Udaari (title from ; lit: Flight) is an Urdu and Punjabi language social Pakistani television series that was created and co-produced by Kashf Foundation and Momina Duraid for Hum TV. It focused on the social and economic marginalisation of citizens in Pakistani rural society alongside highlighting deep-rooted issues such as child sexual abuse, gender discrimination and violence against women. It was originally aired from 10 April 2016 to 4 September 2016. The show is written by Farhat Ishtiaq and directed by Mohammed Ehteshamuddin.Udaari follows the interconnected lives of two neighbouring families, a local shopkeeper, and a university music band.As their stories cross paths, the series focuses on exploring class discrimination, taboos, stigmas, women empowerment, sexual abuse, and the power and stigmatisation of music.
Udaari has an ensemble cast with Bushra Ansari as Sheedan, Samiya Mumtaz as Sajida, Urwa Hocane as Ameera, Farhan Saeed as Arsh, Ahsan Khan as Imtiaz, and Hina Altaf Khan/Areesha Ahsan as Zebo. The show is set in the village of Mirpur and urban areas of Punjab.
Udaari received positive reviews from critics and audiences throughout its broadcast, critics considered the sensitive issues within the story's arc well-drafted and well-composed, and also lauded the entire cast's performance, it also scored the highest ratings in 2016 and was ranked as the highest rated TV series of the 2016 season. At the 16th Lux Style Awards, the series won the most for the ceremony including, Best TV Actor for Khan, Best TV Director and Best TV Play for Duraid.
Plot
Udaari follows the interconnected lives of two neighbouring families, a local shopkeeper, and a university music band. Set in the village Mirpur Khas, Rashida and Sajida are close neighbours and friends. Rashida lives with her husband Majid, their children, Meera and Ejaz, and her brother Iqbal and belongs to the hereditary musician community, whose members face social discrimination because of their profession. Sajida, a widow, struggles to raise her young daughter, Zebo, while working as a domestic servant. Meanwhile, Imtiaz returns to the village after working in Dubai and opens a mobile phone shop. In Lahore, university students Arsh, Maleeha, Haris and Farwa form a music band and participate in a televised music competition.
Meera falls in love with Sajida's nephew, Ilyas, but their relationship is strained by his family's prejudice against her background as a musician. After rescuing Sajida from local thugs, Imtiaz, being a cousin of her late husband, proposes marriage to her. Believing him to be trustworthy and seeking a stable future for her daughter, Sajida accepts, and the couple initially lead a happy married life. Following Majid's death in an accident, however, Imtiaz attempts to sexually assault Meera, who manages to escape. Sajida refuses to believe Meera's accusation and instead supports her husband, creating a rift between the two families. Influenced by his family's views, Ilyas also ends his relationship with Meera, while the villagers ostracise Rashida's family, forcing them to consider leaving the village. when Farwa leaves the band under family pressure, Maleeha and her mother, Muneera, discover Meera's singing talent at a village wedding and invite her to join the group. Meera and her family relocate to Lahore, where she joins the band, develops a relationship with Arsh, and rises to national fame after the group wins the televised competition. Back in the village, Imtiaz begins sexually abusing Zebo and threatens to kill her and Sajida if she reveals the abuse. After discovering the truth, Sajida confronts him, but Imtiaz rapes Zebo in her presence after locking Sajida in a room. Sajida escapes, stabs Imtiaz, believing she has killed him, and flees with Zebo to Lahore, where Meera and Rashida shelter them to their home, and help them begin a new life under new identities.
Six years later, Meera has become an established singer, while Sajida has built a successful business. Having survived the attack, Imtiaz tracks them down and uses his political influence to file false criminal charges against Sajida while continuing to threaten Zebo. Arsh, now a lawyer, investigates the case with Muneera's assistance and uncovers evidence exposing Imtiaz's crimes. Encouraged by Arsh and Muneera, Zebo publicly testifies against Imtiaz. Meera also recounts his earlier attempt to assault her, strengthening the prosecution's case. Ilyas later apologises and asks Meera to resume their engagement, but she refuses. Following a public campaign and protest led by Muneera, Imtiaz's political influence turns against him and he is convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment, while Sajida is acquitted of all charges. The series concludes with the reconciliation of the two families, Meera accepting Arsh's marriage proposal and the family dedicating a song to Zebo and other survivors of abuse.
Cast
Samiya Mumtaz as Sajida Bibi; nicknamed as Sajo Bushra Ansari as Rasheeda Bibi: nicknamed as Sheedaan Ahsan Khan as Imtiaz Ali Sheikh Urwa Hocane as Ameera Majid; nicknamed as Meera Farhan Saeed as Taimoor Arshad nicknamed as Arsh Hina Altaf as Zeb-un-Nisa Pervaiz; nicknamed Zebo Laila Zuberi as Muneera Khalid Malika Zafar as Maleeha Khalid Maryam Fatima as Farwa Murad Ins-e-Yazdan as Ejaz Majid Adnan Saeed as Haris Khalid Aqeel Abbas as Iqbal Haris Waheed as Ilyas Rehan Sheikh as Majid Behroze Sabzwari as Khalid Ambar Wajid as Afrooz Aliya Jamshed as Razia Arjumand Hussain as Ahmad Rashida Tabassum as Durdana Saife Hassan as Malik Iftikhar Hussain Akbar Islam as Imtiaz's Lawyer
Child stars
Areesha Ahsan as Zebo Saad as Ejaz
Special appearances Hassan Sheheryar Yasin as himself Hadiqa Kiani as herself Emo as himself Babar Zaheer as himself
Episodes
Production
Development Udaari was developed by Hum TV's senior producer Momina Duraid of MD Productions, the channel hired the award-winning director Mohammed Ehteshamuddin to direct the series. Story of serial is written by award-winning writer Farhat Ishtiaq. It was Ishtiaq's first screenplay without a novel release, she has previously worked thrice with Momina, when she wrote mega-hit drama serials in Pakistan television history Humsafar, Mata-e-Jaan Hai Tu, and Diyar-e-Dil.
Song composition is done by Sahir Ali Bagga and Sohail Haider while background music is given by Mohsin AllahDitta who chose singers like Bushra Ansari, Hadiqa Kiani and Farhan Saeed for singing. It was Insari and Kiani's second collaboration after Pakistan Idol. Kiani and Saeed collaborated on the title song and also provided the vocals for the characters of Meeran and Arsh (portrayed by Saeed). There were discussions laid on its time slot, previously it was announced that the show will air on Saturdays replacing Durad's Gul-e-Rana. However, due to promotional reasons and Slot importance the show was given time slot of Sundays, 8:00 pm, whereas the long running series, Abroo was given a time slot of Saturdays. Udaari was initially planned to be released in 2017 after completion of filming but Duraid decided to release it in 2016 to For higher ratings to her channel. It was released in April and was planned to end along with Hum TV's Mann Mayal thereby both the shows were slotted to maintain Sunday and Monday slots to bring higher Television Rating Points (TRP) to them for the future.
Casting
Producer, writer and Director mutually chose the cast which includes Bushra Ansari, Samiya Mumtaz, Ahsan Khan, Urwa Hocane, Farhan Saeed and Hina Altaf Khan and Areesha Ahsan to play the leading roles of Sheedhan, Sajida, Imtiaz, Meera, Arsh and Zebo.
Veteran Actress Bushra Ansari was cast to portray the role of Rashida Bibi after her appraisal for her role in Kis Ki Ayeegi Baraat series, and Bilqees Kaur. The actress received critical acclaim within the pilot episode, according to her, this role was a challenge.
Urwa Hocane and Farhan Saeed marked their second appearance together as a couple being previously acted in Ary Digital's Mere Ajnaabi.
Udaari was Samiya Mumtaz's second collaboration with Momina Duraid and Mohammed Ehteshamuddin, she previously acted in drama-serial Sadqay Tumhare after which she was finalised to portray the role of Sajida. Alongside Mumtaz, actress Hina Altaf Khan was cast to portray series's the pivotal character of Zebo. Zebo's role was initially portrayed by Areesha Ahsan as child artist.
Udaari was Ahsan Khan's first portrayal of a negative role. Khan was cast to portray the role of 'Imtiaz a pedophile, this role was initially offered to actor Mikaal Zulfiqar who rejected it due to its grey personality. Speaking about difficulty in portraying this role, Khan states that Even while reading the script, I could not digest these scenes. It is definitely the most difficult character to portray on-screen, further sommecfting on his role Khan states Such abuse leaves the child traumatised forever. My maid's child was suffering from it and that's what made me realise that I need to spread awareness.
Production also chose Behroze Sabzwari, Laila Zuberi, Maryam Fatima, Rehan Sheikh, Haris Waheed and Aqeel Abbas for the supporting roles of Khalid, Muneera, Farwa, Majid, Illyas and Balay respectively. Sabzwari received critical acclaim for his role of Tajamul in Duraid's Diyar-e-Dil, he was selected to portray Khalid alongside Zuberi who joined the series after her previous project Mann Mayal with Duraid.
Music and sound
All the music and songs of Udaari were composed by musician Sahir Ali Bagga and Sohail Haider with Mubarak and Zahid being the sound engineer. The background score is given by Bilal Allahdittah, the lyrics for the OST were penned down by Imran Raza. The OST Sajna Ve Sajna was sung by Farhan Saeed and Hadiqa Kiani. It marks the return of Hadiqa Kiani to Hum TV, since she performed for the channel's hit drama series Zindagi Gulzar Hai's title song. Veteran actress and vocalist Bushra Ansari performed only Punjabi music for various episodes. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan's Samjhawanki was taken and performed by Hadiqa Kiani for the series.
Udaari's full OST was released in May 2016. Saajna Ve Saajna received critical acclaim for Sahir Ali Bagga and Sohail Haider for comping and Hadiqa Kiani and Farhan Saeed for vocals. The Series dominated the Top No.1 rank according to Pakistan's Official Music App Taazi. "Mein Tenu Samjhawanki" received critical acclaim and success.
Filming and locations Principal photography and filming began in February 2016 and finishes in June 2016, with approximately 25 episodes. Shooting was extensively done in Multan's village Mirpur Khas and in Karachi. Udaari's first promo was released in March 2016. Chief editing and cinematography was done by Azhar Ali who edited the series.
Post production and pre-release
Press conference On 7 April 2016 a press conference was held for Udaari. The programme, hosted by Shanaz Ramzi, CEO Starlinks PR began the proceedings with the series's introduction. Producer Momina Duraid said that some of the actors came out of their comfort zones for the roles that they portrayed. Furthermore, Roshaneh Zafar from Kashf Foundation reflected on common rape cases in Kasur city which led them to produce a screenplay for awarenesses against child-sexual abuse. Director Ehteshamuddin, revealed how challengingvit had been to get the writer, Farhat Ishtiaq to write the script, as not only was the subject a difficult one to portray on screen but it also needed a script that was very close to reality. Bushra Ansari shared her role which is that of a woman who is extremely confident but unrefined, and embodies the real culture of Pakistan's rural areas. She regaled the media present with her quick vivid descriptions and stories painted about the time on set in Mirpur Khas.
Music