In the first few minutes of the episode, when Moiz and Tooba are in the car, we get to know that Moiz wants a quick ruksati but Tooba wants to do her Masters or maybe she says it only because she doesn’t want to give into Moiz so easily.

Adil is playing the creepiest villain ever. He follows Moiz and Tooba to the same shop and cleverly tells the sales person to give him the receipts because he’ll be picking up the bridal dress. I wonder how the people at the boutique let him do that so easily and even surprising was how they said that they’ll be giving Tooba someone else’s dress due to time shortage. Does that happen in real life?

Aamna Apa gets angry at Khadija and again says how Tooba shouldn’t be allowed to go around with ‘na-mehrams’ such as Adil when she learnt that Tooba went home to get Maira’s jewelleries for the wedding. During the drive, Adil compares himself to Moiz and Tooba becomes irritated. Adil smoothly covers it up saying, of course they are only ‘best friends’. A large part of the credit definitely goes to the director for extracting a fine performance from Goher Mumtaz, who is portraying all the emotions and switching between crazy and normal very well.

A family tradition is revealed by Apa where we get to know that in their family, elders believe that one wedding should take place at a time and one bride should get ready at one time and it becomes clear that it was Moiz’s idea all along for an early nikaah and ruksati, not his mother.

Fayez and Maira’s Walima have started, guests are pouring in and the family waits for Tooba’s ceremony to start. What I really liked about the wedding and reception scenes or even the shopping scenes in the previous episodes was the fact that they didn’t actually have sound for the dialogues but it could be understood that all of the characters had a strong rapport and bonding.  All this makes it look like a real family.

Every family member including Waqar and his wife, start getting anxious since Tooba and Geeti haven’t reached the banquet hall from their parlour trip and have their mobile phones switched off. Adil comes just then and informs everyone that none of the girls are at the beauty parlour. He blames Moiz, saying he must have been the one to pick them up.

When Adil and Moiz go back to the parlour, the lady owner says she was setting the bride’s dupatta when the bride told her to hurry up since someone had come to get them. The family thinks of the worst situations such as a possible boyfriend, a planned kidnapping and expect a call for ransom. Adil acts as the saviour and tells Obaid that he’d try and pursue all his contacts to save the girls, all the while giving sly looks.

Khadija falls ill and Aamna keeps going on and on about how bad luck has fallen on them and now they are stuck until Tooba comes home. She comes across as a conceited person who keeps making Tooba’s parents apprehensive. In his distress, Obaid ur Rehman still plays the responsible patriarch and tells Tania to inform Geeti’s parents about the incident.

The episode ends high on suspense, with someone throwing water to wake up Tooba and Geeti, who have their mouth taped up, are tied to chairs and appear to be in some abandoned place.

One detail that I feel was missing and perhaps it wasn’t as significant to be mentioned, was the ‘Case of the absent jora’. Adil’s plan works and Tooba says to her mother that she doesn’t have a jora for her wedding. Then in the last scene, Tooba is shown wearing a red bridal dress which looks similar to the one Adil bought and I’m assuming he somehow made her wear it. It might be clearer in the next episode.

The promo for the next episode shows the kidnapper to be Adil and I wonder how Obaid and Waqar’s friendship will be tested and most importantly, how Tooba will get through this ordeal.

How many of you watched this episode and what are your thoughts about it? Please share.

Mahjabeen

The episode begins with Adil’s mum overhearing him talking about keeping both the girls at a farmhouse. I was surprised at how he had a sinister smile on his face after such a heinous act. He is turning out to be a purely psychotic character. His mother becomes worried. Adil tells his friend Yousuf to take away Geeti’s body from the farmhouse. Aamna, Faiz and Moiz discuss the situation and Moiz can’t understand why there’s so much hesitation on Ubaid’s part to go to the police. Faiz says Moiz doesn’t know all the hassle that goes into dealing with the police. Aamna agrees and Moiz gets frustrated. I feel even though both Aamna and Faiz come across as insensitive at times, they are the ones that actually give a reality check to the other characters.

Tooba is traumatized and remembers all the happy times she spent with Geeti. She remembers one incident when Tooba volunteers to convey Geeti’s feelings to Adil but Geeti tells her she’s not in favour of using a messenger between them. In Tooba’s mind, Adil likes Geeti as much as she does. Geeti says she’s so in love with Adil that she can die for him. The irony of it all makes Tooba more upset.

Salma can’t stop thinking about what she had overheard nor can she share it with anyone, not even her husband. She keeps wondering what her son is actually up to and thinks if her son is behind Geeti and Tooba’s kidnapping. I really wanted her to ask Adil directly or at least talk to Waqar but it didn’t happen.

While praying with Maira, for Tooba’s safe return, Khadija faints. Tania calls their father to take her to the hospital. The doctor comes to see Khadija and says her health has deteriorated due to stress and advices rest otherwise she would be in the hospital. Breaking news comes on TV and everyone gets to know that a dead body has been found in a dumpster which is recognized as Geeti’s. Akhtar falls ill. Adil’s mum can’t believe it’s her son and thinks he can’t be so ruthless.

I felt the scenes from taking Akhtar in the ambulance to the hospital were too elaborate and long. The doctors try really hard to revive Akhtar but he passes away from a sudden heart attack due to shock and immense grief.

Adil comes to the farmhouse and Tooba gets very scared. He threatens her not to speak to anyone about Geeti’s murder so that there’s no witness. He warns her that if she tries to speak he’ll kill her or her sisters and her father will end up like Akhtar.

Aamna tells Maira not to inform Khadija about the deaths. She also says maybe Tooba will have the same fate. Neighbors gossip and want to know what has happened but Aamna doesn’t tell them the truth about Tooba or about her mother’s poor health.

The family doesn’t want to file a case but the police agree to investigate the incident. Ubaid has become very depressed and Waqar tries to comfort him and give him some strength.

Adil’s friend has been instructed to call Tooba’s home and terrorize them so they don’t contact the police or else she’ll have the same consequence as Geeti. Adil doesn’t want to keep Tooba at the farmhouse any longer and asks his friend to help him.

Faiz wants to spend some time alone with his wife. Although Maira is with Faiz, she keeps tense and concerned about her mother and sister. This makes Faiz very annoyed and blames Tooba for spoiling his marriage. I couldn’t understand his sudden outburst and really couldn’t believe that Faiz would be portrayed as an inconsiderate character. I’m hoping there is good reason for this later on in the story.

Yousuf and Adil are such cheapsters, saying all horrible and disgusting things to threaten Tooba into keeping quiet. I am surprised at how a suave, apparently well-bred person like Adil who has such a wise and morally strong father like Waqar can behave like this. Adil tries to reason Geeti’s murder, saying he was provoked by her and lost his temper. Both of them plan on allowing Tooba to go home.

Let’s see how Tooba manages to go home and face everyone’s comments and questions in the next episode.

Have you watched this episode and what are your thoughts about it?

Mahjabeen

As was expected, this episode was very intense right from the beginning. Tooba and Geeti are woken up by someone throwing water at them and on seeing that it’s Adil, Tooba thinks he’s there to help them. But Geeti’s expressions show that she can sense the real matter.

At Waqar’s house, Salma consoles Aamna. Faiz, as always, is mostly complaining or finding out faults. Here also he says there’s no point in blaming fate and that the girls must have gone at their own will. Akhtar (Ayub Khoso) makes an entry as Geeti’s father. He breaks down after coming to know that his daughter is missing. Maira tries to comfort Ubaid and Akhtar but it’s difficult for them to control their emotions. Akhar still can’t believe his daughter has really been abducted and asks if the police have been informed. Ubaid tells him it’s better not to get the police or media involved because it’s a matter of the family honour. In the meantime, a phone call comes to Ubaid where Adil changes his voice and pretends to be one of the kidnappers.

It was interesting to see Adil giving his own twisted reasons for the kidnapping. He says Tooba’s decision to marry Moiz made him feel helpless and weak. He blames her for it and says they are both at fault. Now, he feels, they both are equally punished. Amidst all this, I did notice how pretty Tooba (Sumbul) looked as a bride. The jewellery, make up and dress suited her well and I really liked the look.

After Adil leaves, Tooba asks Geeti why she hadn’t told her that Adil felt this way and also says that she thought Geeti and Adil liked each other. Tooba only thought of him as a friend. Geeti tells Tooba to get married to Adil to get out of there but she forcefully denies, saying she hates him now. Geeti says Adil has crossed the lines between love and trust. Despite all this Geeti says that since their reputation is at stake due to this incident, they need to think of a way out. They worry about what their parents might be going through and feel bad. The girls shout for help but it’s of no use. The camera work was brilliant in attempting to show the audience that the girls were kept in a secluded place with no one around to help them out. It was a clever move from the director and DOP (director of photography).

Two days have passed since the kidnapping. Waqar, Ubaid and Akhar all gather to discuss with Adil about the situation. Here also he further tries to persuade them not to call the police. He tells them he’ll not give up until he brings back Geeti and Tooba. He emotionally blackmails Ubaid, saying he should trust him since he calls him his ‘son’. An odd thing that others in the family should have noticed was whenever everyone asks about Tooba and Geeti, Adil only answers about Tooba, which only goes to show how obsessively he thought about her.

Akhtar doesn’t look happy about not involving the police and is upset but also helpless. At Waqar’s house, Aamna and her sons are also worried. Faiz tells Moiz to forget about Tooba and says the family name would be maligned by marrying a girl who’s been kidnapped. They also worry about how Ubaid will manage if kidnappers ask for a ransom since he’s not financially well off.

Adil tries to emotionally support Khadija (Humaira Zahir) while Maira (Kiran Tabeer) and Tania (Shehzeen Rahat) keep praying for their safe return. From the beginning of the play, Geeti was shown to be a character that had knowledge of Adil’s feelings when none of the others did and now she has been kidnapped along with Tooba precisely for that. Adil is also punishing her for not helping him in wooing Tooba. As Geeti recalls the events leading to their kidnapping, Tooba realizes how they were led on and trapped.

Tooba plans to escape by hitting Adil on the head as soon as he comes in but it’s not so easy for a girl, even the two of them against a man. Then, Tooba tries again by agreeing to marry Adil. But he has revenge on his mind and plainly refuses. He says he’ll make the situation so much worse that Tooba’s parents would want Adil to marry their daughter but even then he won’t accept her. When Adil comes onto Tooba, Geeti tries to protect her. That’s when Adil shoots Geeti. Then Adil comes after Tooba. I wasn’t expecting Adil to actually bring out a gun and shoot someone. His character has turned completely dark now.

Adil’s friend is outside, who seemed like the owner of the bungalow. He tells Adil that he shouldn’t have killed Geeti but says he’d handle everything. In the morning, when Adil comes home in changed clothes, his mother thinks her son is making himself sick with worrying about the girls. Mothers are always shown to be a bit biased towards her children, especially boys.
Ubaid and Akhtar are still worried but Akhtar says he can’t really trust Adil. Ubaid keeps saying to have faith and says they’ll inform the police when Adil comes back. Tooba is shown screaming for help but obviously no one comes. She stays in the room with Geeti lying lifeless in one corner of the room. She can’t accept what has happened and is in shock.

All that has happened to Tooba is only the beginning of her ordeal and how or whether she even recovers from this shocking and tragic experience is for us to find out.

I noted quite a few things that didn’t quite match the situations in this episode, especially Faiz’s quirky sense of dressing. Even in the midst of so much tension he still manages to stay fashionable (a pair of yellow trousers, in this case). The same goes for the scene where Tooba’s sisters are praying and they had painted nails. In so many of the plays, I’ve seen this, even in funeral scenes, where the ladies are all dressed up like nothing has happened. Also, the repetition of the same dialogues does emphasize the point but more than twice, it just gets too much.

Sumbul Iqbal is flawless with her expressions, especially the trauma of seeing her cousin getting killed in front of her really is appreciable. It gave me goose bumps. Even though I was kind of expecting all this to happen in the episode but the portrayal and execution of the scenes was good and aesthetic. On the whole, in my opinion, it was a well directed episode.

How many of you watched this episode and what are your thoughts about it?

Mahjabeen

After the big revelation of Moiz and Tooba’s engagement, Adil’s parents are scared that he’d hurt himself but he controls his emotions and puts on a brave face for his parents, especially his mum who is very worried. Geeti tries to talk to Adil but he doesn’t take her calls. Adil has a long internal monologue with himself, trying to understand why Tooba doesn’t love him.

Adil’s father has some wise words to make his wife realize that they really can’t help their son until he heals from within. ‘Mohabbat ka zakhm bohut gehra hota hai, kisi ke humdardi se nahi bharta/ Aur mehboob ki mohabbat mein rota hua dil sirf apne apko behelne se behelta hai, kisi ke behelne se nahi behelta’-this is absolutely true, for any kind of grief.

Adil shows a strong face to his mother and says he knows that ‘life goes on’ and says he’ll marry someone who loves him whole heartedly. He says he doesn’t need a ‘one sided love’ and tells his mother he’ll go for an arranged marriage which makes her happy.

He acts normal and goes to Tooba’s house to help out with the wedding preparations as usual. But since Aamna Phuppo doesn’t like taking Adil along to their shopping trips, Adil finds that everyone had gone without him. He then offers to take Geeti home. Geeti readily agrees and her happiness knows no bounds.

One scene that struck me as kind of strange was how Adil, for a split second, tells Geeti to ‘fall in love’ with him and then immediately snaps out of the moment and says things like how love is never real and that everyone will eventually betray.

Adil follows the wedding troupe around different shops at the mall and even to the food court! He buys things for Tooba as if he were marrying her. This led to the second most creepy scene in this episode-Adil looking through the jewellery, ‘jora’, sandals that he bought for Tooba and dancing around with the bridal dress in front of the mirror and also trying out her favorite perfume. All these scenes just go on to further establish his possessive, obsessive and psychotic nature.

One thing that struck me as odd was how Tooba and her family were always the last to know about Moiz and his mother’s plans. Aamna decides for Moiz and Tooba’s ‘nikaah’ on Fayez and Maira’s walima. She says that way Tooba’s visa proceedings will begin quickly and when they come again they’ll take her back with them. Obaid agrees to everything his sister says and his wife has no choice but to agree and look annoyed. I found the way Amna says ‘Haye mera bhai’ every time Obaid gives in to his Apa quite funny. Phuppo’s character is one that at times acts as a comic relief and at times instigates other characters, like how she clearly expressed her dislike in Tooba and Adil’s friendship and told Khadija to put a stop to it.

Tooba’s mother doesn’t think it looks good that her daughters will have their ‘ruksati’ from their house and then come back there. So, they decide to ask Aamna and her sons to stay over at Waqar’s house till the wedding. Obaid doesn’t really like the idea but tells his wife to be polite to his sister. But luckily, Apa understands the situation and agrees. Salma and Adil are surprised to hear about Tooba’s ‘nikaah’ being held so soon but they hide it well enough. We also get to notice Fayez’s change in attitude from his first interaction with Adil and he comes across as more polite and friendly.

I liked how the characters’ dialogues often speaks our mind like Tooba’s younger sister Tania asking why their Phuppo didn’t tell them earlier about Moiz and Tooba’s ‘nikaah’ and do all the shopping at once with Fayez and Maira.

Even though I felt the scene changes in some cases were a bit abrupt and had too many scenes showing the shopping trips, this episode further went on to establish the characters and their personalities really well. In my opinion, all the actors are playing their roles perfectly and I really hope the senior actors are given ample scope to showcase their talent and experience. I also felt that this episode centered too much on Adil and his eccentricities. Let’s see how he copes up in the next episodes.

Have you watched the episode? Please share your thoughts.

Mahjabeen

When I saw the teasers and promos for this play, the first thing which attracted me was the inclusion of veteran artists like Abid Ali and Talat Hussain. Even though I wasn’t in favour of violence against women which was the first thing shown, a scene between the characters of Goher Mumtaz and Sumbul Iqbal, I still decided to watch the first episode because of all the actors whom I admired such as the veterans and Tipu Sharif, Sumbul and even Asad Siddiqui who has improved quite a lot since he started out. I also had an exchange of comments on Facebook with the director Furqan T. Siddiqui about how plays should stop showing violence against women and should show women empowerment. He also said the play does go into showing how the girl overcomes her obstacles and I love the OST ‘Rangreza mere’. All these factors made me want to watch this play and try out my first drama review on this one.

The opening sequence was quite ‘filmy’ with the protagonist Tooba (Sumbul Iqbal) on the swing and the OST playing in the background. The characters were introduced well, showing that Tooba is the middle one among three sisters, Maira and Tania. Her parents Obaid ur Rehman (Abid Ali) and Khadija don’t have any son and consider his family friends’ Waqar (Talat Hussain) and Salma’s son Adil (Goher Mumtaz) as their son. Adil and Tooba have been childhood friends and now that Maira was getting married to her Phuppo’s eldest son Fayez (Tipu Sharif), Adil has been coming in to help with the wedding preparations. Waqar also assures Obaid to not worry too much with the wedding expenses over a phone call in the first few scenes. We get to know then, that Obaid’s sister Amna is coming from America with her two sons Fayez and Moiz (Asad Siddiqui) that morning and would be staying at
Waqar’s place. It was arranged that Adil would be coming to get the family to go to the airport to pick them up.

What I enjoyed about the episode was the ‘nokjhok’ and bonding between the sisters and also it looked like they were really a family and not a ‘reel’ family. Another character was of Geeti, who was in Tooba’s house for Maira’s wedding and was her khala’s daughter. She likes Adil and all the girls know about it.

After Amna and her sons arrive, it is shown that she wants to make Tooba her second daughter-in-law but her mother isn’t too keen on it. It is also shown that it isn’t only Amna but Moiz and Tooba also like each other. All her sisters and cousins are aware of this except Adil.

It also becomes clear from Amna Phuppo’s way of talking that she is not particularly fond of Adil. Meanwhile, Adil’s mother goes sees Tooba’s pictures stuck on his closet walls and feels that she needs to talk to her husband and take Tooba’s ‘rishta’. But Waqar says it is important that they get to know how Tooba feels about Adil before taking any steps. Even after this, Adil’s ever doting mum plans to do the engagement on the same day as Maira and Fayez’s.

I felt the character sketch was also well done in the sense that Fayez was shown to be a bit snobby unlike his brother Moiz who seemed a bit flexible. This came across from the scene where Adil says that his ‘mayun’ will be on the rooftops and Fayez asks why it can’t be arranged in a banquet hall.

Little scenes like Adil catching Tooba and Moiz having a private moment in the kitchen when Moiz tries to make Tooba confess her love for him, shows Adil’s possessive streak.

It seems that Obaid ur Rehman can’t confront his sister and yields to her wishes when she asks for Tooba’s hand in marriage for Moiz and Khadija can’t do anything but to agree.

Since Adil’s father was very adamant about making sure of Tooba’s consent before taking a proposal from Adil, he asks Geeti to talk to Tooba. He tells her that she’s his best friend after Tooba and that she is the only one who can do this for him. Geeti is upset when she comes to know how Adil actually feels since she was under the impression that Adil liked her. She wonders how to tell Adil the truth about Tooba and Moiz.

Adil lies to his mother and says that Tooba agreed to marry him. When Adil asks Geeti whether she had talked to Tooba, on the day of Fayez and Maira’s engagement, she also lies. Adil’s mum also doesn’t get time to talk to Tooba’s mum and during this time, comes the big surprise, Moiz and Tooba’s engagement ceremony.

I liked how the episode was first paced and it got straight to the point. Even though I am not in the favour of most of the plays starting and revolving around marriages, I hope this play goes on to show more than just that. The play is written by Shagufta Bhatti, writer of Paiwand and although I really don’t know what to expect from this play since I didn’t watch that play, I just hope this one goes well.

How many of you are watching this play? Do share your thoughts about them.

Mahjabeen