Baby Baji is the first season of a Pakistani family soap television series produced by Abdullah Seja under his production banner iDream Entertainment. The ensemble cast of the series includes Samina Ahmad, Munawar Saeed, Javeria Saud, Saud, Junaid Niazi, Sunita Marshall, Hassan Ahmed, Fazal Hussain, Syeda Tuba Anwar, and Aina Asif. The series revolves around the family of Baby Baji and her struggle to keep it united during her husband's illness.[1]
| Baby Baji | |
|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Written by | Mansoor Ahmed Khan |
| Directed by | Tehseen Khan |
| Starring |
|
| Country of origin | Pakistan |
| Original language | Urdu |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 125 |
| Production | |
| Producer | Abdullah Seja |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 35-40 minutes per episode |
| Production company | iDream Entertainment |
| Original release | |
| Network | ARY Digital |
| Release | 23 May 2023 – present |
Plot
edit- SEASON 1
Baby Baji lives with her four sons(Jamal, Naseer, Wasif and Walid) and husband. Jamal is the oldest and has two grown kids with his wife, Azra. Azra is an evil and immmoral woman, who fights with everyone in the household, and disrespects her parents-in-law. She is known for having a great temper and verbally degrades everyone who upsets her.
Naseer has one son and lives with his wife, Asma. Asma is loved for her kindness. She takes care of everyone, is reliable, patient and friendly. However, her husband Naseer doesn't love her, as he was forced to marry her, since his parents didn't approve of his lover. Naseer always verbally and physically abuses both Asma and their son.
The third son, Wasif marries Farhat, across the course of the drama. Farhat is modern, independent and outspoken. After moving into the house, she and Azra squabble, as she always fights back with her, unlike Asma.
Waleed is Baby Baji's youngest son, the only one who isn't married. He is interested in his neighbor, Saman.
The story revolves around the problems of this joint family system. After the illness of her husband, Baby Baji took the responsibility of holding her family together. Baby Baji whose elder three sons are married, struggles to maintain a balance among her children in the joint family system. Every day a new quarrel took place in the house because her oldest daughter in law, Azra, is cunning, rude and manipulative. After the death of Baby Baji's husband, all the sons took their part from the property and separated. All this happened because of two of Baby Baji's daughters-in-law, Azra and Farhat, who fought daily. The only good daughter-in-law was Nasir's wife, Asma as she respected her in-laws despite her husband mistreating her.
After separating, the sons created a system where Baby Baji and Walid would live at a different son's house every month. She kept constantly moving between the three houses as no son wanted her to stay for too long. Baby Baji tried her best to reunite her sons but she is expelled from the house by Azra. She became homeless and went to an old-age home. Walid, after returning home from Lahore, finds her in the old-age home and yells at his brothers for neglecting to care for her. After facing the consequences of their own deeds, all three sons realized the importance of their mother. Jamal expels Azra from the house and she is diagnosed with cancer. Naseer is conned by his lover on the wedding day and returns to apologize to his mother, as she was right. She forgives him. However, it has become too late then and in the end, Baby Baji dies after arranging Waleed and Saman's engagement. Wasif, who had gone abroad without meeting his mom, doesn't make it back to Pakistan in time for her burial.
- SEASON 2
After an year, all sons of Baby Baji reunite, and lives together at jamal's house. Asma owns a clothing boutique. Farhat handles the household. The four brothers are running a shoes buisness. Azra is healed from cancer, she lives at her mother's as Jamal kicked her out from the house. Azra arrives at Jamal's house on Baby Baji's death anniversary, but Jamal don't allow her to remain. However Asma convinces Jamal to take Azra back at home as she has changed and Baby Baji has forgiven her before death. Asma handovers gold bracelet to Azra as baby baji wanted. The brothers buy their parents house again and shifts into it. Everything was going right untill Jamal's Aunt (Siddiqui's sister Rizwana) with her daugghter and grand daughter, enters the house with the intention of taking away house, boutique and buisness from Siddiqui family. Jamal becomes her aunt's puppet, he handovers the house to her. Her daughter Saira starts working with Asma in the boutique as she wanted to take it. Jamal unintentionally signes buisness property papers to her Aunt. Meanwhile Walid and Saman gets married. Saira successfully becomes Asma's boutique share holder.
Will the Siddiqui family unite against Aunt's family?
Cast
edit- Samina Ahmad as Rashida Begum aka Baby Baji
- Munawar Saeed as Siddiqui Sahab
- Javeria Saud as Azra
- Saud as Jamal
- Sunita Marshall as Asma
- Hassan Ahmed as Naseer
- Aina Asif as Saman (2023-2024)
- Rimha Ahmed replaced Aina Asif as Saman (2024-present)
- Junaid Jamshed Niazi as Wasif
- Syeda Tuba Anwar as Farhat
- Fazal Hussain as Waleed
- Madiha Iftikhar as Saira
- Faiza Khan as Rameen
- Farhad Ali as Ali
- Javeria Nayyar as Gulshan Aara
- Afshan Qureshi as Azra's mother
- Mizna Waqas as Rakshi
- Fareeha Jabeen as Rakshi's mother
- Asma Abbas as Rizwana aka phopho
- Afzal Khan as Qurreshi
- Salina Sipra as Shenaz
- Aisha Afridi as Ashi
- Alishba Yasin as Amber
- Hania Ahmed replaced Alishba Yasin
- Unkown as Umer
Production
editHassan Ahmed was earlier offered the role of Jamal, which he rejected and he was again approached to portray the character of Naseer. Hassan's spouse Sunita Marshall portrayed the Asma, Naseer's wife, for which she was not the first choice.[2]
Soundtrack
editThe ost was performed by Bisma Abdullah with Eva B as a rap artist. The lyrics and composition were by The Loop Men.
Reception
editGalaxy Lollywood praised the series for tackling the various common and relatable problems of a joint family.[3] A critic from the Daily Times reviewed that the story of the series is a bit hard to be comprehend.[4] Javeria Saud's performance as a cunning and outspoken daughter-in-law was well-received by critics and audiences.[5][6][7] A reviewer from The News International lauded the performances of some actors, clever characterisation, fast-paced narrative and depiction of traditions.[8]
The soap opera gained high viewership both on television and digitally on YouTube.[9] It gained the highest rating, 15.7 TRPs, which became the highest rated last episode of the year.[10]
Sequel
editIn December 2023, the sequel for the Baby Baji announced with the title of 'Baby Baji Ki Bahuwain'. The second season premiered from 23 September 2024, broadcasting episodes daily at 7:00 PST on ARY Digital.[11]
References
edit- ^ "Tuba Anwar speaks up about the 'Baby Baji' experience". ARY NEWS. 23 May 2023.
- ^ "A family as big as 'Baby Baji' is a no-go for us: Hasan, Sunita on joint family system in Pakistan". The Express Tribune. 27 July 2023.
- ^ Mossadiq, Zainab (10 July 2023). "Baby Baji Takes Bold Steps Towards Documenting Joint Family Troubles". Galaxy Lollywood.
- ^ Khan, Bushra Zafar (8 June 2023). "The story of 'Baby Baji' is a bit hard to comprehend | Reviews". Daily Times.
- ^ "Javeria Saud wins hearts with portrayal of Azra in 'Baby Baji'". Daily Times. 30 May 2023.
- ^ "Supporting Actors Who Are Doing a Marvellous Job". Galaxy Lollywood. 15 June 2023.
- ^ "Javeria Saud says 'Baby Baji' exceeded expectations of success". The Express Tribune. 12 July 2023.
- ^ Usman Ghafoor (13 August 2023). "Dissonant but agreeable | Shehr". The News International.
- ^ "Drama serial 'Baby Baji' successfully manages to capture millions of views". Associated Press of Pakistan. 12 June 2023.
- ^ "#BabyBaji - Record-Breaking Entertainment! - The last episode received highest rating in all dramas of 2023!". 2 August 2023. Archived from the original on 16 August 2023. Retrieved 16 August 2023 – via Instagram.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "ARY Digital Announces Sequel 'Baby Baji Ki Bahuwain': A Fresh Take On Family Dynamics And Domestic Politics". Galaxy Lollywood. 30 December 2023.