Opening Thoughts – Miraculous Ending:
Ohkay so, just like that, Cheek ended miraculously. The way the last episode was executed was not only miraculous, but the fact that this drama has finally ended after so much dragging is another miracle in itself. I am so glad this drama is finally over & now let’s take a look at what they were trying to show.
Miraculous Stuff of Some Other Level:
Just like all the viewers had anticipated, all the loose ends will be tied together in the last episode & that is exactly what happened. Where I was super happy to see Mannat acting like a real sherni, I couldn’t help recalling her entire journey & the way she behaved. It was very realistic to show Mannat having some good & some bad days but for the most part of the drama, she was always on a low & never really eager or keen. Mannat literally lost her sanity when she lost only 1 person & that was Nayab. After that she had such a strong support system like Shayan but still, she could not cope up with her loss. Now when she was literally blazing like a fire in the courtroom, I couldn’t help wondering how was she getting this energy after losing her mother, her husband & her child? Matlab, Nayab ke marne ke baad hi itna josh dikha deti Mannat to shayad aj Shayan zinda hota! I guess out of all the people, Shayan deserved to see this side of Mannat because he was nothing but supportive of Mannat & stood by her side through thick & thin but Mannat never really cared I’d say!
They tried to justify Mannat’s loses by saying this was the PRICE she had to pay because she stood against Wajih? Seriously. I know for them ratings matter the most, but why show such an ugly picture where one would think a million times before standing up for the right? Yes, what they showed was part of a reality but then this is what the huge issue with Zanjabeel Asim Shah’s scripts are, that she literally turns the villain into some divine being, probably a demigod who controls everyone’s lives & deaths. In Balaa, Nigar was literally making sure one family member after another of her in laws died & similarly in Cheekh, Wajih was being the reason behind everyone’s death. Now that Cheekh has ended, I am totally convinced that this was Balaa Part 2.
When I saw Mannat in the courtroom in this episode, I was wondering how good it would’ve been if Shayan was sitting there with Ramzan, looking at his wife proudly & seeing her fighting the case with so much of conviction & courage. Again, there was no point in killing Shayan’s character & there was also no point in adding that entire angle of Mannat’s pregnancy. In fact after this entire case, they could’ve shown that now Mannat & Shayan were finally starting their family & were starting afresh by putting all of this behind them. I mean why not show a positive ending with some hope? Chalo, Bala mai to phir ro dho ke Taimoor & his lady love Saba came together & had each other’s support but in Cheekh, Mannat is all alone, I mean not even a single person that she can call a family? Why!
All this while, I was looking forward to Shehwar’s entry in the courtroom that she’ll come & testify against Wajih because she heard him confess too but she was MIA, which means Maira Khan was wasted in this drama. Since Shehwar didn’t have any important role to play in the last part of the story, I am not sure why was she given some importance in the initial stages too? What a waste of time & space!
Again, this is what the huge issue with our so-called writers is, they love to focus on these gharelu situations so much, but when it comes to technicalities, they show absolutely nothing because that requires research & our drama writers aren’t blessed with the brains to do that or may be they’re too lazy for that. The first court case that was shown lacked literally everything to make it convincing, there was no backstory shown, no scenes suggesting that Mannat was keenly helping the lawyer by giving him every single detail that she knew but now when it came to Mannat, she miraculously gathered all the evidence overnight & voila, she won. It was also funny that after going through so much, Mannat woke up from the wrong side of the bed & had a calling that she could be a lawyer for the day!?!?!?! I am definitely going to Google this one, like if it happens or not because if being your own lawyer is so easy, people shouldn’t be wasting their money paying hefty fees to the qualified & actual lawyers!
So, during the entire drama, there was no mention of Nayab’s belongings, absolutely nothing but now, all of a sudden all these things not only were found by Mannat but they directly made to the court. I mean why do our dramas have such miraculous yet trashy endings? They literally show us the nostrils of our characters in a hope to garner some ratings, like it is their way of paying attention to detail but when it comes to the actual things that need detailing & mentioning, all of that is left to the viewer’s imagination? Like after wasting so much of our time by showing meaningless minminmin of all the characters, incessant caterwauling of Ramzan, Wajih’s unwanted guest appearances at every gathering with bouquets, like literally wasting time in meaningless stuff but when it comes to showing the real deal, they just cut the corners. I am sure it wouldn’t have hurt anyone if they had cut down on those meaningless scenes & had dedicated at least a single episode showing that Mannat on her own was preparing for the case, having sleepless nights & just making sure she doesn’t miss anything out. Seriously when the last episode began, I was taken by surprise when Mannat appeared as a lawyer, matlab kuch bhi? All this while, Mannat was just torturing Wajih & deriving pleasure out of it, she vowed to drive him crazy. I thought she was just doing that, so not sure when & how did she manage the time to prepare for the case that she was fighting herself? Wah! Like they will show us everything meaningless but when it comes to the real defining moments, they just want us to imagine everything happening Behind The Scenes! Why couldn’t they show Sadiq stumbling upon Nayab’s stuff & handing it over to Mannat to help her out? Matlab kuch bhi!
Chalo, the good thing that we can deduce from Wajih’s statement is that we need to raise better sons. Oh yes, another miracle in this episode was that Wajih was not only audible but I could UNDERSTAND what he was saying, taaliyan! So, the crux of the drama was that Yawar was the villain & he was responsible for spoiling Wajih to no end. I am glad they didn’t show Wajih losing his mind, rather he was pretty much in his senses & he could foresee what was going to happen to him after the court’s verdict. Haya, hmmm, another wasted character. Oh yes, instead of showing that entire Shariq Haya drama which literally drove Wajih crazy, they could’ve skipped that useless scene & showed that Mannat was preparing for the case stealthily. Anyways, Haya’s acting was nice in the last few scenes, like she had lost Shayan, Yawar was now in such a condition which broke Haya’s heart & now Wajih was going to die too. Azekah Daniel actually did score brownie points for immaculate performance & actually portraying the pain of a sister that she feels for her brothers. Shariq’s reaction was very real too, after all Wajih was his friend & he was sad that Wajih did something so horrendous that it was now going to cost him his life. Very real indeed!
Closing Thoughts – Good Performances & a Final Verdict:
The performances in Cheekh were definitely brilliant. I don’t know why though in the last episode I totally got Kareena Kapoor’s Aitraaz vibes from Saba Qamar. Anyhow, Saba Qamar & Emaad Irfani, Bilal Abbas Khan & Azekah Daniel, all of these actors were brilliant indeed but the star of the show has to be Aijaz Aslam. It has been a while where AIjaz Aslam got to play such an impactful character & he breathed life into Yawar. He definitely portrayed this twisted character to perfection. Nayyer Ejaz was another star of the initial episodes. Noor ul Hassan is such a good actor but it is unfortunate that his character had to do so much of crying. Rest of the cast did well too. The OST was nice but the over usage really turned it into a pet peeve. I really wish ARY editors stop relying so much of background music & not only that, they stop making their dramas just so acoustically loud, it just takes away the charm of watching a drama because it really gets on your nerves. This drama could’ve been so much better but oh well “tamam gawahon ke saboot aur bayanat ke mad e nazar, ye adalat is nateeje pe pohanchi hai ke Zanjabeel Asim Shah ke dramas band kiye jayein aur un se writing ka haq cheen liya jaye”. Please pour your hearts out.
Keep Supporting,
Cheers,
Zahra Mirza.