Ohkay so, last night Thora Sa Aasman came to an end & honestly speaking, even though the ending came a bit suddenly, it left me feeling that they wrapped everything up properly & showed everything in detail. I think the channel made the best decision of airing two episodes a week because watching both the last episodes back to back made things seem quite seamless. However, my complaint about the way Fatima’s character was tackled still remains, even though she was the backbone & the main character for a considerable part of a novel, the director fizzled her out & gave every character an equal level, which I think wasn’t a right decision because in a story where every single person was selfish & suffering because of going out of the way to fulfill their greed, the character of Fatima embodied purity, selflessness & a sense of enrichment that one gets by empowering others & that I believe was sadly & heavily compromised upon which otherwise would’ve been the best aspect of the drama like it was of the novel.

This drama basically was a representation of the proverb, ‘what goes around, comes around’. It emphasized on the fact that everything you do, good or bad, small or big, for yourself or for someone else, it will return to you in a way & at a time you’d least expect it to. This story showed how a man, who thought he had everything in control, ended up losing everything that he cherished & it was only because of his greed to get what he wanted. This story also showed how a man who chose to trust a selfish man ended up losing everything because of his blind trust in someone who wasn’t trust worthy in the first place. This story was a depiction of how every single person is in a search for better & better & when they are at it, at times, in fact most of the times, they forget to cross check the path that they have chosen to reach their goal, they forget to do the self-policing whether they are doing things rightfully or wrongfully. This story was a depiction of how greed blinds people & compels them to go to such lengths that they themselves can not imagine.

It all started because of Haroon Kamal, just because he saw Ambar & realized that he won’t be able to have her, he wrecked her entire life to get a step closer to her but just when he did, he ended up violating all the other boundaries that were around him. Haroon Kamal actually believed or if not, he chose to believe that he was a free-bird, free from all limitations, free of social pressures, free of falling into any trap & free of any such emotions that may weaken him, but in the course of reassuring himself, he forgot that he after all had an Achilles Heel too & it was Nayab. Haroon Kamal thought that he will always remain scot-free & will never fall into a trap of his own wrongdoings but he was wrong, the time actually proved that he was wrong!

Ambar fell into Haroon’s trap & even decided to get married to him, but seeing Nayab with him put things into perspective & she realized that just like Rakshi snatched her father away from her, Ambar was going to do the same to Nayab by snatching the most precious person from her too, which was her father. Seeing Nayab with Haroon served as a reminder & a reality check to Ambar because she shared the same relation with Mansoor as well & Ambar could actually relate to how heartbroken Nayab will get if she will find out that her father married a girl half his age. Sadly, Ambar went to meet Haroon to never come back & she ended up dying accidentally. Ambar lost a purpose of life after losing her father & her fiance that is why she even lost the urge to live but that didn’t give Haroon end her life like that.

I am glad they changed the scenario between Nayab & Samar in the drama because in the novel, their track was quite grim where they both go for a Nikkah after Nayab learns the fact that her father will never allow her to get married to Samar & later when she finds out that Samar was her brother, she commits suicide. I was actually a bit scared & still interested to see how they will interpret Samar & Nayab’s relation in the drama but I am glad they changed it. So, Zarka chose to be a bigger person & she chose to be the one who kept an eye on her children but from a distance because unlike Shahista she was appreciative of what Fatima did for Samar & Sani. Zarka knew that even though she gave birth to Samar & Sani, she still wasn’t entitled to be labeled as their mother because it was Fatima who spent sleepless nights to raise them, it was Fatima who fulfilled the duty of being Samar & Sani’s mother without being one. Even though for a random person, Zarka must’ve been at a morally low level for what she used to do but by giving up her urge to be with her children & respecting Fatima for the way she raised Samar & Sani, Zarka proved she was still better than those sophisticated, educated & liberal people who posed to be at the upper level of morals using their wealth as a veil to conceal their dirty dark secrets. If Zarka had wanted, she also could have claimed her right on Samar & Sani like Shahista did, but Zarka proved, that she wasn’t selfish like Shahista, who turned a blind eye from a new born Shaheer, only to ruin his life & disturb him mentally years & years later, that too in such circumstances where Shaheer’s father Haroon wasn’t ready to accept him nor were his siblings Asad & Nayab!

Mansoor lost everything because Rakshi got everything she wanted, that is why she let him know that she didn’t need him anymore. It was again a result of how giving an edge to a frenemy makes you lose everything that once made your life complete & it makes you lose everything that you cherished & valued the most in your life. Mansoor fell prey to Haroon’s brain feeding but then again, the fact still remains that he wasn’t a child himself who easily let Haroon sway his feelings in Rakshi’s favor. Mansoor not only lost his wife, his house, his business, he ended up losing his beloved first born Ambar, who meant everything to him.

Overall, this journey, as grim as it was, came with a lot of lessons. Even though the drama-makers did a fairly decent job in dramatizing the novel, I still feel that the novel was a class apart & sadly, where drama did do justice to it, it also didn’t do justice to it completely, may be it was because of the production value or may be because of not allowing the viewers to warm up to the characters, something definitely was missing but I will surely say that it was a great watch & I didn’t feel like I wasted my time. The bonus definitely would be a fewer number of episodes & to the point approach but again, I still feel the drama-makers deprived the viewers of experiencing Fatima’s journey, her struggles, her pains & her sufferings because later when she got the fruit of her effort in the form of having Shaheer return to her, it just looked like any other scene with no emotional factor to it whereas it should’ve been a turning point, a thought-provoking, an emotionally overwhelming scene showcasing how Fatima received the reward for her years & years & years of sacrifices.

I will commend the director for directing this drama aptly. The actors did a great job too as it was a combined effort of all of the newcomers & the experienced actors, that they made this drama worth a watch. Sehar Afzal in particular deserves a special mention for being phenomenal as Ambar. Zeba Bakhtiyar tried to do well but she remained expressionless throughout. Ali Khan was quite convincing as Haroon Kamal & so was Babar Ali as Mansoor. Ushna Shah actually needs to take some lessons because irrespective of the role she plays, positive or negative, she always has this breathless asthmatic expression on her face. Yasra Rizvi, she could’ve done so much to own this character, to make people forget the performance of Aliya Imam as Fatima, but she didn’t. I also found it hard to believe that even after 20 years or so, Fatima’s character didn’t age in fact none of the characters like Haroon, Shahista or Fatima seemed to age one bit. Anyways, apart from these few drawbacks, the drama on the whole was interesting to watch & I will most certainly recommend it to those who’re still on the fence about it. Please share your thoughts about the journey of Thora Sa Aasman.

Keep Supporting,
Cheers,
Zahra Mirza.

Directed by Ilyas Kashmiri and written by Rahat Jabeen, Kuch Na Kaho airs on Monday and Tuesday on Hum TV. The cast comprises names such as Huma Nawab, Emmad Irfani, Naveen Waqar and Mirza Zain Baig and while I have nothing personally against these actors and actresses their acting has failed to impress me so I have no idea why I decided to give this drama a go anyway. What has surprised me is that these very actors have given decent and convincing performances in a drama which may not be unique as far as the storyline goes, especially with the promos and OST giving pretty much of the story away but nevertheless, I found myself enjoying the first four episodes.

Kuch Na Kaho introduces quite a few characters within the very first episode. Huma Nawab is the widowed mother of two, Aina (Naveen Waqar) and Sajal (Shazia Naz). After her sister’s death, she also raises her two sons Mohsin (Emaad Irfani) and Faraz (Mirza Zain Baig). Mohsin is married to Nadia (Zainab Jameel) and has a daughter. While we are still getting to know everyone here, I may as well add that Sajal and Faraz are engaged to be married and Mohsin and Faraz have a sister who has not been introduced yet but is married to Nadia’s brother. Phew!

Mohsin is shown to be a conservative man who although is respectful of his aunt, loses his temper easily. He is not pleased about his girl cousins venturing out of the house for education or work. Sajal is the milder natured sister however Aina often speaks out against Mohsin and his restrictive ways. Aina is interested in Imran (Asad Zaman Khan) who belongs to a richer and influential family and he wants to marry Aina. Step in the evil cousin. Why is there always a desperate, stalkerish, on the verge of mentally unstable woman who will stop at nothing and then less to get married to the man who very clearly loves another. We have one here too in the form of Imran’s cousin Ainnie (Hira Adnan).

Mohsin sees Aina when she is out with Imran and drags her home and although reluctant, eventually agrees to meet Imran’s family. Abid Ali plays the role of Imran’s father and wants Imran to marry Annie so that all the business and property etc may remain within the family. The whole engagement scene was very weirdly played out but I suppose they got their point across to Aina’s family and Imran is now engaged to his cousin. Realizing he has been made a fool of, he tries to reach out to Aina and her family but is sent away.

The promos of this drama seemed strange with Naveen looking quite odd playing hide and seek and making faces underneath that fringe. I wondered if this was a drama tinged with mystery but the drama’s initial few episodes gave a different picture. The other two dramas penned by this writer that I know of are Karb and Mere Humnawa and both were not very interesting but I am unsure whether it is because of the acting and direction rather than the story itself. HUM TV serials are generally very pleasing to the eye aesthetically and this drama too has good production values. So far the pace of the story has been decent and since it airs twice a week, I hope it continues to be fast paced.

So far Naveen’s character is that of a bubbly, headstrong girl and she seems to portray that well on screen. Emmad Irfaani’s acting is often found to be lacking – I run for cover here for I know there are many of us who find him extremely pleasing to the eye and while I may not argue with that, his dialogue delivery and expressions often miss the mark. He is however pretty convincing as Mohsin except in his immense anger scenes when he screams at the top of his lungs, rolling his eyes and I found myself holding my breath for he looks like a wound up toy gone berserk and ready to explode! We get he has a temper, he needs to tone down the acting though, LOL. I was fed up of Huma Nawab playing Inspector Gadget and negative roles in every other drama so I was pleasantly surprised to see her play a different character here. Ever since she has made her comeback she seems to be uncomfortable with the characters she plays but if I am not being too critical I think she has done alright so far. Hira Adnan is a new face and I felt her to be the weak link for her dialogue delivery fell flat.

It appears Imran will try his best to convince Aina and her family that he loves her. His father seems confident he will be able to keep Imran away from Aina and marry Ainnie, but will he? I find myself looking forward to the next episode and that is reason enough for me to tag this drama as worth watching – for now. What did you all think of Kuch Na Kaho? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Kunwal Javid

Produced by Abdullah Kadwani and Asad Qureshi, directed by Siraj ul Haq and written by Sarwat Nazir, Noor e Zindagi airs on Geo on Fridays at 8pm PST. The writer Sarwat Nazir’s name is what drew me to this serial for at that time Besharam was on air and I had only just finished watching Socha Na Tha on ARY Zindagi which is penned by the same writer. Although Socha Na Tha dragged a bit, yet it was a decent watch so I felt Noor e Zindagi may be interesting too.

Noor e Zindagi is the story of two families, paths of which eventually cross when a marriage takes place. Noor Jahan (Ayesha Khan) is an educated woman who lives with her father (Shakeel) and younger sister Zeb. Noor is educated and respects her father and his wishes but is not afraid to stand up and speak for what she believes is right for herself and her family. She agrees to a match made by her father but breaks off the engagement when the family turns out to be greedy by exerting pressure on her father to meet their increasing and unreasonable demands with regards to jahez. In the wake of this broken engagement, her older sister is very worried and agrees to meet Saleem and his family through a rishtay walay aunty. The proposal had earlier been sent for her sister in law which they rejected partly because Saleem is uneducated and partly because her sister in law is interested in someone else.

Saleem (Jibran Syed) lives with his mother (Sajida Syed), a younger brother Waseem (Noman Habib) and younger sister Bano. He is uneducated, education being a luxury he could not afford when his father passed away when Saleem was young and he had to step up and start working at his father’s shop to support the rest of the family. He initially does not have a problem with Waseem’s education but egged on by his useless friends (Salim Mairaj) he puts a stop to his education too. Saleem has grown used to being the one in control and we see his father used to be an angry man too who did not hold any value for his wife’s opinion. Even his mother has no say once Saleem has decided upon something, not that she tries for she has grown used to cowering and accepting Saleem’s decisions as the final say.

The first few episodes, while introduced the characters, but were actually just scenes flitting between Saleem’s angry outbursts, his mothers’ endless tears, Noor’s holier than thou, perfectly composed demeanour right upto her perfectly curled hair and the ever pressing issue that supersedes all in our dramas – shaadi. Once Noor and Saleem get married, their families – and I – breathed a sigh of relief for that is when the drama began to get interesting. For those of you who have not watched this drama, I would suggest watching it from the 9th episode onwards for that is when the story kicks in.

I liked how Saleem was floored by his wife’s beauty and how he would have twinges of guilt pricking him each time he is short with her. His friend however is forever dispatching advice making sure his wife does not take ‘advantage’ of him and make him feel she is superior as she is more educated. We normally see a scheming mother in law or bhabhi/nand, but here it is the friend who is the meddling factor and leads Saleem astray. Noor believes Saleem is a good man but easily influenced by his friends but all this goes a step too far when Saleem begins suspecting there is something between Waseem and Noor.

Noor is shown to be educated, patient, responsible, understanding (you get the picture) yet she is strong and believes in standing up when pushed too far and leaves home when Saleem goes accuses her. However, I feel I have a hidden Saleem of sorts in me too for even I felt a bit prickly at times when she would forever be preaching although Saleem put it in a more apt and delightful way – ‘asaan ilfaaz mein baat kiya karo’ and ‘zaida ustaani na bano’, LOL! Let me clarify here that I only found those statements funny when he said them not in a taunting way but when he was actually perplexed by Noor’s words and those scenes were funny. However, his inferiority complex and thoughts planted by his friend make him lash out and say unforgivable things to Noor one too many times, I thought.

Things are far from smooth between these two but the drama is interesting as how Noor tries to make small changes in the household without trying to rock the whole boat and is not the whimpering wife we are all too used to seeing. Ayesha Khan used to be one of my favorite actresses but watching her in Shert, Tumharay Siwa and Mann Mayal, dramas which I abandoned halfway and cringed at her acting and characters, I was wary of this one. It took me a while to warm up to her character, rather seeing past Ayesha Khan to Noor. Jibran Syed as Saleem is perfect I have to say. The yelling was a bit overwhelming at first but the snide comments and inferiority complex are all portrayed so well by him. I am not sure anyone else would have made Saleem so convincing as Jibran Syed has been able to. The supporting actors and actresses such as Zeb, Waseem, Saleem’s mother and Noor’s older sister and brother in law have all chipped in to do their parts well too which I have begun to feel makes a huge difference in how I end up feeling about the play. I wince each time Salim Mairaj appears on the screen but that is because his character is nothing but trouble!

Noor’s personality and level headedness do not seem to be helping her much so I am not sure which way this drama is headed just yet. I do think if less episodes had been wasted before the marriage took place, the drama would have been more interesting for I am sure quite a few of us gave up on it after the first few episodes. How many of you have been following this drama – would love to hear your thoughts.

Kunwal Javid

I found it quite a struggle to sit through these two episodes, to be honest. I know there are a few out there who really enjoy this drama and so I just want to make it clear that to each their own, we all have different tastes and while I thought this drama was a decent watch initially, the past few episodes have relied too many times on cliffhanger endings which turn out to be only a nightmare, a dream or a daydream of the character and in this latest episode when Mannat is running away she pauses next to the motorbike when the air and Shahmeer are crackling with anxiety and tension and she imagines a whole scene play out where her father shoots them both dead! I mean, really! Too many episodes of this drama have either ended on such a note or the previews of next episodes show such scenes, Bari Sb coming upon Shahzeb and Mannat, Jahanzeb declaring his love for Zainab, Zainab killing herself, to name a few. This has begun to really try my patience, aargh!

Alisha decides to come see for herself what is amiss and seeing the wedding picture hung on the wall, realizes Shahzeb has married Zainab. The only interesting scene was when Bari Sb sees Alisha and Asma Abbas acting is always spot on. I am loving her as Bari Sb and her comments about Alisha make me laugh. It is beyond weird how Zainab consoles Alisha – she is married to Shahzeb now, how about moving on? What is she thinking long term? I get she could not muster the courage to say no to Bari Sb but how is giving her blessing to Shahzeb and Alisha to not let go of their love supposed to help matters? Shehr wali biwi and gaoon wali biwi is the way forward?

Bari Sb. Ruthless Bari Sb has not forgotten about Mannat’s unborn child and has started taking steps to roll her plan into action. Shahmeer overhears her plans (that is another thing that is truly annoying – this eavesdropping on conversations to move the story forward). Anyway, Mannat and Zainab already know of Bari Sb’s plans which is why Zainab confronts Shahmeer and sends Mannat off with him in the dead of the night.

I have a feeling the scene played out between Mannat and Shahmeer when his friend’s wife locks them in while her husband runs to tell the haveli people Mannat is in his house was meant to be highly emotional but it felt like a poorly executed Indian movie. Mannat threatening to kill herself, kill her baby, Shahmeer announcing he would lay his life down for her, Mannat declaring a life without him is no life. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for romantic cheesy dialogues and scenes but this just did not work for me. So the haveli and Sikander and the evil world all ganging up against poor Mannat and Shahmeer. Well, it did not work for me but it worked for the friend’s wife for she has a change of heart and lets them escape.

Where are Mannat and Shahmeer headed? To Alisha, of course. All hell will break loose in the haveli in the next episode and Mannat will reach Alisha safely. Will Zainab be found out for her role in this escape and will she be made to pay? Will Sikander/Dilawar search for Mannat themselves since she is the mother of their heir? Will I be counting days until next Saturday? Errm, definitely not.

There are dramas which have a very average, sometimes predictable story but the acting and the direction make them stand out. Then you have a star studded cast and a weak script and direction and the drama is a bore. Laaj is excellent on the production values, the colourful sets (although I can not help notice the backgrounds are sometimes just painted which is saying a lot since I am not a very observant person) but still. Even Shahzeb’s colourful shalwar suits with matching waistcoats were interesting – although he has abandoned them and resigned himself to white and black since he has gotten married! Asma Abbas, Kamran Jillani and Zarnish Khan seemed to really fit into their characters and acted well but the endless twists which are such a figment of someone or the other’s imagination and the fact that the story lacks direction is making it hard to sit and watch the drama. I would love to hear what you all made of these episodes and how, if anyone feels the same or differently about it.

Kunwal Javid

Ohkay so, written by Rabia Razzaque, directed by Nadeem Siddique & produced by Abdullah Seja; Moray Saiyaan commenced on ARY Digital at the prime time slot on Tuesday. I just watched the very first episode & I can I say that I am quite impressed. This drama not only brings a change in terms of the scenery but in terms of the cast too. To be honest, all throughout the episode, I was actually quite happy to see some new faces & I commend the casting director for choosing newcomers. I know it must’ve taken a lot of brainstorming on the drama-makers part to come to a decision whether they should give a break to the new faces or not but I’d be happy to let them know that they definitely made the right decision. I am not sure how the drama is going to unfold but it surely has began at a very promising note.

We were introduced to a single family which was pretty scattered & divided but there was one such person who believed in binding them & I am sure he will make that happen. Zakia (Irsa Ghazal) is a single mother of two Nimra (Kinza Hashmi) & Anas. She has a support of her brother Waris Afridi (Firdous Jamal) who has a son Ghaziyan (Uzair Jaswal). Ghaziyan has just returned from the US after completing his education as a petroleum engineer. Ghaziyan & Nimra are engaged to be married & it seems that Zakia is quite possessive about Ghaziyan, so much so that she keeps on telling her daughter to take care of herself because she feels that way Nimra will be able to keep Ghaziyan’s attention intact. Not sure if it is because of a failed marriage or due to her own personality, Zakia seems to be quite an egoist & to some extent paranoid, that is why the mention of her ex-husband Kabeer upsets her, she has estranged her sister, she controls her daughter & wants to control her nephew & Nimra’s fiancé Ghaziyan too.

We then got to see that Zakia & Waris also have a sister Gul Zeb/Gul Bibi who came into their lives after their father’s second marriage. This is the reason why Gul Zeb has been estranged by Zakia as she thinks her father made a mistake by going for a second marriage, so now when he is not alive, there’s no reason for her to hold onto the relations that according to her were merely a mistake. Waris seems to be quite normal when it comes to Gul Zeb but Zakia on the other hand don’t want to associate with her sister, so much so that she doesn’t appreciate the fact that Ghaziyan spends time with her.

Gul Bibi has a niece Zubaria (Neha Rajpoot), who often visits her & is a medical student. Zubaria lives in a hostel & keeps on visiting her father, brother Jamshed & sister in law Afshan. Even though Zubaria is young, she is quite responsible & mature, that is why she makes sure to give her family & her aunt some time out of her busy schedule. Ghaziyan & Zubaria meet at Gul Bibi’s place & that’s when Ghaziyan feels that he needs to cheer Zubaria up as he thinks she is missing a lot on her life by keeping herself engrossed in her worries. For Ghaziyan, Zubaria is like a very fascinating mystery & he wants to get to know her, to actually understand her better. It looked like more than the need for Zubaira to be cheered up, Ghaziyan just wants to get close to her to overcome the curiosity in his mind & heart about Zubaira. Even though Ghaziyan is engaged to Nimra, he doesn’t hold back in expressing his feelings about Zubaria in front of Gul Bibi. Gul Zeb knows that if anyone in Zakia’s family will find out about what Ghaziyan intends to do, as in how he intends to befriend Zubaria, no one will be happy but Ghaziyan is someone who believes in doing what his hearts tells him to.

Ghaziyan knows what sort of a person Zakia is & how she believes in controlling those who are close to her, but he is quite independent emotionally that is why without worrying about Zakia, he not only meets Gul Bibi but also intends to spend more time with her niece Zubaria from now on. I liked the accidental interactions between Zubaria & Ghaziyan. As much as Zubaria didn’t want to be associated with him, Ghaziyan made sure to have a conversation with her because he knows she needs someone to teach her how to be happy & just not be always worried about smallest of things in life. Ghaziyan comes from a completely different background & even though he has lived quite a nice life, it was actually good to see him being in touch with his emotional side where he felt bad seeing how his family was broken into pieces.

We also got to see a conversation between Dr. Farah (Ayesha Toor) & Dr. Altamash Kabeer (Ali Kazmi). I believe Altamash will be Kabeer’s son, the same Kabeer who also happens to be Zakia’s husband or ex-husband. I think Zakia must be the reason why her marriage failed because going by the things Nimra said, looks like Waris being a rational person told everyone the truth that Kabeer never faltered when it came to his responsibilities but Zakia on the other hand painted a completely different picture in front of her children, that is why Nimra seemed a little confused but I am sure it will be interesting to see that track unfolding too. I liked how Nimra even after living with a rigid mother like Zakia, had the sense of differentiating between right & wrong. Nimra seemed a lot more optimistic & positive in comparison to Zakia but Zakia on the other hand kept on instilling all those fears & complexes in her daughter that she herself has!

Overall, the first episode was done beautifully. Starting from direction to locations to dialogues to situations each & everything was spot on. Even though it happens to be the very first drama of Uzair Jaswal, he seemed pretty comfortable when it came to acting. Neha Rajpoot seemed a little stiff & hesitant in terms of acting as these must’ve been the very initial days of shoot so that is why her lack of confidence was evident from her body language but I am sure we will get to see an improvement in her performance as the episodes will progress. Kinza Hashmi on the other hand seemed quite confident & acted brilliantly too. I must say, I can’t thank the casting director enough for choosing some new, fresh & young & beautiful faces for this drama & for not relying on those actors who are always pasted on our screens, what a relief! The way they established a relation between Zubaria & Ghaziyan was actually quite cute, you could actually feel a connection between the two, which is great!!!

I must say the locations they chose had a great impact on the overall feel of the drama & made things seem quite appeasing. The note at which the drama has begun seems quite promising, even though it has the entire love triangle happening but the supporting characters are so strong that things are definitely going to be interesting. I think they introduced the characters & their back stories in a very apt manner, like it seemed quite detailed for the very first episode. Also, I liked the fact that after letting us know about the relations that these guys shared, the writer also showed us that all these characters had something going for them in their lives, like Zubaria was studying to become a doctor, Ghaziyan became a petroleum engineer & Nimra was a badminton player, like it was good to see that these young characters weren’t only fixated with the idea of marriage & had nothing else in their lives! The dialogues were nice too & I liked the interactions between Ghaziyan & Khalil as well. I must say, for the very first episode, I am impressed & I an’t wait for the next episode already. Please share your thoughts about the very first episode of Moray Saiyaan.

Keep Supporting,
Cheers,
Zahra Mirza.

ps: I hope The Terrific Tuesday luck touches this drama too as I have always been lucky with the Tuesday dramas haha. I hope Moray Saiyaan takes after Besharam & turns out to be a great drama as well. ;)

You know what I felt was refreshingly different about today’s episode and the direction the drama has taken now? A wife not staying in the stupor like denial that her husband does not care for her anymore and reduce herself to a screaming, scheming shrew. Granted, Mehwish had become like that for a while but she seems to have snapped out of that state when faced with watching Zara take a decision which she felt would ruin her life. It was a relief to be spared from watching biwi number one battle with biwi number two over who shall feed the miyan, iron his clothes, have his attention etc!

Mehwish seemed to forget her own marital troubles while she worries about Zara. She feels this is happening due to her own ‘sins’. Marrying Faisal was definitely not a sin so I am not sure where she is coming from but well, bottom line Mehwish feels she is to blame. Faisal’s verbal diarrhea when he tells Mehwish about his own guilt over Zara and his reasons for continuing to live in this house further squash out any glimmer of hope Mehwish may have nurtured. After Faisal walks out and Mehwish is seething, I was surprised to see that her anger was not directed at how to exact her revenge but to prevent Zara from making the mistake she herself had made.

Zara seems to gain immense joy and satisfaction by throwing her mother and Faisal’s arguments back in their face. She is adamant that she will not back down from her decision to marry Faizan. Mehwish then reaches out to the one person who she knows Zara can not refuse. Although surprised and angry to have to even hear from Mehwish ever again, Chacha steps up and shows up at Mehwish’s house to ‘save’ Zara.

Meanwhile, Amber and Faisal are happy in their bubble and with the news of Amber’s pregnancy. Waisay what was all that scene in the mall about? Which mother lets a random stranger pick up her child like that? Cringeworthy and weird! It is really odd how Faisal lets out these streams of confessions of love and how his past was all a mistake, a bad dream, blah blah and Amber is everything for him now. Makes me wonder at Amber’s mental state too that she does not question how reliable can this man be who, ah well – we all know what he has done. Not saying what he has done is right or wrong but it definitely does not land him high up on the reliability spectrum!

Zara’s thoughts when Mehwish has taken ill gave me goosebumps. Mehwish threatens to kill herself and Zara calmly tells her to go ahead. Mehwish collapses and Zara says it is not her love rather her ‘anna’ that is making her react this way. I do have to say it makes me laugh how flippantly and matter of factly Zara drops snippets of information here and there. The way she told Faisal’s parents that he had remarried and moved out leaving them shocked was funny. I have never been a fan of Saboor Ali but she has acted so well and done full justice to Zara’s character. Her body language when she speaks to Mehwish and when she speaks to her Chacha, where you can sense her struggle of wanting to stand firm to her decision but at the same time not wanting to hurt her uncle. Her expressions making you wonder whether she even cares for Faizan at all or he is just part of her plan to get back at her mother. Amber’s character and Faryal Mehmood stand out like a sore thumb and the lesser her scenes the better I feel. I am glad she has moved out so the focus is now back on Zara and Mehwish.

Next week’s preview shows Mehwish is seriously unwell and I am honestly curious to see what change, if any, that may bring in Zara and Faisal. A story that started off so dramatically and then seemed to go a bit down the all too predictable and boring route of two wives seems to have picked up pace again and has me looking forward to the next episode. What did you all think of this episode? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Kunwal Javid