Take Dr. Zee Khan out of Tamasha Season 5 and tell us honestly, what exactly is left behind to keep us watching? At this point, the answer might just be… silence.
Whether you like Dr. Zee or not, one thing is hard to deny: he has become one of the biggest sources of conversation in this season. His arguments, his reactions, his banter, his clashes with the housemates, Dr. Zee is constantly at the centre of the action. And yet, the very person who has arguably given the show so much content seems to be the one Badshah Salamat is constantly picking on.
Badshah Salamat has already been questioned for being inconsistent, indecisive and, at times, seemingly biased in his decisions. There have been moments where the rules appear to change depending on the contestant standing in front of him. So the question now is not whether Dr. Zee should be held accountable when he is wrong. Of course he should.
The question is: is Badshah pushing it too far with Dr. Zee? Because there is a difference between calling a contestant out and repeatedly making that contestant the butt of the joke.
From mocking him and joking around at his expense to reprimanding him, punishing him and repeatedly putting him in the spotlight for the wrong reasons, Badshah’s treatment of Dr. Zee has started feeling less like fair authority and more like a recurring pattern. And perhaps the most uncomfortable part is watching what this constant treatment seems to be doing to Dr. Zee himself.
The loud, confident, outspoken Dr. Zee we saw earlier in the season seems to have slowly disappeared. There is a visible difference in the way he carries himself now. When someone is constantly told they are wrong, constantly mocked, constantly reprimanded and repeatedly made to feel like the problem, eventually, something changes.
Are we watching a contestant being held accountable, or are we watching his confidence being chipped away, (systematically?) episode by episode?
Interestingly, this isn’t just a Dr. Zee fan theory. Viewers online have been raising the same concern, with several discussions specifically questioning why Badshah appears to target Zee so frequently and whether the treatment has gone beyond what is reasonable.
But then the question arises: where was this strict Badshah earlier?
Badshah seems to have woken up to the idea of consequences now that Zayb is the Wazeer. Suddenly, there appears to be a punishment for everything, even for the Wazeer himself.
And honestly, that is not necessarily a bad thing. If the rules are the rules, then everyone should be held accountable. But that is exactly where the problem lies.
If Zayb can be punished for his decisions as Wazeer, why did we not see the same level of accountability when Laila or Esra were in positions of authority? Why were certain actions overlooked or treated more lightly then, while similar situations now seem to invite immediate consequences?
A Badshah can be strict. A Badshah can be unpredictable. A Badshah can even make decisions the audience disagrees with. But what he cannot afford to be is selectively strict.
And that is where Tamasha Season 5 is losing its credibility.
To be clear, this is not about blindly defending Dr. Zee. He has said things and behaved in ways that absolutely deserved to be called out. Viewers have criticised his language and his conduct in several situations, and there is a legitimate argument that some of his actions should have consequences.
But accountability has to be consistent.
It’s high time the makers made some sensible decisions before Tamasha loses the very audience that’s still keeping it alive.
