Ruk jao Zainy, mat jao! Let me see now. 27 episodes of roughly 40 minutes each – it took our ‘shehzada’ (as Mehtaab had called him) Sherry all of those minutes minus the very last 30 seconds of the final minute to utter the words that most of us had hoped (and others wondered whether) he would utter! We were left guessing to the last minute how this drama would end and I will admit the way the events played out in this last episode was convincing to an extent.

Zainy’s CSS result – how long does it take for the result to be announced by the way? She went through an entire pregnancy, initial months of motherhood – before her result was announced. Zainy is seen struggling financially with Ahmer not being able to provide for her and her son Mustafa and she sells jewellery to make ends meet. The CSS result gave her the confidence she needed and finding Ahmer still involved with Bina served as the last straw and she finally walks out on him. Ahmer makes no move to stop her either. It was heartbreaking to see how Abba, such a positive, proactive and encouraging character had become a broken old man. I loved how Zainy seemed to outwardly grow a thick skin to ward off Novera’s constant jibes and gave her all to help Abba regain his strength and will to live again.

Novera is so deeply submerged in her insecurities and jealousies that let alone Zainy and Abba she will not even let her own marriage flourish. Ah, but there is one relationship that she works on and fat lot of good that has done her except well, land her the nikkah nama to Sherry – and that is with Nigaar Apa. I was very surprised at Mr. Novera, oops, Sherry’s attitude in this episode. It almost appears as if Sherry can not look past his personal feelings of hurt and lurrve and rejection to forgive Zainy or at least give her a chance to let her stand on her own feet. He was hostile when she came back but bore with her for he recognized she gave Yusuf what he and Novera were unable to give. But the way Novera sent Mustafa with Ahmer upon Abba’s death and said Sherry has packed up her stuff and she should go back to her ‘own house’ seriously made Sherry lose some major brownie points with me. For all of Zainy’s faults, for all of Sherry’s amazing personality – I was fast losing patience with his firm stance of not letting Zainy return. Tough love it may have been but I felt how Zainy’s departure was forced from their house upon Abba’s death was a bit extreme.

Mehtaab left two things as her legacy in this episode – her words of wisdom when Zainy was beside herself with despair upon Abba’s death ‘aap jo bhi faisla karein us ski zimadaari bhi khud he utthaana’ and secondly – her beehive, LOL! When Zainy went back home and left Mustafa with Taayi I wondered if she left him with her for good. Fast forward nine years and Sherry has aged and comes to a festival (a very empty festival I may say) to hear Zainy speak and their conversation answers our questions. Sherry’s ‘I have 3 sons and 3 daughters’ left me gobsmacked and I thought okay 6 kids and in Canada with no naukar chaakar would have finally made Novera too busy to cause trouble but turns out he only made that up and he has a daughter but Novera has left him and remarried. Zainy also left Ahmer (duh!) but thankfully her son lives with her. I found Sherry’s responses to Zainy’s pertinent questions very lame, I am sorry to say. I find he was too hard on Zainy and this whole ‘her house, my house’ really did do my head in. Yes your husband’s house is supposed to be your house but your parent’s house is not a stranger’s house either!! Novera with her constant obsession of repeatedly sending Zainy back to her own house stemmed from her insecurities but Sherry harping the same tune was very annoying. Yes, his attitude finally made her get up and make something of her life but was that his intention really? He kept telling her to go back to Ahmer – not to stand on her feet and leave him if that was what she felt she needed to do.

Anyways, Sherry finally musters up the courage to ask Zainy to not leave (standing ovation please!) and so all’s well that ends well. Maybe. I had wondered how Novera would fare in all this? Does Sherry leave her for Zainy? How does she end up leaving Ahmer – if at all? So yes the events in this episode seemed to flow in a fairly believable sequence. I have to say I have enjoyed watching this drama and am amazed it stretched across 27 episodes and yes it could have been wrapped up in less episodes but it was all good. Agha Ali has truly impressed me with his acting in this play as has Seher Afzal. How she effortlessly played Zainy, making us frustrated with her and feeling her pain later on. I loved loved loved Abba’s character, although a bit stifling at first, the way he stepped up after Mehtaab’s death was just beautiful and Nadeem Baig did a tremendous job. The dialogues and direction were good too and one thing that truly surprised me was how a Big Bang Production was not very Big Bang-ish and I feel that statement is self explanatory.

I have enjoyed reviewing this play and thank you to all my dear readers who have regularly read my reviews and commented. What has stayed with me at the end of this episode is that biryani that Ahmer and Bina were enthusiastically digging into and thankfully I have made the same for dinner so I am off to satisfy the sudden hunger that brought on, LOL. Team Sherry and all others – what did you think of this last episode? Would love to hear your thoughts!

Kunwal Javid

So the ‘psychiatrists-in-a-pakistani-drama’ practice continues. I am not a fan of Maami’s personality but I am sure my expression mirrored the perplexed one on hers when the psychiatrist was dishing out her words of wisdom. Shadi karo na karo, bhai type se karo ya total stranger say, time spend before shaadi with total stranger is helpful how – wait, hand over the psychiatrist’s job to Shariq. Ah, yes. Let’s do that. Armed with that new insight, Saba’s parents, rather her mother feels that Shariq should spend time with Saba before she gets married so she is able to be comfortable in his presence which is being transitioned from ‘bhai’ to ‘miyan’. And Shariq? I had noooo idea being a DC was such a ‘vaila’ job-seriously! He is babysitting Zoya (making daily calls to the servant to make sure she had her juice on time), nurturing and easing Saba’s mental state of mind – when does this guy actually work?

Although he seems to be trying to be friendly and act as naturally as possible around Saba, we see Shariq feels trapped in this new relationship – as expected. Not only is Saba mentally not all there but she is someone he has viewed as a younger sister and he feels it is not easy to switch the tag of ‘behn bhai’ to ‘miyan biwi’ as he explains to his mother. I find Saba’s father’s reaction and approach although not fair to Shariq but much more believable and understandable as a father rather than her mother who seems to be living in ‘la-la land’. Maami is seriously grating on my nerves. Being hopeful over your child’s recovery is one thing but after the horrendous first ‘outing’ Shariq and Saba had you would think she would rethink the ‘outing’ suggestion so soon again!

I am still a bit confused about Saba. From what I seem to understand she has a general fear of all men except her father and Shariq but when she is overcome by erratic fits, she can not and will not listen to reason to the extent that nothing makes sense to her. Like the whole policeman scenario was really quite extreme and I could not believe after the ‘hand’ situation in the car she dragged it all the way to begging the policemen to not leave her alone with Shariq. But I will not dwell much on that and suppose maybe that is just what her mental state is like.

Shariq seems to have agreed to do his ‘duty’ but also wants Zoya by his side. Although it has not made much sense having her living in his house so far, it makes even less sense that he should expect her to stay on after his marriage to Saba. His baby names’ suggestions show his emotional state of mind where he has been thinking of names for the baby – with his name as a surname. Zoya seems to be stuck mentally on Azmeer – but her reaction to the news of Shariq’s marriage seems to suggest the beginning of some other emotions.

Seems like we are in for quite a few scenes of Saba ‘ping-pong-ing’ between Sherry Bhai is good guy – Sherry Bhai is bad guy. In spite of that, the hopeful look on Anam Fayyaz’s face when Shariq promises to stand by her no matter what was very heartfelt and spot on.

Shariq seems to want to have his cake -and eat it too. He has agreed, albeit reluctantly to marry Saba but he wants Zoya by his side too. Zoya seemed to be trying to think ahead by saying she wants to go back to work when the baby arrives. The way she had that conversation with Shariq though made me wonder where it was leading – Shariq’s nanny services for baby maybe?!

I can not help but resist pointing out how Sherry Bhais in our dramas are fast becoming Angels in Disguise Potential Miyans. There’s Sherry Bhai in Tum Yaad Aye and now in Intezaar. Anyways, the drama is watchable for now. There is something about Sana Javed’s acting that I can not place my finger on – but it seems to fall flat at times. Mikaal Zulfiqar, Anam Fayaaz and the actor playing Mamu have acted out their characters well. I do like how the drama does not have any extra characters being used as fillers – khair, how many more fillers would be needed with Shariq managing two women in his life already, but still! Anyways, I am interested to see how Shariq plans to manage both these relationships simultaneously – and keep his job in the process!

How many of you watched this episode? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Kunwal Javid

Ohkay so, Nawab Nosha Asif Jahan ka sabun slow hai kya? Like I have said before, this entire drama is running on the basis of communication gap & the way they have brought the fact that this is the king & his family & the affairs concerning a government, that we are watching, everything that is happening makes it even harder to believe & execution of each & every situation seems like a joke to me!

Asif Jahan ordered Taimur’s arrest only on the bases of rumors that he heard that too even before he inquired what actually happened & what was the reality. Where was the inquiry committee & where were the eye witnesses that could testify against Taimur that he was the one who killed Dilawar Khan? As usual, just because Asif Jahan is impulsive & just because he’s missing a prowess of rational analyzation of a situation, he put his own son behind bars? Quite smart I must say. Later he did realize that he did something wrong & he after realizing that he doesn’t have another son, so because like I said his sabun is slow, he ordered everyone to bring in the eye witnesses to know what actually happened, whereas this was something that he should’ve done before taking the decision of arresting Taimur.

As Asif Jahan tried to dig deep into this affair, he found out that all the ladies of his house had more brains than him & may be that’s why he lost his in the last part of the episode. After meeting Taimur, Asif Jahan got to know about the letter that Badshah Begum wrote to Dilawar ordering him to kill Taimur, which makes me wonder why didn’t Taimur hand this letter over to his father the moment he returned to Mor Mahal after winning a battle? What was he waiting for? I don’t really understand because what Taimur read in that letter was a big deal so why did he take it so lightly & choose to spend so many days in the prison for no good reason? After inquiring from Badshah Begum, Asif Jahan found out that Farrukh Zaad also sent her brother to kill Dilawar Khan & that’s when Asif Jahan lost it. He was so confused & heart-broken that while he was busy being in love with all these ladies, they were back stabbing him hard!

I really am not sure why Asif Jahan hasn’t snapped out of the fact that Dilawar Khan is dead, like what was so special about him that he is ready to put everything, especially his son at stake for just a guy who was his adviser & nothing else? I really believe Asif Jahan’s priorities are not in place because no matter what happens, no one puts anyone ahead of their children at least. The way Asif Jahan is mourning the death of Dilawar Khan shows that deep down he is hurt to see Taimur alive in stead of Dilawar Khan!

After seeing that Asif found out the truth about Farrukh Zaad, Badshah Begum made her move once again & told him to let Shujat succeed him, like does she really think that Asif Jahan is going to listen to her after finding out that she wants her grandson & Asif’s son Taimur killed? I think what Farrukh Zaad told her brother to do is justified because she was protecting her son after finding out that Badshah Begum had ordered Dilawar to kill him, but there’s nothing that can justify what Badshah Begum did & there’s nothing that can justify her evil intentions of having her own grandson killed only because she hates Farrukh Zaad?

Akhtari predicted that Shujat will come into the power & looks like what Akhtari says or does turns out to be true, so I will request the director to let Akhtari go in a trance & tell us the remaining story in one go because she can foresee the future & I can not sit through this drama anymore to see what is yet to come. I am actually disappointed that this drama has turned out to be like this where there’s nothing special about it, where it turned out to be another story which showcases the politics between women & nothing else. I really had high hopes with the character of Asif Jahan because he seemed like a perfect ruler but as the episodes progressed I found out that he was everything but that as in stead of him doing the brainstorming, it was the women of Mor Mahal who were in charge of the situation & were indirectly running the government themselves. I actually missed seeing the ruler’s ministers & I missed seeing huge assemblies where they would be discussing the affairs of the state, they did however show a meeting that Asif Jahan had with the experts who were less in number but were too old to think straight. It looks like Asif Jahan is the only man who is running the government himself which actually again is a delusion as it is not him who was doing all the thinking, it was either Badshah Begum or Wazeer Begum that would do that & IF Asif Jahan planned on taking an action on something, that again turned out to be an idea that was whispered in his ear by another woman named Shahista.

I actually thought that they would take us on a journey through history where they will cover all the aspects of how a government is run by the ruler but ever since the drama has begun, seems like they wanted to show everything but that & sadly, it ended up looking like a saas bahu saga set in a royal setting in an olden era. Also, what happened by the end of this episode is enough to show that the main lead isn’t strong enough whereas I wanted to see a ruthless king who actually ran the affairs & tackled them on his own terms & conditions but seems like Asif Jahan was too engulfed in loving the ladies that he didn’t mind them doing what seemed to be his job!

Well, in this episode, Asif Jahan has lost his marbles & as the preview suggested, he won’t be regaining his senses anytime soon, so what’s the point of watching a drama where the main lead is so so so weak mentally that he couldn’t tackle a high-pressure situation. I think this episode sealed the deal for me & I am done watching this drama. This is going to be the last review of this drama as I am done trying & I am done getting disappointed week after week. I am actually not sure what went wrong at the creative team’s end because this doesn’t come near the work that Surmed Sultan Khoosat has done previously. Even though I haven’t seen Mera Sultan but I have read plenty of comments on the social media where everyone made it obvious that Mor Mahal was an attempt to recreate Mera Sultan but they failed miserably so even though I haven’t watched Mera Sultan, I still say that it was a very weak attempt so, better luck next time guys! However, before concluding the review I will say that Umair Jaswasl has emerged as a promising actor & I think he should consider giving acting career a go & I wish to see him in more dramas in the future. Anyways, please share your final goodbyes at this last review of Mor Mahal!

Keep Supporting,
Cheers,
Zahra Mirza.

ps: My dear readers who have been reading my reviews from the last few years know that I have endured high-intensity tortures like Mujhe Khuda Pe Yakeen Hai, Izteraab, Aahista Aahista, Tumhare Siwa & never gave up despite them telling me to but this time around, I don’t think I can waste my time anymore & yes, I’m losing my patience so for that reason quite happily, I declare that I give up!!!

Ohkay so, this episode of Thora Sa Aasman was quite interesting. I am glad that the director is taking the story forward at a decent pace, as there’s a lot left to be conveyed & that’s why all the tracks are developing swiftly & all the questions are being answered without leaving viewers wondering about things on their own. Also, I must say, I really liked how this episode in particular juxtaposed between the mentality of an elite & the lower class of the society & that has to be my favorite aspect of this entire episode.

Haroon is ruthlessly practical, that is why he knew that his wife could easily achieve what he couldn’t in the matters concerning Baqir Shirazi, that is why even after Baqir’s indirect yet direct insult, Haroon didn’t mind sending Shahista to meet him again because he was confident that Baqir would never refuse Shahista’s request. It is actually unfortunate that despite having a wife, Baqir has his sights on Shahista & he has gotten this edge only because he knows that her husband Haroon is shameless when it comes to his personal benefits, so Baqir is making the most of the dependency Haroon has on him regarding his business.

Baqir ended up informing Shahista about Haroon’s reputation & seems like this was for the first time when Shahista not only confronted her husband, but threatened to leave him in case she ever spots him with another woman. I felt that this threat came a bit late & didn’t even leave much of an impact because it’s not like Shahista hasn’t seen that scenario till date. Shahista did spot Haroon with Zarka in a shopping mall & he brushed all her concerns under the carpet. If only Shahista had taken a stand back then, may be Haroon wouldn’t have done what he just did with Zarka. Just like Haroon got married to her out of the blue, he decided to throw her out of his life just like that too, but what’s sadder is that he doesn’t want to own his child that Zarka is carrying now. Zarka has lost everything & she is paying a huge price for trusting such an emotionally absent businessman. Sadly, Zarka was just a flavor of the month & just when Haroon felt that he was benefiting nothing out of this relationship, she decided to call it quits!

Saiqa, who’s trying hard to make the ends meet, falls in a deep pit when her husband, who has pretty much disowned her creates a scene accusing her of infidelity. Zafar, in stead of giving a shut-up call to his friend, makes a point to drag Saiqa in front of everyone to let them & her know that he is still the supreme authority in her life. Zafar is a depiction of those hypocrite men of the society, who find no shame in leaving their wives & their daughters in the lurch, but when they hear the rumors, they are the first ones to make a commotion about how their wives are disloyal & unfaithful & how their dignity means everything to them. Saiqa comes from such a background where men are considered supreme, despite them never proving themselves to be, but still their verdict is taken to be a final word & then, a woman is forced to face the brunt for the things she might never have even thought of doing. Saiqa’s parents made sure that she doesn’t leave their house but when they realized that feeding Saiqa & her three daughters was not something that they could afford, they allowed her to resume her job. This was another mind-set that was unveiled that those who are poor can only afford the luxury of ‘dignity’ for a short span of time & when they are forced to wake up & smell the coffee, they go against their word & curb their values.

Who would’ve thought that the same Fatima, who was always accused of being ill-mannered & loud would get the label of being polite? Fatima’s politeness surprised people around her & may be it is the addition of Shaheer in her life that has forced her to do some thinking & reflect on the fact that now she has a child to take care of & more than that she has to be a positive influence on the child that she is raising. Shaheer has brought drastic changes in Fatima’s personality & she might not be his biological mother, but she sure is taking her status as a mother a bit too seriously, which is quite heart-warming. The way Fatima cried for Shaheer was actually quite overwhelming, which proved Fatima’s perspective that you don’t have to give birth to a child to be called his mother, you can become one if you think of yourself as one.

So, it was Shahista Kamal who sent Aliya to the orphanage to check on Shaheer. I am sure there’s a lot to this track that will unravel in the episodes to come. It was a blessing for Fatima that Rabeea ended up being Shahista’s friend, that is why Shahista stepped forward to bail Fatima out of the prison as she couldn’t resist seeing the sight of a child like Shaheer without his mother.

The note at which the episode ended actually came as a surprise to me. Saiqa of today ended up listening to the advice that was given to her by the Saiqa of tomorrow (referring to the conversation she had with the woman in the previous episode). Saiqa ended up succumbing to the pressures that the future of her daughters inflicted on her mind. Sadly, she was a girl who was trying hard to make a decent & honest living for her daughters but the society pushed to a limit where it made her realize that no matter how hard she protects herself or no matter how much she’ll sacrifice, it will only take one lie & just one rumor for them to tear her into pieces & assassinate her character mercilessly. Sadly, what Saiqa did shed a light on all such women who give men the edge & allow those men to exploit them because of lost faith in people surrounding them which unfortunately include their families too. It was the betrayal of Zafar & the lack of confidence that her parents showed in her, which drove Saiqa to take a short cut in life which she at one point didn’t even want to think about. This is why in the beginning I said that this episode highlighted the contrast between the mind set that the people from two different social classes endorse, where in elite class it was the husband who was shamelessly making the most of the affection that another man had towards his wife only because it guaranteed him a monetary gain that he was after & in the lower class of the society, just a sight of a woman standing with a man was enough to ignite the fire & assassinate her character to a point where she herself didn’t mind compromising it for the sake of her children & forced herself to do which was most certainly not right. Beautifully written & executed I must say!

Overall, this episode was really interesting. I know the theme of the drama is a bit on the serious & mature side but this entire story & all the characters have a meaning attached to them. The preview seemed interesting too, I am sure Baqir is not going to stop & looks like Zarka will end up becoming a fish-bone stuck in Haroon’s throat, which he most certainly won’t be expecting. Even though I have liked all the actors & their acting but only in this episode, I repeat only this time around I found Zeba Bakhtiyar’s dialogue delivery a bit weak & Alyy Khan’s expressions a bit too flat, which I am sure will improve in the episodes that are yet to come. The direction, as always was on-point. Please share your thoughts about this interesting episode of Thora Sa Aasman.

Keep Supporting,
Cheers,
Zahra Mirza.