I really don’t want to sound monotonous but every single time I tune to this drama serial, I always have a pleasant smile on my face. I love Annie’s character & everything related to her, which means all the characters of this drama who are directly & indirectly related to Annie have a very positive impact on the story & have something or the other to offer. The best thing about this drama till now is the unusual reactions & unpredictability in certain situations that are shown every single time. I think that’s more like an added bonus while watching Shanakht.
What I really liked about Annie’s take on Hashim/Kashaf’s proposal was the way she tackled it. We never saw her sobbing her eyes out just because she faced a rejection from an eligible bachelor, in fact what hurt her was his views on her Hijaab & that’s it. She got hurt but she gathered herself & moved on & that’s the reason when Huma asked her if she was ohkay with Kashaf & Hashim’s engagement, surprisingly Annie showed no signs of distress & in fact made Huma understand in clear words that Hashim has a right to choose his life partner as well.
Even though Haris (Kashaf’s friend) is not in a position to make a commitment to Kashaf right now because of his father’s health & the financial crisis his family’s been dealing with, he promised her that he’d speak to his parents as soon as he feels the time is right. Kashaf for a second blamed Annie for all that she was facing as she got pressurized by both Huma & even Amjad to agree for Hashim’s proposal, but even though for a split second Kashaf’s utterances hurt Annie a lot, she still didn’t harbor any grudge against her & understood that her sister was worried. Annie tried to make her understand but never once she forced or blackmailed her to think about khandaan or anything else. Even though Annie knew that Kashaf was interested in someone, she felt it was her duty to convey the message of her mother to her younger sister. After Kashaf’s blunt refusal & despite knowing the reason for which she wasn’t interested in Hashim, Annie told Huma about Kashaf’s feelings without making it obvious that Haris was the reason behind Kashaf’s refusal.
I enjoyed watching Kashaf giving it to Hashim. This is what I like the most about her character that even though she’s the youngest & still has some sort of immaturity to her character, she’s honest & upfront. The way she dealt with Hashim & even made him guilty for using the car he got as a gift was interesting. Hashim’s ego got hurt & he returned the car which obviously resulted in drifting of the families but that thing proved beneficial for Kashaf as Amjad straight away rejected Hashim’s proposal.
Hashim’s gone to UK for his studies & another pleasant surprise in this episode was the introduction of Rohaan’s character played effortlessly by Fahad Mirza. Rohaan who happens to be a son of Hashim’s father’s business partner (which he doesn’t know of yet) is also a roommate of Hashim in the UK. Going by the flashback that was shown & the conversation between Rohaan’s mother & sister, it showed that Rohaan has also gone through a transition, he has gone from saying ‘Hi’ to ‘Asalam Alaikum’, I know this was a very intricate detail but I think it added a lot to Rohaan’s story, but one thing that appealed to me about his character the most was that even though he has had a change of heart, he is still the same old Rohaan that her mother & sisters know, he’s still as friendly, as happy & as easy-going in his life as he used to be. There was also a lot of emphasize on Skyping by Rohaan’s mother but then I guess there’s a reason why he has been avoiding it & that is to keep his family oblivious of the changes he has made in his appearance because the way Rohaan’s mother reacted to Annie’s Hijaab, she would’ve never done it if she had known about Rohaan’s beard too.
As usual Hashim imbibed some preconceived notions the moment he stepped into Rohaan’s apartment. To him Rohaan was once again a nobody but a Molvi & once again he was unable to see the cordial welcome Rohaan gave to him. I think living with Rohaan as a housemate will prove to be an eye-opener for Hashim because then he’ll be able to see through his misconceptions about those people who choose to live their lives modestly.
What I loved about this episode were the reactions that were totally unpredictable. Annie’s acceptance towards Hashim’s marriage to Kashaf, which I thought might make Annie uncomfortable but it didn’t happen. Annie’s way of seeing Hashim off with a big smile when he came to meet her family before leaving for UK showing that Annie always took him just as her cousin & a friend. Kashaf’s way of giving Hashim a reality-check despite having a serious conversation with her father about the proposal where I thought she might submit to her father’s proposition also came as a surprise & most importantly, the slight introduction of Rohaan’s character & the coincidence of Hashim being his housemate was an interesting development in the story too. Even though Rohaan didn’t get such an elaborate introduction but it still told a lot of things about his character. They have managed to build up the curiosity once again & I am sure the story has a lot to offer, so for that, I am so looking forward to the next episode already as the preview was great too. Hashim & Rohaan will have a lot of conversations, will form a bond & Hashim will speak about the misapprehensions he has about men like him & Rohaan will do everything to surprise & educate Hashim about his lifestyle in the course of time which might help Hashim in choosing the right path too.
Once again, it was a great episode backed by some brilliant performances which I enjoyed watching thoroughly. Share your say on this.
Keep Supporting,
Cheers,
Zahra Mirza.
