TRPs matter a great deal for everyone involved in the business of drama making, while there are still very few writers and producers for whom quality matters more than the quantity of viewers praising the show on social media, the fact is that most of them care about ratings alone! When the competition is intense and there isn’t enough time to come up with a solid script then drama makers very often rely on shortcuts to achieve results which most often guarantee that their project has everyone’s undivided attention. Social suggestion also plays a pivotal role in helping (weak/easily influenced) people decide what they want to tune into, buy or even “like”! Recently, a video has been circulating on the web in which a common man poses to be a celebrity in order to check how people react to a situation in which someone is being given star status by others but they have no idea who he is. Surely enough, most people fell for it and ended up praising this person’s music who isn’t even a singer and were lined up to look at him and were dying to take a selfie with him! This social experiment said a great deal about the role marketing, social suggestion and a certain image has on the general public. This is the reason why our drama makers who are making a serial with the intent of making it a commercial hit make sure that they cast big names, choose a sensitive/controversial topic, give a lot of interviews and create a buzz on social media long before the drama airs.
Unfortunately this season for most of the viewers a twisted storyline, controversial twists and turns, make-up that is right on point no matter what the characters are going through, star power and most importantly proper marketing has worked wonders! Dramas which have no substance are being watched more than many other plays with a more definite storyline. These dramas which are commercial hits are the most overrated dramas of this season for the reasons I have mentioned below!
Baaghi
Baaghi was promoted as Qandeel Baloch’s biopic, one which was somehow going to narrate Qandeel’s story without “glorifying” her. Qandeel Baloch’s name alone was enough to get the viewers interested therefore getting the attention of the general public was never an issue for team Baaghi. This drama was in the news many months before it aired, later on Saba Qamar’s photo shoots which were a copy of Qandeel’s actual pictures, piqued the interest of the viewers even more. Saba Qamar’s massive fan following in Pakistan as well as across the border made the viewers tune into the show since in her interviews she said that this role was unlike any other she had played so far.
Baaghi’s marketing couldn’t have been better and it worked like a charm but the actual content of the show is anything but impressive. The producers obviously bit off more than they could chew and failed to tell Qandeel’s story in an honest manner. The focus of the show indeed is not only glorifying but also defending Qandeel’s actions for some reason. The fact that every episode of Baaghi focuses on just that and the writer has failed to turn the protagonist into a more interesting and dynamic character made this drama one of the most repetitive and dull dramas of the season yet somehow it is a massive success in terms of TRPs! This drama has been “valued” by the general public, the blogs and social media much more than it deserved!
Khaani
Khaani is another play which was promoted as the next big thing on social media and the producers flaunt the ratings it is getting every chance they get. This drama is overrated because it relies heavily on overdramatic twists and turns which most often question the intelligence of viewers. A heroine who is being celebrated as the epitome of women empowerment ends up falling in love in the most ridiculous manner with the man who murdered her brother. Khaani makes a mockery of all those families out there who have been through similar situations in real life.
Most of the comments on social media suggest that just like Khaani (the main protagonist) the viewers didn’t have a difficult time accepting a murderer as a hero which is why they have no issue rooting for a happy ending for him. The drama relies heavily on its beautiful cast therefore no matter what Khaani and Hadi are going through, they always look picture perfect. The script of the drama is highly misguided, unconvincing and callous to say the least. It is truly upsetting when drama makers pick a sensitive topic but fail to do to justice to it.
Aisi Hei Tanhai
Aisi Hei Tanhai is another drama on this list which raises a social issue but just like every other drama on the list, it doesn’t deal with the issue seriously and relies heavily on making an ultimate victim out of its main protagonist. Characters which plead for the viewer’s sympathy and just like Khaani over-reliance on make-up and good looks kills the actual essence of all the scenarios which have been shown so far. Aisi Hei Tanhai’s script is greatly inspired from all those shocking headlines in newspapers which leave the readers terribly upset but the problem is that the drama does not serve a bigger purpose. Aisi Hei Tanhai is also yet another one of those dramas in which the victim’s mother is her biggest enemy!
We have seen dramas in which the mother stands and guards outside the door while her daughter’s rapist is in the same room as her, we have also seen plays in which the victim’s mother shelters her rapist for years and never finds out who he really is but this drama takes the whole inhuman and selfish mother scenario to a whole new level! The mother tries to kill her daughter after finding out how something terrible she did gave a bad name to her family, declares her dead after abandoning her in a hospital, marries her older daughter to her supposedly dead daughter’s ex-boyfriend (as a punishment for that man!) and later on ends up accepting him as her son! The way this mother moved on after abandoning her daughter is a joke yet the writer managed to gain the viewer’s sympathies because of Sami Khan and Sonya Hussyn’s characters and their journey. Sonya Hussyn’s performance is unimpressive in the play and there are even times when she doesn’t deliver her dialogues right. Nadia Khan cannot act to save her life! Sami Khan’s character and acting is the only saving grace of this drama. Aisi hei Tanhai is Pakistani version of all those star plus dramas in which the most unconvincing scenarios are shown yet the viewers continue coming back for their weekly dose of crazy!
Do share your thoughts about this drama and feel free to add to the list.