When the promos for Behadd first came out, I was seriously intrigued by it. It’s been a while since a good drama has come out, but behadd looked like a different story overall, and it was just really fun to watch. The hour and a half was time well spent as far as the telefilm went.
The story is pretty simple, but also very well played out. Masooma (Nadia Jamil) is a single mom (her husband passed away) who is severely attached to her daughter Maha (Sajal Ali) and vice versa. Overprotective is an understatement when it comes to Masooma’s attitude towards Maha. Maha is a 15 year old girl who rarely gets attached to people and doesn’t let her mother get attached either, be it her best friend Shafaq (Nadia Afghan). The story progresses as Jamal (Fawad Khan) enters the play, and is assigned as Masooma’s client. He turns out to be Masooma’s childhood friend’s little brother who they used to hang out with quite often. They grew up together, so they shared a nice bond. As they start to talk more often and get closer, Maha starts to get used to Jamal as well.
Masooma takes up the challenge of trying to find Jamal a wife, with the approval of Poppy (Jamal’s sister), and when she can’t find anyone who Jamal wants to marry, she gives up. Later on, Jamal ends up proposing to Masooma after deliberate thought, and Masooma is mind blown. She believes that society can’t and won’t accept a single mom getting married again who has a 15 year old daughter, and on top of that list, she believes that Maha wouldn’t accept it either. After Shafaq advises Masooma to talk to Maha about the situation, Maha obviously is shaken by the news. She decides to accept it after she believes that her mother is growing a liking for Jamal, and therefore stages a plot to make Masooma hate Jamal, which ends up working.
I have to say, the ending was wonderfully played out. I seriously loved everything about the telefilm, from the way it was directed to the details like the background music being played perfectly. I thought that Jo and Mo had excellent chemistry throughout and it was nice to see Fawad playing a character that fit his age pretty well. And I liked the “no-makeup” makeup looks that everyone, from Masooma to Shafaq to Sajal had going on. It was a simple play that made you think alot.
Finally, the writing was fantastic, along with everything else about the play. The only unrealistic part of the plot was Masooma and Maha’s house, since when are there houses like that in Pakistan? What I did like though, was the way that the entire story was handled, it was quite subtle to the point where you could watch it with your family. Also, the chemistry between all the characters was wonderful. Be it mother-daughter, friend-friend, heroine-hero, everything looked really realistic and it was just a nice added touch. It definitely made me smile (:
So thanks to the team for putting this together! It was a treat to watch, and I skipped over studying for my finals just to watch it, but it was definitely worth it! I would definitely recommend it, it’s a great effort put together! (:
