Ohkay so, the production of Momina Duraid, writing of Faiza Iftikhar & direction of Atif Rathore; Kathputli hit our screens 3 weeks ago & is currently airing on Saturday 8PM on HUM TV. I started watching it after it got recommended to me & I found it to be quite interesting. I am glad that I had 3 episodes to watch one after another because it gave me enough material to make up my mind if I was going to follow or review it or not. The drama has a simple story-line, with some seen-before characters but it has been packaged nicely by the creative team & that is what makes it a decent drama to tune into.
The story is about the family of Mehr-un-Nisa (Sanam Chaudhry), who lives with her mother Zeenat (Farah Nadeem) & two brothers Ehtasham (Atif Rathore) & Hassam (Fasi Sardar). Mehru is engaged to her first cousin Shiraz (Gohar Mumtaz) who doesn’t live in Pakistan & is her only support system because when it comes to her brothers, they are quite strict & have very rigid rules that they have set for Mehru. Ehtasham takes care of his family, therefore he thinks he is the one who will decide how his family members should lead their life. It was only because of Shiraz & his family’s support that Mehru got the permission to go to the college because when it comes to Ehtasham, he doesn’t deem it fit to allow Mehru to step outside the vicinity of his home. Ehtasham is shown to be quite a conservative person who thinks it is his birth right to control the ladies of his house because when it comes to his younger brother Hassam, all the rules change. Ehtasham endorses a very typical mentality where he thinks his sister doesn’t have a right to life freely but his brother can do whatever he wants to.
Then we were introduced to the family of Zaitoon Bano (Shaheen Khan), which consists of her husband, eldest son Ahsan, his wife Mehwish (Binita) & youngest son Ahad (Farhan Ahmed Malhi). This family is quite dysfunctional because seems like the father is not happy with how things are rolling in his family. He has become quite bitter because his retirement is approaching & he is worried how his sons will take care of this entire family. His sons do not share a cordial relationship with their father too because he keeps on reminding them of their responsibilities, which they don’t really take seriously. Mehwish has Ahsan wrapped around her finger & that is why she keeps on telling him how only he shouldn’t be the one contributing to the household expenses only because Ahad should do that too. Ahad is still looking for a job & he knows that his father will keep on taunting him till he starts making some money.
So, Ehtasham happens to be getting married but he tells his mother that his marriage will take place on his conditions only because he doesn’t like meaningless functions & gatherings. On that occasion Shiraz, his mother (Samina Ahmed) & his sister Neha, tell Zeenat that they will be attending Ehtasham’s wedding & will spend that time in their house because it happens to be the first wedding of her family. Ehtasham tells Mehru clearly that she should not mingle with Shiraz because he wouldn’t tolerate it. Ehtasham gets married & tells his wife about his expectations which more likely end up looking like the restrictions he was imposing on her. Just when Shiraz is about to leave, he along with Neha plans to meet Mehru on the terrace, that’s when Ehtasham sees them both together & calls their engagement quits. Shiraz admits that it was his mistake & Mehru wasn’t at fault, therefore he thinks its his duty to fix things & only because of that reason, he sends his mother to Mehru’s house once again to sort things out. Hassam tells Ehtasham that he wants to get married to Neha so if Zeenat wants to see Mehru getting married to Shiraz, she should demand that they should also get Neha engaged or married to Hassam too. Shiraz’s mother refuses to accept Neha’s proposal & that’s when they finally decide that Mehru & Shiraz can not be together.
On the other front, just when Ahad is about to leave for his job interview to another city, his mother gives him some money & tells him to keep it to himself. Mehwish blames Ahad for stealing her wedding ring & just when she finds out some money in his pocket, Ahad takes the blame on himself because he knows that if he tells the truth that it was his mother who gave him the money, it could land her in trouble. Ahad leaves his place & looks like he has nowhere to go now.
I actually felt bad for Mehru when her engagement with Shiraz ended because Shiraz was the outlet that she required & looked forward to. She knew that her life will completely change once she will get married to Shiraz because he & his family lived life normally & didn’t believe in such restrictions & boundaries that Ehtasham had decided for her. Mehru was hopeful & in that hope, she followed the instructions of her brothers because she knew that it’s just a matter time when she will break free from this cage & live the life with Shiraz that she always dreamt of but sadly, all her dreams were crushed only because of the ego of her brothers especially Ehtasham. Another character that was introduced was of Ehtasham’s wife Saira. It was so obvious that Ehtasham looked down on his wife because she came from a lower middle class family but what was good about her was that she reasoned with Ehtasham & left him speechless. I hope that she brings a change in her husband’s mentality & changes his perspective because that will bring peace & harmony in the entire family. The note at which the 3rd episode ended was good but what’s making me look forward to this drama is the preview of the 4th episode because looks like Mehru’s life is going to change completely & she & Ahad will cross paths with each other.
The drama has been executed decently & the direction of the drama is great too. All the actors have performed brilliantly & the writing so far seems quite interesting. I was a bit disappointed to see the central character of Ehtasham being shown in a negative light for being religious but sadly, our society is full of such hypocritical people who believe in setting different rules for different people & who don’t really mind looking down on people, therefore Ehtasham’s character ended up looking justified, more like a bitter truth. I must say that the character of Ehtasham has been etched out perfectly by the writer & the actor Atif Rahtore has done complete justice to it because he made me loath his character which actually is a win for him as an actor. Sanam Chaudhry is such an eye-candy & I loved watching her performance throughout these episodes. In the end I’ll say that if I have to, I most certainly will recommend this drama to those who’re curious. Please share your thoughts about the first 3 episodes of Kathputli.
Keep Supporting,
Cheers,
Zahra Mirza.