I came across the OST of Dukh Sukh and was blown away by the ensemble cast. The soundtrack is haunting yet catchy and I am a sucker for a good tune. As I sat down to watch it, I realized that it is a series of standalone short stories that would still be worth a watch since it’s a different concept from our usual dramas and soaps.
Dukhsukh aired on Urdu 1 under the banner of Real Entertainment- produced by Meraj Uddin and Ahsan Khan, directed by Sakina Sammo and written by Bee Gul, the first instalment was titled ” Maafi”. Karam (Resham) runs a tandoor from her home to make a living. Dressed in all black, Karam is still mourning the loss of her ex. In the dead of the night, she finds a wandering traveller (Rashid Farooqui) in her home who collapses in front of her. Karam feels obligated to nurse him back to health and seeks medicine from the village Hakeem. Her neighbour, Kausar warns her that the man is dying and is suffering from multiple ailments but Karam continues caring for him. She is engaged to Anu (Ahsan Khan) whose character is hugely inspired from his role in Udaari as Imtiyaaz. Anu is unemployed yet is full of himself and reminds Karam that she is lucky to be engaged to an eligible bachelor like him. Karam seems to be unaffected by Anu and isn’t too keen on marrying him- reminding him that her life won’t change as she’ll continue to be the breadwinner of the family.
Anu is furious when he finds out about the stranger living with Karam and throws a fit but Karam doesn’t budge. Karam listens to the stranger who is filled with regrets over the way he mistreated his wife. He shares his thoughts and breaks down every time. It seems he cried so hard it resulted in him losing his vision. The Hakeem tells Karam that the only thing keeping the man alive is the hope for forgiveness from his wife. The stranger has travelled far and wide in hopes of redemption.
Anu finally realizes that he will take responsibility and goes to the city in search of employment. Upon his return, he hands over his hard earned money to Karam and also a wedding dress he bought for her but he knows no matter what he does, Karam cannot be his as she is still married- the stranger is her ex who had mistreated and abused her because he was insecure and kicked her out after getting a second wife. Karam still harbours feelings for him which is why she tries to keep him alive but in the end she recites Surah Yaseen as she is content that his time has come.
I found the concept of this series very interesting and I liked how the episode played out. Resham was a good choice to play the role of Karam as she brings out this raw element needed for the role. Ahsan Khan was phenomenal as Imtiyaaz in Udaari but I felt he was repeating his performance so it didn’t have much of an impact. Rashid Farooqui is a natural and did justice to his role. Bee Gul has a unique style and I’ve loved two of her previous works- Talkhiyan and Pehchaan. The direction by Sakina Sammo was slick and the continuity was consistent. I look forward to seeing the next one and hope they keep it interesting.
Did you watch the first instalment? What are your thoughts?
Kanwal Murtaza
