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Featured: A Review of the Pakistani Drama “Habs”

The Story

Habs is an Urdu word meaning Isolation (read as Ha-bus). The main characters in Habs are Ayesha (Ushna Shah) and Basit (Feroze Khan). Ayesha was depicted as a practical young woman who always spoke her mind. Saba Faisal, her mother, is a widow and opportunist who prioritizes survival above all else. From the beginning, she prioritizes her own happiness over that of her daughters. Additionally, Basit (Feroze Khan) is a member of a dysfunctional family. When he was very young, his mother, Irsa Ghazal, left his father and married someone she loved because she thought her marriage was loveless.

Conflict

Basit was left questioning the sacredness and institution of marriage as a result. Basit’s father passed away, and Basit was required to marry in order to access his accounts by his father’s will. Ayesha ends up working in Basit’s office, and Basit eventually asks her to marry him out of sheer desperation to get the money he needs to run his business. In order to make the most of the situation, Ayesha’s mother uses tact to manipulate the situation and asks  Basit for money in exchange for her agreeing to this marriage.

Acting

With Bano’s (Dania Anwar) persona taking the lead, the sidetracks can occasionally be more interesting than the main course. Dania Anwar has consistently performed admirably. She is the oldest and smartest member of the family, and her relationship with Ayesha in particular is a breath of fresh air. She is Ayesha’s sister. Bobby, Ayesha’s phupo (played by Hina Rizvi), is a fascinating character who occasionally veers off course. She owns her own business and has never been married. She defies the preconceived notions of phupos. The younger sister, Zoya (Janice Tessa), is a genuine rebel in contrast to the other two. Basit’s lone friend who consistently offers him advice is Fahad (Mussadiq Malik).

The digital drama series Habs on ARY has come to an end! Sadly, the story has slowed down and is no longer as it was at the beginning. All of the performances are excellent, but Feroze Khan and Ushna Shah’s fiery chemistry is what keeps the show going. In the episode before this one, we saw that Ayesha filed for a divorce, but the lawyer tells her that she should change her mind for the sake of her child. This episode closes with a cheerful gathering of Basit and Ayesha.

Inconsistencies

Ayesha’s anger is not making any logic at all. If she has whole heartily forgiven her mother then she should have forgiven Basit as well. Ayesha and Basit both are lost in their reveries. Ayesha is now considering her decision from the point of view of her child. It makes her feel sad that her baby will also not get her father’s love like the way she is deprived of her father.

As in the last episodes, all matters get resolved Zoya’s matter gets solved as well. Zoya calls Aamir and begs him to meet her. Aamir meets her but he is not ready to forgive her straight away, he accepts her apology and gives her some time to reform herself. Zoya agrees with Aamir’s decision and she makes the best of it she decides to rejoin her studies in the meantime. Basit calls Ayesha to tell her that he is leaving for abroad. He asks Ayesha to meet him for the last time.

The Ending

Ayesha meets Basit and the flame between them rekindles. This time Ayesha herself asks Basit not to leave her and their child alone. They both happily reunite as a blessed couple. Ayesha and Basit named their daughter after Basit’s mother Sadia. The ending scene is well shot in which we see the little 3 years old Sadia introducing everyone at Bobby Nano’s wedding. It’s good to see Zoya and Aamir together, the baby introduces Fahad and Bano together as her favourites. All well that ends well. A perfect ending! Kudos to the entire cast and crew of Habs and particularly Musaddiq Malik for executing it so well.

Review

Habs, which has been on the air for 13 weeks, is the kind of drama that gets better over time. Even though some of the situations aren’t very convincing and the characters have flaws, there are some aspects of the drama that are enough to keep you interested. Ultimately, it maintains your interest. Due to the way ARY promoted the drama, I initially did not watch it. First, the script appears to be the result of a “team effort” because the writers’ names are not specifically mentioned.

This certainly raises the question of whether the storyline was actually taken seriously by the content creators. Since the script was probably written by Aliya Makhdoom in response to the producers’ instructions, they should also give credit to their content team. Second, the one-liner that ARY used to start the story is not accurate. “Is love really necessary for marriage?” is not the best way to describe a drama’s plot, which is based on a lot more than that. More so than Basit and Ayesha’s own track thus far, this line appears to sum up Basit’s mother’s decision to leave his father.

Final Thoughts

Musaddiq Malik, who used everything he has learned about drama making up to this point to ace his directorial debut, deserves credit for giving this flawed script the proper treatment. Not only has he relied on making the set look good overall, but he has also made sure that the actors give their all. The drama and scenes do not go overboard in any way, but the director does a good job of translating and convincingly capturing almost all of the emotions.

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