Ohkay so, did I enjoy watching these 4 episodes? Somewhat yes. But was I thrilled? Sadly, no! Honestly speaking, when I saw the promo posters of Mor Mahal, I was excited to find out about the history considering it being a periodic drama but little did I know that I was signing up for an emperor who sadly doesn’t own a brain & a bunch of ladies who can easily swing & sway the emperor using their words. Episodes 6, 7 & 8 didn’t work for me at all but the latest episode 9 actually did & I am hoping that after the writer & the director have given us a complete knowledge about the ladies of the house & Asif Jahan’s shab-e-uroosi in all these episodes, they now make an effort & shift the story towards something meaningful, or if I put it in simple words, they shift the story outside the premises of Mor Mahal because I assume that will be a lot more interesting & in that hope, I am not giving up on this drama just yet. :)

As much as I was taken aback by Shahista’s bravery of having an affair with Asif Jahan right under Wazeer Begum’s nose, I was amused that even she had more brains than Asif Jahan & without a fault, Asif Jahan was seen following her instructions like a minion. It would’ve made sense if Asif Jahan was doing this with a single person but he is seen following the advice of every single person around him, which I think is a bit too much because an emperor like Asif Jahan should not only have a personality but a thought process of his own too & more than that I wish he was seen spending more time with the governors & the ministers than the ladies who seriously need to snap out of the fixation of bringing each other down!

As far as I know, Farrukh Zaad belongs to Asif Jahan’s family & she happens to be his first cousin as well, so in reality when it comes to the thrones, families like these always take utmost care of the bloodline, so if we consider that, Taimur happens to have the royal blood running through his veins, so why is it that Badshah Begum is keen on seeing Meher Bano’s son as an heir to Asif Jahan’s throne? Why is it that when it comes to Taimur, Badshah Begum doesn’t see him as her beloved grandson who can take the position of an emperor after Asif Jahan’s retirement? Is it just her hatred for Farrukh Zaad that is pushing her to be more inclined towards Meher Bano’s son or there’s something else, because if that’s the case then they have not covered that aspect properly. Also Badshah Begum’s fixation with Meher Bano’s son seems out of question because Meher Bano is an outsider & Farrukh Zaad belongs to her own family – yes, her concerns are understandable since Meher Bano’s brother seems to have a lot of power & she doesn’t want to upset him, also in order to guarantee Asif Jahan’s safety she wants Asif Jahan to give Meher Bano the rights of being his wife, but to have a wish of seeing an outsider’s kid as a ruler seems a bit irrational. Why doesn’t Badshah Begum want Taimur; her first ever grandson to become the next ruler, I am wondering?

Well, Asif Jahan seems to take his ladies quite seriously but to see him becoming possessive about an unknown servant seemed a bit too immature. Asif Jahan happens to be someone who doesn’t mind winning a woman over gambling, which shows that even though he might respect the ladies of his house, in general he does treat women as commodity, so if he saw that his brother was drooling over one of his servants, he shouldn’t have cared because he had no idea that it was Meher Bano that his brother Shujat fell for. Also, I wish the bone of contention between the two brothers was something substantial & not just a woman, like a battle & an establishment of a new currency over a wish for a woman that wasn’t fulfilled, I mean c’mon!!!

Initially I thought Shahista was only playing upon Farrukh Zaad by only being concerned about having her position secured in front of Asif Jahan but as the episodes progressed & more coverage was given to her, it went to show that she was playing it safe. She neither wanted to upset Asif Jahan nor she wanted to lose the trust Farrukh Zaad had in her, that is why when the timing was right, she instilled the idea in Asif Jahan’s mind to bring Taimur to Mor Mahal, which was her way of earning bonus points in front of Farrukh Zaad. Shahista’s plan that she devised in favor of Taimur & Farrukh Zaad failed initially when she thought that things will work as per her predictions but after that, she didn’t sit still & the moment she found the right opportunity, she pushed her agenda & she had so much of confidence in herself because she knew that Asif Jahan won’t be able to ignore her advice.

Banki is expecting & Badshah Begum is over the moon with the news of supposedly Meher Bano’s pregnancy because she thinks her dream will be materialized but this was the moment when I felt that there was a lot of communication gap between all these family members & what’s amusing is that no one works in order to cut back on that. It is actually quite funny that Badshah Begum hasn’t once visited Meher Bano ever since she has stepped into Mor Mahal, ohkay, she mustn’t have gotten an opportunity to do that but now when she got the news of her pregnancy, I find it hard to believe that Badshah Begum didn’t find it in her heart to visit her daughter in law & congratulate her personally as she was going to give her something she was eagerly waiting for. All Badshah Begum did was inquire about Meher Bano’s preparations of shab-e-uroosi (the most cringe-worthy word in my reviewing history) from Banki & Banki effortlessly lied to her. I find it hard to believe that so much time has passed by & no one has found out that Banki is playing the double role of both the master & the servant. Also, the way Shahista along with Farrukh Zaad sent Shola Jaan dressed as a woman to Shujat was another thing that I found hard to absorb because even after such a huge thing happened Asif Jahan was clueless about it & Shola Jaan unlike him/her kept it to himself/herself. Ohkay, we can give Asif Jahan the leeway because he might be busy running the state (supposedly) but how can I wrap my head around the fact that no one in Mor Mahal has an idea about Meher Bano’s absence, considering how she happens to be the favorite daughter in law of Badshah Begum.

Surraya had a baby boy & sadly, her happiness was short-lived. Dilawar’s advice worked against Asif Jahan, Surraya & Jamshed because the moment Asif Jahan announced Jamshed to be the heir to his throne, someone kidnapped him. I am not sure but I feel either Suleman or Akhtari have something to do with this, but not sure because may be some new character might get introduced through this situation & this is exactly what made things interesting & the 9th episode work for me because hopefully it marked the beginning of a new chapter & new challenges that Asif Jahan will have to face, which I am looking forward to.

Anyways, the introduction of Taimur’s (Umer Naru) character & the talks about the battle between him & Shujat gives me hope that may be the plot of this drama will improve & will give us something to look forward to because ever since it has begun, the story & the characters have been one-dimensional, so may be things are about to change. Asif Jahan shares so many relationships with so many people that it is hard to find acceptance to each & everyone of them but I did like seeing him with Surraya & also his relation with Shahista seems interesting, because Shahista has all of a sudden come to the forefront & I am interested to see how she will contribute to the story in the future. The director for sure has done a great job & the actors are doing an amazing job too but I feel the plot is a bit weak & the writer didn’t do well with the script but I am hoping for a change. I must say I liked the chemistry between Shahista & Asif Jahan, which goes to show that Jana Malik & Umair Jaswal have played their parts really really well & to be honest, these two actors are the reason why I tune to this drama. Anywyas, I have now started to feel that Sania Saeed has been wasted because the character that she is playing could’ve been played by any other actor. Seeing how Akhtari’s character was allocated to Sania Saeed made me believe that she will play a pivotal role in this story but so far she hasn’t done anything apart from some predictions, some suspicious smirks & some strolls within the palace.

In my honest opinion, I think Meher Bano is getting way more coverage than she deserves, everything is revolving around her, from her supposed pregnancy to Shujat’s love for her, to her becoming a pawn in the game that Shahista & Farrukh Zaad are playing, to Badshah Begum’s fixation with her, yet the coverage given to her character hasn’t been tackled properly & there are so many loose ends attached to her that her character & all the situations related to her do not sit well with me at all. Also, I found Farrukh Zaad’s character becoming weaker because all she does is send orders to Asif Jahan which he hardly pays heed to. May be with Taimur’s arrival, she will get some coverage & we’ll get to hear some meaningful conversations from her side as she happens to be Taimur’s mother, similarly, Badshah Begum seems sickly fixated with Meher Bano & there’s nothing else that she has spoken about & there’s nothing substantial that we’ve heard from her either which I hope will change too. Somehow, I still see a potential in this drama & for that reason I am going to watch it but let’s see if it improves or not. Please share your say about these 4 episodes of Mor Mahal.

Keep Supporting,
Cheers,
Zahra Mirza.

So Bhai finally ended and what a last episode it was! Shibli returned and when Ashraf confronts him, Ifrah shoots Ashraf and then Shibli and then herself.

Nah, just kidding.

Ebad returns and proves his innocence and sincerity and Saira asks Sufiyan for a divorce which he happily gives because now Khadija is married so she gets divorced too and all the lovebirds are reunited.

Nah, just kidding.

Ashraf is shot and dies and Ifrah rejoices at finally being freed of him forever. However, she and her mother continue to live in Ashraf’s house.

Nah, just kidding.

Shibli returns and Ashraf hunts him down and ‘presents’ him and a gun to Ifrah asking her to shoot him for he had caused her so much pain. Ifrah refuses saying the law should deal with him. Shibli manages to free himself and shoots Ashraf who ends up in the hospital. Ifrah then realizes how she can not live without Ashraf and cries and prays for him and he survives. And they live happily ever after.

Seriously, not kidding. That really did happen. I had predicted Ifrah and Ashraf being together in the end and even Shibli’s return and Ashraf being shot but the way the whole 20 minute episode played out was so unconvincing and unreal it was as if the cast and director and maybe even the writer had had enough of the drama themselves!

The pain and emotions that Ifrah seemed to be going through sitting and crying at the hospital praying that ‘Ashraf ko kuch nahin hona chahyay’ seemed to appear out of nowhere. Her reminiscing about the times when Ashraf tried to woo her before she married Hammad also seemed so out of place. It would have been a bit more convincing maybe if she thought of the moments he was gentle and kind to her after their marriage. The coverage of their time together after marriage was so little that I could not relate to her despair over Ashraf being hurt and possibly gone from her life. I could however relate to her mother’s rant about how they would be ‘sahara-less’ again for I had suspected all along that was maybe her primary reason for urging Ifrah to marry Ashraf haha!

Rabab and Khadija get married before the shootout and man what strange dressing I could not help noticing. That has remained the problem with Bhai, the strange interiors and although I understand a different way and standard of living is portrayed here I do feel the director could have portrayed all that minus the tasteless decoration of rooms and then the brides’ outfits.

Anyways, I am glad Bhai is finally over. What had started as an outrageous, even funny at times, yet interesting drama went spiralling down a dark dark alley and hit rock bottom. Then things begin to perk up with everyone’s lives being sorted again and then it is as if everyone got tired and threw in an ending which was meant to please the viewers but had there been less episodes dedicated to all the evil and sadness Ashraf wrought in his family’s lives and a few more on how he worked to build his relationship with Ifrah after marriage and how she recognized his efforts and begun to melt a little then the transformation of the shrieking crying Ifrah to the I-can’t-live-without-Ashraf but again crying Ifrah would have been a bit easier to digest.

Whether Ashraf deserved his happy ending or not – I leave you all to decide  How many of you watched the last episode? What did you think? Having the actors say a few words at the end was a nice and different way to end but sadly did not help in changing my opinion of the drama. Please do share your thoughts!

Kunwal Javid

This drama at times seems so normal, run of the mill and you sit back comfortably as if driving down a traffic less road and then a twist comes up like a speed breaker and jolts you out of your reverie. We were left wondering last week what all the fuss about Mehtaab leaving her first husband for Yusuf Kamdar was all about and although I have to admit I have come out none the wiser at the end of this episode, Zainy seems to have taken matters into her own hands and ended up where she wanted to be all along.

Phuppo and Co arrive at Yusuf Kamdar’s house to ‘formally’ ask for Zainy’s hand in marriage. Although with Ahmer walking in rolling up his sleeves phadda style seemed hardly polite! As expected, Mehtaab is indignant they would have the nerve to show up and make such a demand and asks them to leave. I was not surprised to see Zainy come back and say she is ready to leave with Ahmer but the fact that she had already done the nikkah with him had me taken aback. Appears I was not the only one for even Taayi and Phuppo were not aware of this development. It was sad to see how Zainy was all spite and venom when she left her home. I found it odd how Sherry missed out on all the hungama and showed up only after Zainy had left.

It was a relief to see Yusuf and Sherry not blame Mehtab for Zainy’s actions. Nigar however is a different story and all I could hear beneath her rants was ‘I told you so’ and then she delivered the beti baji ki bhaagi hai tau roag hum kyun paalein? which just further proved how she had never accepted Zainy as one of them. I liked Sherry’s conversation with Nigar, how he was not just pining for a lost love but was genuinely upset that Zainy had turned her back on them and walked out on them when they had always considered her as one of their own. ‘She was our doll. Uss ko dekh kar hum jeetay thay, who hasti thi tau hum hastay thay, takleef ussay hoti thi tau hum rotay thay’. Well, doll nay laat maar di and did not think anything of all the people she hurt in the process. I watched this episode just before I left to pick the kids from school and as I sat parked outside school I glimpsed upon  my daughter’s library book lying in the car ‘ Naughty Amelia Jane’ and I thought why hello Zainy what are you doing here?!

I have mixed feelings about Mehtaab and Yusuf Kamdar. In the constant ping pong of emotions between ‘Ahmer loves Zainy, Ahmer loves Zainy not’ I have gotten all confused myself keeping track of when exactly Mehtaab opposed this relationship and when she herself okayed it. I did feel though that after Zainy’s suicide attempt and Ahmer’s coldness, Mehtaab was right to take matters in her own hands for being a parent you need to draw the line between giving into your child’s demands and knowing when something is clearly not right for them and step up. If marriage really was the only solution then I would not question it except that it really should not have been with Sherry. Mehtaab may have felt he was the best choice for Zainy but this was really too close to home. Literally. Whatever Mehtaab feared, did happen and although Sherry and Yusuf are being very supportive and are treating her with the relation they have with her and not as Zainy’s mother, it could still have gone all horribly wrong. Mehtaab herself feels ashamed by Zainy’s actions and it was sad to see her ask for Sherry’s forgiveness.

Much as I find Zainy bratty, I can not help but laugh and even approve of how she deals with Novera. She is seriously one hell of an annoying friend squirming her way into Zainy’s family. On another note, did anyone else find the dress Nigar was holding for Zainy’s wedding much nicer than the one Zainy ended up wearing? Mehtaab’s comment about support system seemed very odd to me but then there are things in this drama with regards to relationships and customs that seem odd so will let it go but what was the conversation between Phuppo and Taayi all about regarding valima expenses? Why was Mehtaab expected to pay for the valima anyway? Taayi is seriously shameless and Phuppo seems to be the only sane one amongst the lot.

I found Zainy’s ‘sharam karo who baray hain’ and ‘Sherry bhai ka kia kasoor’ very lame I am sorry to say after she all but spat on the people who had given her nothing but unconditional love all her life. It is not her parents’ fault that they could not keep up with her and Ahmer’s on and off confused romance and if she really had decided to walk out then the way it was staged was tasteless.

I was so glad Sherry asked Mehtaab the question that had been burning in my mind too – was there any truth to the accusations Zainy had hurled at Mehtaab and Yusuf? Mehtaab’s answer did not enlighten me however – did anyone else make more sense out of it? Please do share if you did. I did find it funny though when she said that her and Yusuf’s personalities were not the sort that people would give their lives over. Haha.When Mehtaab rose from her bed with her beehive higher than ever I thought she was going back to work but she goes to Zainy’s college to get a glimpse of her daughter. I like how Yusuf knew where she had been and comforted her in the end.

I found myself watching Nigar’s reactions the most in this episode. Erum Akhtar’s acting was spot on when she spoke to Sherry and her expressions aptly switched from being pained to see her brother hurt and anger at Zainy’s shallowness and the underlying ‘I told you so’. I rarely comment on any individual’s acting in this drama because each actor and actress fits so well into their characters that I really do see beyond the actors and believe it is the characters on screen. Next week’s preview shows trouble brewing between Ahmer and Zainy (that was quick?!) and Zainy missing her family. Wonder if Novera will make her move now? What did you all think of these developments? Would love to hear your thoughts!

Kunwal Javid