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.