Habs, a new TV serial currently on air on ARY Digital, started in July this year as a family entertainment show and is now reaching its end possibly next month. Featuring Ushna Shah and Feroze Khan as lead actors, Habs has come out to be yet another addition to the contemporary drama genre which is largely characterized by a social theme revolving around the overall women’s rights agenda, particularly gender equality and women’s empowerment and their active participation in all spheres of social life.
Produced by Six Sigma Entertainment under the direction of Mussadiq Malik, Habs can be referred to as a women-centred show. The main story of the play revolves around a female protagonist Ayesha who is a young, talented and progressive girl and after passing her bachelor’s degree with a gold medal, she is now planning to pursue higher studies in a reputable university. To meet the financial needs of her family and to reify her educational dreams, she tries to find a decent job but experiences harassment at the hands of potential recruiters.
On the face of it, the victimization of the female protagonist, right from the beginning of the serial, has now become a commonplace practice as if the playwrights are suffering from a dearth of creative ideas to explore untapped or less-discussed burning issues that haunt both men and women as well as children on an equal basis.
Secondly, the TV serial features more female characters in the lead roles than male ones and is littered with various instances of gender biases against the male characters that tarnish the overall intent of the play aimed at bringing gender discrimination to its eventual end.
Similar to the rest of the TV serials produced these days, the central theme of Habs is also focused on highlighting those women in particular who step out of their homes to explore different ways to avail of available growth opportunities in order to lead their lives on their own, that too at the expense of sacrificing their traditional roles as dedicated homemakers.
What ails the storyline more is an abject refusal to depict the everyday reality on merit as merely a one-sided portrayal of society, which is shown through the prism of the marginalized women and often leads to a half-baked conclusion of facts that fail women as well as men without any gender discrimination or prejudice.
Other than its faulty plot and poor acting chops of lead actors, the TV serial also struggles when it comes to engaging the audience as the show is overstuffed with the intended messages and is just able to drag on the story to make it a commercially viable project. Supported by powerful visual effects, a moving original soundtrack and impressive camerawork, Habs, otherwise, is a half-baked TV serial which has nothing new to offer. Coupled with its run-of-the-mill story and lacklustre theme, the serial seems to be a lost cause from the word go and is no more than an abortive attempt to hop on the bandwagon of women’s empowerment without any profound homework.
Featuring a padding love story, never-ending family politics, illogical sibling rivalries, and the rest of the oft-narrated aspects, the TV serial, as the title rightly suggests, is not a breath of fresh air for TV viewers.
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