Directed by Ali Hassan, produced by Big Bang Entertainment, written by Qaisra Hayat, Be Aib aired on Urdu 1. Be Aib is the story of three siblings – Shahana (Ismat Zaidi), Sadaf (Samina Peerzada) and Safi (Tariq Jameel). Shahana has lived in the US for the past few years but has returned to Pakistan. Even though Shahana is affluent, she doesn’t discriminate between her siblings. Sadaf shares a similar social status as Shahana but unfortunately it seems to have gotten to her head. Sadaf doesn’t think much of her brother Safi as he hasn’t enjoyed the same fortunes his sisters have. While Shahana welcomes him with open arms, Sadaf mocks him for his low class mindset.
Sadaf is a self- proclaimed perfectionist and control freak. She has shrewdly arranged for her daughter ( Alishba Yusuf) to be engaged to Shahana’s son Taimoor (Noor Hassan) seeing that he is the sole heir to their wealth. Sadaf judges people on the basis of their social status and avoids those less fortunate like the plague. Safi has two children, Ahmed ( Imran Aslam) and Inaya ( Mariam Ansari). Ahmed seems to have feelings for Tooba but knows better than to act on them and Inaya is fascinated by Taimoor and Tooba’s fairytale life- Inaya has a visible black mark (Aib) that covers the left side of her face. She seems very conscious of her mark and her mother fears for her marriage and hopes that somehow she ends up marrying Taimoor even though she knows he’s engaged to Tooba.
Ahmed has applied for a student visa to UK and hopes he can be financially sound and change his family’s living conditions once he’s settled. Safi feels confident that Shahana APA is the only one who will support him by lending him money for Ahmed’s travel expenses and she doesn’t disappoint.
For a first episode, all the characters were well introduced. Samina Peerzada could’ve toned down quite a bit while still capturing the essence of her character. Alishba Yusuf is always selective in her roles and after Pehchaan, she’s back as Tooba. She’s effectively portrayed the role of a daughter completely under her mother’s control so much so she comes across as being under her spell. Noor Hassan’s puffy hair was distracting. Cousin marriages seem to be a topic our writers find very hard to let go off but there’s more to this story- however, Urdu 1’s promo department seems to have revealed the entire story through their teasers and OST so it takes away the excitement of finding out what happens next.
Still, it’s always nice to see actors who don’t appear in dramas as often and I’m hoping this turns out to be a good watch. How many of you tuned in to Be Aib?
Kanwal Murtaza
