Numm – Episode 01

The latest trend nowadays seems to be that the real story behind the lives of different characters is unveiled slowly as opposed to introducing the viewers to the characters in a very clear-cut manner right in the first episode. This first episode of Numm revealed few things about the central characters but there is so much more that the viewers have yet to find out. So many questions were left unanswered at the end of this episode, which I don’t mind at all personally, as long as different aspects of the story will be revealed within the first few episodes.

The description on the facebook page of the drama serial clearly stated that the story revolved around the practice of Vani. No reference to the tradition was made in this episode except for one flashback scene in the beginning in which we see Wali Bakht’s’s father (Ahson Talish) leaving home to kill his brother’s murderer, while his wife (Farah Shah) begs him to leave the matter for the police to solve.

The story revolves around Wali Bakht (Fawad Khan), a young Oxford graduate, who despite of all his education cannot break the barriers of traditions that surround him. The elders make all the decisions for reasons they believe are right and there is nothing that the younger lot can do about it. Wali Bakht is married to a woman much older than him; Mahjabeen (Sania Saeed) is a dutiful woman who looks after her husband well even if he does not want her around. Bare Sahab (Usman Peerzada) makes all the decisions in the family because without him Wali Bakht and all others will be deprived of all the luxuries they are so used to.

Neelam (Kanza Wyne) is nothing like Mahjabeen at all, she is a girl who will do anything to have things her way but at the same time she is as helpless as Wali Bakht, Mahjabeen, Wali Bakht’s’s mother and many others who are victims of the system they were born in. I must say that Neelam’s character despite of its flaws had tons of potential to be cute and adorable but there were times when she seemed more annoying than cute. Kanza Wyne did very well in some of the scenes but in others the expressions appeared to be over the top; what the character needed was slight subtleness and I would have felt more for Neelam.

The way the grand haveli that contained so many ugly secrets and unhappy people was captured in the opening scene of this episode was absolutely beautiful. The cinematography was very impressive all through the episode. Fawad Khan’s acting was very impressive from the very first scene to the last one – he had to convey more with his body language and expressions and he did that very well. In the first scene the viewer’s could easily tell that Wali Bakht was not happy to be home; there was something that was worrying him, more like something that he was dreading. The only other person who truly impressed me with her acting was Farah Shah; she played a very difficult character very well. The background music was painfully loud in some of the scenes and there were other scenes in which it seemed quite unnecessary and prolonged.

What do our writers have against women who run NGOs? They are always shown as women with double standards. Myra Sajid’s script appears to be engaging enough, Ahson Talish is a talented director so I have very high expectations from him and the play has been produced by Amjad Hashim. Many questions were left unanswered at the end of this first episode; I can’t wait to find out in particular what happened to Wali Bakht’s father and how Wali Bakht ended up getting married to Mahjabeen.

 

Please share your views about this first episode.

 

Fatima Awan