes her side, is seen looking defeated, wondering what has gone wrong with the lives of his children
Miraal continues to play her games with Haaris and Ali, pitting the two men against each other, using one to make the other jealous. Haaris and his friend discuss Miraal’s behavior and his friend decides to pay Miraal a visit on Haaris’s behalf – but he is dismayed when he is met with hostility and Miraal essentially throws him out of her office. While Haaris believed he may have more time to bring Miraal around to his side of things, he is left in tears (literally) when he is served with divorce papers and Miraal makes it clear, over the phone, that she is unwilling to discuss their marriage any further. Haaris continues to be a weak character and, again, it’s not the fault of Usman Mukhtar. The character has just been written in a way where he comes across as a shallow character. Where is the depth? Where is the intelligence? There is so much scope for this character, so much potential for Usman Mukhtar to shine as an actor, but the scenes have simply not been written that way. More time is spent on Miraal obsessing over Hassan and Anaya – and even Atif the snake is the recipient of more scenes than Haaris.
http://thebrownidentity.com/2020/10/05/sabaat-episode-25-mawra-hocane-and-seemi-raheel-give-strong-performances/
“Sabaat” was once the strongest show on air, but it has slowly been overtaken by other shows like “Mushk,” Prem Gali” and “Ghisi Piti Mohabbat.” This is not to say that “Sabaat” isn’t a good show. The problem with the show, at this point, that it is simply dragging and for no reason. What was the purpose of the plot with Miraal’s Nani? That situation was never highlighted. At one point, viewers did believe the story would draw parallels between the two women and their lives – but absolutely nothing materialized from that angle other than Miraal (temporarily) visiting a psychiatrist. Mawra Hocane and Seemi Raheel continue to be the highlight with their performances. Anaya is the best part of the show, but her decisions have started to come across as illogical too, the most illogical one being the one seen in the preview for next week – why would Anaya work for Yasir Qureshi or even ask him for a job considering everything Hassan went through working for him? It seems the show is heading down a frustrating road when all we want is for the show to return to the solid writing it had for the first half of the drama – can “Sabaat” make a comeback to that position?
