“Badzaat” stars the hit pair of Imran Ashraf and Urwa Hocane, along with Ali Abbas, Mehmood Aslam, Saba Faisal, Nida Mumtaz, Zainab Qayyum, Sidra Niazi, Zoya Nasir, Sajida Syed, Danial Afzal Khan and Zohreh Amir in prominent roles. The story has been written by Misbah Nosheen and directed by Siraj Ul Haq. Airing every Wednesday and Thursday on Har Pal Geo, “Badzaat” is a “love” triangle between Wali, Biya and the villainous Daniyal.
In episode 12, Daniyal (Ali Abbas) and Biya (Urwa Hocane) are getting married, much to the heartbreak of Wali (Imran Ashraf). While Daniyal does his best to pour salt on Wali’s wounds, his own are opened when Huda arrives at the wedding. While Huda isn’t an angelic character and certainly still harbors ill-will in her heart towards Biya, Huda still remains a relatable character. Her anger, her emotions and her outlook on the situation from a logical perspective is refreshing. This is a strong, independent-minded woman who knows her own worth. This is in direct contrast to Biya, who has been labeled “naïve” and “innocent” her entire life, her mother downplaying her intelligence. Huda has thankfully used this time to reflect on what happened between Biya and Daniyal and, unlike the rest of the family, her takeaway is simply that Daniyal is a horrible human being and she is better off without him. Huda has, unexpectedly wound up being the most logical character on this show.
Unfortunately, it’s this realization of Huda’s that sparks the desire for revenge further in Daniyal. Daniyal is a perfect villain, not only driven by his desire for revenge, but also his sheer ignorance and unaccountability for the actions that got him to this moment. He does not grasp, at all, that he attempted to rape (or did he actually rape her? We can never tell with Pakistani dramas) and this is the crime that landed him with a “punishment” of marrying Biya. He lost the love of his life because he was disloyal to her, cheated on her – and that too with a woman who had no interest in being with him! Still, he blames Biya for Huda’s rejection and does the unthinkable – locks Biya in a room on their wedding night and locks the door from outside. Now while this scene highlights Daniyal’s madness well, it has been shot atrociously. Daniyal lightly pushes Biya onto the bed and the “nazuk” creature she is, she just passes out. There has to be a better way to put the point forward – did Daniyal hit her? Then let’s find a way to show that logically instead of shooting odd sequences like this. Regardless, Ali Abbas’ performance in this moment is brilliant. He is playing the madness and narcissism impeccably!
That being said, what doesn’t work is how “easy” it is for him to be a villain – because his entire family is full of sitting ducks. How is it that this family finds Biya in a locked room from the outside with fire set on the inside and they continue to listen to Daniyal proclaim his innocence? Who else could have done it? And Daniyal’s friends had left long before, so his story does not even make sense. The family is the weakest link, refusing to listen to Wali’s valid questions. They forced Biya into this marriage with her assaulter rather than allowing her to marry the man she loves. Then they continue to brush Daniyal’s behavior under the rug and urge Biya to go upstairs with Daniyal after just escaping with her life – an attack visibly caused by Daniyal himself. It’s frustrating watching a show like this, because if the characters had even a little bit of logic, the storyline would be nonexistent. The star of this episode is Ali Abbas as Daniyal with his performance. Imran Ashraf is barely seen while Urwa Hocane’s only direction is to stand blank-faced as a victim. While the story is interesting, the audience could do without the excessive melodrama.
