Following the social media phenomena that Humsafar and Zindagi Gulzar Hai were in the years past, 2014 was relatively mellow in television. However, that doesn’t mean Pakistani television did not experience its fair share of highs. One such notable production was Bashar Momin.
Following the social media phenomena that Humsafar and Zindagi Gulzar Hai were in the years past, 2014 was relatively mellow in television. However,
that doesn’t mean Pakistani television did not experience its fair share of highs. One such notable production was Bashar Momin.
Starring Faysal Qureishi, Ushna Shah and Sami Khan along with a host of others, the drama made for a lot of firsts in the television industry. Touted as Pakistan’s most expensive serial, it heavily drew inspiration from Turkish dramas that seemed to be threatening the industry’s existence at the time, and not only upped the ante in terms of visual effects and art direction but was also termed a trendsetter in menswear for television. Big names from the industry including designer Ahmed Bham joined an experienced styling team of N-Gents to treat audiences with a never-seen-before look of Faysal Qureishi.
Directed by Syed Ali Raza Usama, Bashar Momin put Faysal Qureishi on the map as a versatile artist as he portrayed a vicious gangster involved in money-laudering and a heartless soul to his wife.
Beastly and thunderous, Faysal raised the acting bar while portraying the titular character of a heartless gangster who means nothing but business. He was intense, abrasive and simply badass as oppressor of innocent Ushna – the damsel in distress and victim of lost love. The story, picking up from the ‘beauty and the beast’ concept, had all the ingredients for an entertaining TV production – the curiosity-defining, conniving abilities of the quintessential vamps, the doe-eyed misery of the leading lady and a hero with shades of grey. It sure did have its moments of monotony and predictability, but the unprecedented twists nearing the end of the drama had audiences hooked.
A well-knit, novel plot by scriptwriter Zanjabeel Shah, check. Great performances by the cast, check. Crisp direction, check. Yet when it came to rounding off this year’s LSA nominations for television, Bashar Momin was left out of all relevant categories, much to everyone’s surprise. Naturally fans are disgruntled and disappointed. An avid fan of the serial Fizza Shah wrote a letter to all media alike expressing her discontent over how Bashar Momin was completely ignored from the nominations list.
“Bashar Momin was one of the top plays of last year with very high TRPs. The show got a lot of media and social media attention, which is why it has been chosen to air on India’s leading channel Zee Zindagi. I am shocked about how the show has been totally left out in the Lux Style Awards nominations, and it puts a very serious question mark on the jury and criteria of selection of the awards,” wrote Fizza.
Fans on Twitter also spoke up about the LSAs’ surprising snub and started a movement under #JusticeForBM. By the looks of it, fans seem adamant to change the jury’s mind by regularly posting on the LSA website for Bashar Momin’s induction in the list.
Instep spoke to the star of the show Faysal for his thoughts on this rather scandalous move by the LSA television jury. “This person on
my TV show told me that he was making a documentary on the importance of acting studios in Pakistan for which he had travelled to different places including India to see how their studios work. And while he was in India, he went to Anupam Kher’s acting school where the students were being shown Bashar Momin. So given that the serial is being taught across the border, is a trendsetter in direction, lighting and visual techniques, which are now being copied by other Pakistani dramas, and has a huge fan following, it at least deserved some sort of recognition,” Faysal asserted. “Even if they didn’t want to nominate me, they should have at least nominated the writer, the director or the other members of the cast who performed brilliantly. Even if they weren’t going to award us in the end, the serial deserved nomination in at least one of the categories.”
“Bloggers who usually wouldn’t write about television were actually writing about Bashar Momin,” he continued. “It is just painful and it goes to show how biased the awards are this year. Yes, Pyare Afzal was an amazing project but then that wasn’t the only project made last year.”
Starring Hamza Ali Abbasi in the lead, Pyare Afzal has bagged the most nominations for this year while the rest of the categories do not boast of popular offerings, making one wonder if the list was tailor made to make one drama win the most awards. Whether it is a case of prejudice or sheer ignorance at the part of LSA television jury, one can’t say but they sure have made a ‘boo-boo’ in leaving out last year’s much-hyped Bashar Momin. If nothing, Faysal deserved a nomination for Best Actor for his compelling and confident depiction of the character well out of his comfort zone.
