Sitting through tonight’s episode was nothing short of a challenge not only because of the timing but also because the director apparently took this script a little too seriously!! Even in situations which are completely comical, the scenes are shot in such detail that everything you see is more staged than anything else. There are always people in the background either nodding their heads or laughing in these situations and the focus is never on the main subject. The backgrounds are being highlighted more than necessary and the ever-present music does not help either. Ami begum’s fake heart attack was interesting but the way everyone gathered around her and the focus on everyone’s body language and expressions gave a really strange feel to the whole scenario like they were a bunch of children getting excited over nothing. Later on when Ami Begum wanted everyone to boycott Waqar Ahmed, everyone was so involved in that situation too. I never thought I would say this about a drama but I feel that all the scenes in this drama are too overcrowded and overstated. There are so many people in this household but the story is revolving around only 2 characters (Maheen and Waqar) in particular and generally around four (Ami begum, Gulrez, Waqar and Maheen) of them. All the other family members do not even have definite characters and definitely no stories of their own! Even tonight, there were some scenes which were amusing but overall, there are so many glaring flaws in the execution of the script in particular that even the minor flaws in the script are very noticeable.
Finally somebody decided to talk to Maheen about Gulrez’s proposal. An entire episode was dedicated to Maheen’s reaction to the proposal and the possible outcome but later on it was almost as if everyone around Maheen forgot all about it! The perfume and book simile was one of the many forced dialogues in this drama which count as added philosophical discussions that are definitely not needed!! The message could have been conveyed in a much better manner without comparing Gulrez to a book (which is obviously a thing!). I felt like Neelam was belittling her brother (although she was not doing that of course) by comparing him to a commodity like that, it was certainly in bad taste. Also, I don’t understand why every character in this drama is bent on being philosophical even when certain scenarios can easily be covered without delving into details which are usually out of context!
Since many of the wonderful actors in this drama, who do not even need to prove that they are good at what they do, have given some very exaggerated performances, therefore one can safely conclude that the director ordered them to give these expressions which are anything but subtle! Maheen was cute for a while but her character doesn’t have a lot to offer. Like many of the other characters in the play, it is somewhat vague. She is gradually falling in love with Waqar and she cannot see him getting married to Jia, she is headstrong and bubbly but that’s about it! The character isn’t appealing enough and unfortunately Ayeza Khan’s performance looks a lot like acting! Like I said, I completely hold the director responsible for this because even someone like Saman Ansari is acting very artificial in this drama. Haroon Kadwani and Kinza Hashmi are making the most of the roles assigned to them but the fact is that they are also being used as props in a lot of scenes.
The story moved forward slightly in this episode but the characters in this play can easily be very annoying mainly because of the way they have been translated on screen. Maheen and Waqar’s track has potential but the overall execution of this play is so weak that I seriously doubt that the director or the writer will exploit this potential to the fullest. The only good thing about this episode was that Jia did not get a lot of screen time, other than that the episode overall was just like any other episode of this drama – a lot of talking, very little action, too many emotions, not enough content or depth!
How many of you watched this episode? Do share your thoughts about it.
