Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEzcidAu2_M

Urdu1 Official uploaded this Trailer.

About the Drama

A Short Synopsis

This short preview has English subs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0qTs7KJmII

Pakistani Dramas uploaded this preview.

The title of the drama is “Baaghi” a word used in both Hindi and Urdu and its meaning is ‘rebel, rebellious’. This is a Pakistani Drama. The protagonist is Fauzia Batool; a young girl who is living a typical life as a poor villager in Pakistani rural areas. She has big dreams of working in the city as a Celebrity and supporting her family with her earnings. Her dreams get cut short when she gets married off at age eighteen to a poor and uneducated husband. Her husband does not treat her well and she finally gets up the courage to leave him. She moves to the city to chase her dreams. Over a period of time, she rises to stardom under the stage name Kanwal Baloch. While doing this, she defies society’s norms and expectations. She breaks all the barriers to success faced by women of her station.

Unfortunately this drama does not have English Subs at this moment. You can view this drama at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQUW4n8ivdg

A note about the show:

The show has a disclaimer saying that it is pure fiction and thus not based on the life on Qandeel Baloch. (Kanwal Baloch in the drama). Nonetheless, this does not change the fact that people assume that the show is about her life. It is very hard for the general audience to completely divorce the show from real life events. This fact comes into play somewhat in my review as I am unable to completely dissociate the show from its public image in certain parts of my critique. Don’t worry, this does not affect the entire review, only a bit of it and I will point it out as it occurs.

The Review

My Overall Thoughts

I usually do not watch TV drama serials but I got so many recommendations to watch “Baaghi”. All my friends and colleagues raved about it so I decided to watch it. As it is a long serial it took me 12 days to watch it. The day I watched an episode I used to wake up with a heavy heart or a headache. I had mixed feelings while watching this dram. Sometimes I was sad, others grieving for Qandeel Baloch. I also felt anger about society, her brothers and even about her whole family. It was not enjoyable rather it was depressing at all times.

Things They Got Right

Backround

The life of Kanwal Baloch is the life of an ordinary woman in a typical Pakistani village. Poor and under privileged families in Pakistan prefer males at every stage of life. Women are to obey their husbands and they have no say in the major decisions of their lives.

Thinking of the episode in which her husband divorces her and everyone she knows is pressurising her to go back to him. It reminded me of the words of a village girl I once knew in real life. That girl said to me, “He gave me the divorce papers and I burnt them, now there are no papers so I am not divorced.” She said that because she had nowhere to go and her parents did not want her to come back and live with them.

What I Think

The difference in this story is that Kanwal Baloch was outspoken from the beginning. She refused to let herself get treated bad by those around her.

The production quality of this drama was A+. They chose the actors well. They fit the role they played to a T. Saba Qamar was so natural that I never felt that she is not Kanwal Baloch. The insightful portrayal of Kanwal Baloch by Saba Qamar added interest to the drama. Her ability to bring life to the character was one of the most delightful parts of the whole show.

Something that Baaghi gets right is the portrayal of underprivileged villagers in Pakistan. It is difficult for women from poor families to enter the entertainment industry. Most of these women do not have the support of their families. Often, they are even considered immoral if they express a desire to join show business. Society considers acting, or anything else related to earning fame as vulgar. Due to this attitude, they become the worst victims of show business mafia.

An important thing Baaghi has highlighted is the failure of our governing system. A killer can escape justice and get away Scot free by offering the right price. It depicts the corruption level in our society. Depicting how even the closest loved ones exploit their family members. It also throws a little light on the relationship of mother in law and daughter in law. Showing how families can sometimes exploit your emotions.

Things They Got Wrong

Although, the drama was fun and millions watched it. There are a lot of incongruities in the depiction of our society. There seems lack of coherence when portraying our social set up. On one side Kanwal Baloch comes from a family where there is a danger of honour killing. Yet, she co-habits with Rehan (a single man) for almost ten years. She does not face any victimisation from her neighbours or even the maulvis. This seems to be not only improbable but actually downright impossible in the current state of Pakistani society.

Sometimes, it seems like she is living in a western society, not in Pakistan. Her dresses and her living style do not mesh with the common living style. One cannot do this even in Karachi. I do not understand what the writer was thinking when writing about the social set up of Pakistan. This is just one example. There are many flaws regarding the social setup of Pakistan and it leads to a lot of confusion. That takes away from the enjoyment of watching this drama. The drama’s internal inconsistencies mess with the viewer’s suspension of disbelief. Also, it will create confusion for people outside Pakistan (or foreigners). They might misunderstand our social setup and societal norms.

This is a sure sign of lazy and/or incompetent writing; furthermore the set-up changes its internal rules according to what the plot needs. The writer also includes lots of plot-irrelevant details that do not make much of an impact on the story. Some things seem superfluous and added to pad up the run time. This drags down the plot and makes it long and boring thus messing up the pacing of the story.

My Final Thoughts

Background

Despite the fact that this drama has a disclaimer stating that it is pure “fiction”, everyone still associates it with Qandeel Baloch. (They changed her name to Kanwal Baloch for the drama). She was a real person. She used to be famous as the Kim Kardashian of Pakistan. Qandeel Baloch made some rather questionable choices during the course of her life. Her figure remained controversial even up to her death. Some of Baloch’s most notorious acts include offering to perform a striptease for the Pakistani cricket team, and donning a plunging scarlet dress on Valentine’s Day. They should not romanticise and portray her character as a tragic hero, while they whitewash her actual character. This misleads the audience and encourages viewers to emulate what she did. For Qandeel Baloch’s full story look here.

What I Think

It does not seem a good idea to portray people like Kanwal Baloch as Pakistani heroes. Of course she was a victim, and I am not saying that she deserved to be murdered; rather I am very outraged on her behalf. Even though I’m not here to make judgment calls about how people should live their lives. Nonetheless, it seems to me as if she made some pretty bad choices. In light of the standards and moral values of Pakistani society. It will set a wrong example for our young generation.

She had options and she could have made better ones. I allude to her risqué dressing and unfortunate ill-mannered videos (like the “Marry me Imran” one.) In the wise words of Albus Dumbledore, “It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

In no way am I saying that she was a bad person, or that it justifies her murder. I just think that when portraying someone as a hero you should keep in mind their actual personality and actions.

If you would like to read more drama reviews look here.

Disclaimer:

This review is the Author’s opinion, the author does not claim anything stated here as fact. If you disagree with anything written in this article please do not hesitate to sound of in the comments down below. However, please keep in mind that the author is not liable for any information stated in this post. It is purely opinion.

The show and all of its materials are owned by Urdu 1 and Paragon Productions. We are merely using some of them in this post to illustrate a point hence it it is fair use. If you wish for your materials to be taken down please contact us and we will remove them immediately.

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