A review on Pakistani TV Drama Series, ‘Baaghi’ aka Rebel (2017 – 18). Its Production House is Paragon Productions while Distribution is done by Urdu 1.
+ Crew
- Directed by Farooq Rind
- Written by Shazia Khan
- Cinematography by Khaleel Ahmed (KAKA)
- Theme Music by Shuja Haider
- Produced by Nina Kashif
+ Note
Baaghi aired on Urdu 1 from 27th Jul 2017 – 1st Feb 2018. In total it consists of 28 episodes. It is a biographical based TV show on the famous, controversial Pakistani figure, Qandeel Baloch who was murdered by her brother in the name of honor in July 2016. The screenplay of this drama has been done by Umera Ahmed.
Within a week of its launch, Baaghi became the most watched serial being viewed by Pakistanis on YouTube and has also been the limelight of controversies, as expected. The drama is one of the most hyped TV serials ever produced in Pakistan.
Since then this drama series has won many Pakistani TV awards.
+ Main Cast
- Saba Qamar as Fauzia Batool/Kanwal Baloch
- Osman Khalid Butt as Shehryar
- Khalid Malik as Rehan
- Ali Kazmi as Abid
- Imran Ali Sheikh as CEO of Modeling Talent Agency
- Sarmad Khoosat as Raheem
- Irfan Khoosat as Fauzia’s father
- Saba Faisal as Fauzia’s mother
- Nadia Afgan as Asma
- Syed Babrik Shah as Asma’s brother
- Farhana Maqsood as Abid’s second wife
- Syed Tabrez Ali Shah as Munna
- Nimra Khan as Munni
- Seemi Raheel as Abid’s mother
xxxxxxx
+ Supportive Cast
- Laila Zuberi as Shehreyar’s mother
- Muskan Jay as Abid’s sister
- Sophia Mirza as N/A
- Nishoo as N/A
- Farah Tufail as N/A
- Rabia Abid Ali (Noreen) as N/A
- Raja Matloob as N/A
- Fahad Sherwani as N/A
- Usman Mazhar as N/A
- Ali Deswali as N/A
- Amna Karim as N/A
- Mehboob Sultan as Police DSP
xxxxxxx
+ Cameo Cast
- Yasir Hussain as Sohail Warraich
- Yasir Nawaz as N/A
- Hareem Farooq as a Pakistan Idol Judge#1
- Goher Mumtaz as a Pakistan Idol Judge#2
- Nomi Ansari as a Pakistan Idol Judge#3
- Salman Saqib Sheikh (Mani) as N/A
- Hira Tareen as N/A
- Naeem Tahir as N/A
- Ismat Zaidi as Chaudhrani Ji
- Ahmed Godil as N/A
- Hasan Soomro as N/A
- Farooq Rind as N/A
- Amna Karim as N/A
+ Plot
Fauzia Batool is trapped in love with Abid only to find him different to what he seems. Still hanging onto her dream of becoming famous, she manages to escape her home town and adapts a new name with personality in the glamour world. But is this enough to fulfill her dreams? Or does she has to what it takes to survive in this hypocrisy world of media?
+ High Points
i – Saba Qamar as Fauzia Batool/Kanwal Baloch gave an outstanding performance as real life, controversial public figure. To be honest, we all did expected her to perform with this much intensity and hard work in able to give a realistic portrayal of ‘Qandeel Baloch’, which this TV drama is inspired from. It is no wonder to see her winning many awards for her performance and the BTS team’s combined efforts in making this TV drama series possible. Her strong performance is one of the main reasons why you should watch this TV drama series.
ii – Khalid Malik as Rehan played out a strong, supporting character for the lead character, especially at times of her need. His solid performance has definitely him grab attention for many other directors and producers to approach Khalid with new and bigger projects. Bravo! Other Honorable Mentions: Ali Kazmi, Imran Ali Sheikh, Sarmad Khoosat and Irfan Khoosat.
iii – Brilliant efforts in writing this script, main ingredient to find in a successful TV drama series. All thanks to Umera Ahmed and Shazia Khan.
iv – Farooq Rind’s direction have made this drama series very interesting to watch.
v – Many cameo appearances had surprised the viewers but their special appearances were pleasant.
vi – Most of the cast gave a very satisfying performance.
vii – The transformation of Fauzia Batool into Kanwal (Qandeel) Baloch was made possible through effective makeup & hair styling and elegant costume designing.
+ Low Points
i – At one place they say that this TV series is based on actual events and at the same time, they say that it is inspired from real life events. Personally, I would vote for ‘Inspired from real events’ as many of the things, incidents were not shown or changed it entirely or replaced it totally for legal reasons basically. There were many things they did not show as it happened in real life, especially where the real-life figure had flaws or made many wrong, shameful decisions and public comments. They were either tone down or didn’t bother to show. This move helped them to keep the character in positive light. It is usually done by those who don’t want their characters to be disliked by the viewers or to gain sympathy in its stead. Anyone who knows the actual story to what really happened… then only, you would know to how much extend of fiction was used to dramatize this TV series to portray such a debatable person such as ‘Qandeel Baloch’.
ii – The ending turned out to be… so-so. The reason given for the crime was not as much intuiting as the one known in real life. His brother’s temper was raised several times during the mid of the episodes for other issues but never to this extend. The decision was made all of a sudden and acted upon. Some people may disagree with me but this is how I lack of reasoning behind such gruesome action.
iii – Now, I am well aware that the ‘Extras’ roles and their performances are not given much importance to. But still they are part of the drama series and help further to make the fictional world shown in it as real. Here we have some mediocre acting from their side, although the entire drama series is really convincingly performed.
+ Overall
Surprisingly, Farooq’s Baaghi is intelligent, smooth, engaging, polished, and well-acted by all involved, especially Saba Qamar who proves her critics that she can handle any part, including of controversial figure.
Rate: 4.25 out of 5 stars
Mr. Khan's Reviews 