Introduction

I’ve seen a lot of pakistani dramas. I started watching them on Zindagi channel. They have content. The language, Urdu, is naturally close to my heart. their acting is awesome, AND they do not show every scene 3 times with high-octane background music (I mean to say background noise). People who have seen hindi TV dramas would understand what I am saying.

After some unfortunate series of events, Zindagi channel stopped airing Pakistani content. I reverted to youtube. I have been watching a lot of new and old dramas, that are recommended by various bloggers and reviewers. One fine day, I saw a top 10 of Saba Qamar video on youtube and started watching besharam. I was blown away from first episode itself.

Let’s meet the cast and characters now.

Cast & Characters

Saba Qamar as Mishal Tahir Malik

Supermodel, Tahir Malik and Sara’s daughter, Sofia’s maternal half-sister, Haider’s wife, Khadija’s daughter-in-law and Humna’s sister-in-law, Mannan’s half-sister

Zahid Ahmed as Haider Bakht

Khadija’s son, Mishal’s husband, Sofia’s brother-in-law, Humna’s brother, Qadeer and Saba’s paternal cousins and Sikander and Shakira’s nephew

Atiqa Odho as Sara

Mishal, Sofia and Mannan’s mother, Tahir Malik’s ex-wife, Jamal’s ex-lover and Haider’s mother-in-law

Rehan Sheikh as Tahir Malik

Mishal’s father, Sara’s ex-husband, Jamal’s friend and Haider’s father-in-law

Ammar Ahmed as Qadeer

Shakira and Sikander’s son, Humna’s ex fiancé, Saba’s brother, Haider’s cousin

Faraz Ahmed Farooqui as Mannan

Mishal and Sofia’s maternal half-brother, Sara’s son and Haider’s brother-in-law, Humna’s fiancé

Faisal Rehman as Jamal

Daniyal Ahmed’s father and ex-lover of Sara and Tahir Malik’s friend

Fia Khan as Sofia

Mishal and Mannan’s maternal half-sister, Sara’s daughter and Haider’s sister-in-law

Jinaan Hussain as Humna

Haider’s sister, Mishal’s sister-in-law, Qadeer’s ex-fiancée, Khadija’s daughter, Saba and Qadeer’s paternal cousin and Sikander and Shakira’s niece, Mannan’s fiancée

Shaista Jabeen – Khadija

Haider and Humna’s mother, Mishal’s mother-in-law, Sikander’s sister-in-law and Qadeer and Saba’s paternal aunt

Mehmood Akhtar as Sikandar

Haider and Humna’s paternal uncle, Shakira’s husband, Qadeer and Saba’s father and Khadija’s brother-in-law

Farah Nadeem As Shakira

Sikander’s wife, Qadeer And Saba’s mother

Jahanzeb Khan As Daniyal

Jamal’s son

Ghana Ali As Saba

Shakira And Sikander’s daughter, Qadeer’s younger sister, Haider and Humna’s cousin. She likes Haidar, and wants to marry him.

Plot Summary

Besharam deals with the social issues of glamor industry, upper-class family, and its struggles. Haider Bakht is an aspiring politician who has aims and missions to make the country better and lives in a small house compared to Mashal with his sister and mother. Mishal is a model, and is used to living a luxurious life-style.

And then these two extremes are forced to live together as husband and wife.

Besharam is essentially a forced marriage romance. Haidar Bakht and Mishal Malik both are invited to a TV show. They get arguing. One thing leads to another, and before we know; they challenge each other–that Haidar would marry Mishal.

And they do.

Yep!

Both Haidar and Mishal are short-tempered. And it is their ill-temper that brings them together in a holy matrimony. And now they are forced to live together in Haidar’s humble abode.

If that’s not the perfect recipe for romance, what is?

Review

The chemistry between the lead couple, Haider and Mishi, is electric. Zahid and Saba have done a brilliant job. I had seen Saba’s work earlier, and she is amazing as usual. Zahid is a treat to watch. His voice, specially, leaves an impact. I am so impressed, I started following him on facebook.

All actors seem to have become the characters they are playing. The characters were real, a shade of grey. Nobody was saint, nobody was pure devil. I particularly liked Wahab Sunaira and Saba. Wahab’s blunt commentary about his sasuma, and Saba’s blabber with a childish expression on her face; they leave a mark whenever they are on-screen, however short the duration is.

The story-line is engaging. When I checked the credits for writer, I was surprised to see “Sarwat Nazir”. Surprised, since I have read many of her novels; Main Abdul Qadir Hoon, and Roshan Sitara being two that come to my mind right now. Did not know she writes for TV as well. She’s GOOD.

My all time favorite pakistani drama is Zindagi Gulzar Hai, for its sheer perfection – from direction to writing to acting. This is very close to that now. Haider and Mishi, Kashaf and Zaroon, these characters are so powerful, they make you want to be like them.

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Until we meet again, check out my books on Amazon. You can subscribe for Kindle Unlimited for free for the first month, just saying 🙂

Shabana Mukhtar