For the first time ever, the repulsive developments didn’t infuriate me much because there was this extremely pleasant thought soothing my mind: the torture’s ending next week and that’s probably the best thing I’ve heard this month :D.

I think all ARY plays should come with a disclaimer that says: All characters and events in this show will stop making sense at one point so watch at your own risk!

The episode revolved around: tum Raahim ko nahe cheen sakti, mein Raahim ko cheen kay dikhaungi, tum Hassan ko nahe cheen sakti, mein Hassan ko cheen kar dikahungi... Biwi No.1 & 2 went head to head against each other and it was actually very funny how Raahim was crying at the top of his lungs and yet, Aisha and Farah were engaged in a heated and bitter exchange of words- ab bacha sambaal lo ya larr lo- koi ek kaam karo.

I am glad that the whole Farah-can’t-take-care-of-Raahim fiasco ended in the first half of the episode and Farah ab Raahim ko sambhaal sakti hai- it’s a relief, I tell you, because Farah’s excruciatingly lengthy crying sequences were impossible to sit through.

”Bhai bhai, dimagh kharab kar kay rakh dia hai.” Nope, this time I’m not the only one saying this- it’s Aashi telling her ladli beti off for the 24/7 bhai ki rutt! I guess this should be the highlight of the episode :P. Thank God, this girl is getting on Aisha’s nerves too!

It’s actually pretty ironic how all of a sudden, Biwi No.2, who, let me remind you, was a home wrecker, knows all about mastering the art of making relationships work and the way she puts it, ”issay rishtay nibhana kehtay hain.” In contrast to this, Biwi No.1 is being portrayed as the vamp of the show. And Hassan, the fasaad ki jurr like I always call him, actually has the audacity to say, ”Tum dil say utar gayi ho, Aashi.” See, that’s how twisted the writer is- the wife who turns psycho after her piya’s second marriage ends up being the culprit and the piya who’s actually the one responsible for making her go nuts has the nerve to tell her off! I was super glad when Aisha decided to seek refuge in her bhai’s house but now that Saman is missing, I guess her temporary absence would lead to reconciliation- perfect ending, huh?

I like things detailed and descriptive and I know this was a very brief review but I am sorry guys, this episode had nothing to offer :P. What do you think of the latest episode? Are you waiting for the last episode? Voice your thoughts on this one :)

Maryam Mehdi

Isn’t it ‘fascinating’ to see something totally out of the world on your TV screen? I mean, ”Dusri Biwi” is setting trends and showing things that don’t even come remotely close to what happens in modern, educated Pakistani households! Apparently, it’s still Biwi No.1 vs. Biwi No.2 but this time their target is not the insensitive piya but the two-month old son of Biwi No.2 *drumrolls* Raahim! Please, I know this sounds ridiculous but unfortunately, that’s exactly what’s happening here.

The first half of this episode was like: Raahim cries in Farah’s arms. Farah hands him over to Aashi. Raahim stops crying and Aashi walks away with a triumphant smile. There you go! I mean, I wonder why all the mothers in the world fret over silencing their whining & crying babies because apparently, the way this drama puts it, a mother (in the ‘true’ sense) just needs to ‘hold’ the baby in her arms and lo and behold! The little guy will stop crying. I laughed out loud each time Raahim stopped crying exactly when Aisha took him in his arms- like, where does that happen? I just want these twisted people to give me one good, real life example that supports the scenario here because I am sure there’s none.

To be honest, Aisha was getting on my last nerve today & all I wanted to do was to wipe that smirk off her face. I have said it a zillion times before that I understand what she’s been through and she’s the one who has suffered the most but she’s taking her schemes to a whole new level now and it’s actually very disgusting to see her talking about, ”uss nay mujh say Hassan ko cheena tou mein uss say uss ka beta cheenun gi.’’ It was just yesterday that her good for nothing mind couldn’t figure out the simplest of things but now she’s formulating these long-term plans about driving a child away from his mother. I don’t like Farah one bit because I’ll always view her as a home wrecker but still yaar, I am a softie and I do feel that what Aisha’s planning to do is by no means morally, ethically or socially correct. We are talking about a mother & child here- it’s a universal bond and no one can change that. We all know that Raahim cries to his heart’s content when he’s with Farah but to be very honest, I don’t get what the fuss is about! I have a cousin and her baby boy keeps crying even when he’s with her but that doesn’t mean we’ll separate the two! Over here, they are making it look as if agar sautan sahiba na hoteen tou Raahim ko tou mar hi jana tha!

Surprisingly, even after the ‘eavesdropping’, Farah chose to stay in the same house and I am sure that by the end of the play, Bhai, Bhabi aur Farahi ki family mashwaray detay detay thak jayegi but the lethal trio won’t even budge for a second. And on a side note, Amber Khan’s hand movements while giving the ‘Aisha tumharay betay ko tumse cheen laygi’ lecture were very distracting.

Saman may be six or seven but she’s a muhallay ki aunty in every sense of the word! I mean, I was actually amused the way she was interrogating like a nosy desi aunty: yeh aunty apnay betay ko chor kar kyun gayi hain?

21 episodes down and I hope the last one graces my screen real quick! Please share your thoughts on your favourite play!

Maryam Mehdi

And the focus of today’s episode was on Farah oh sorry, I meant to say, Aashi ka beta, Saman ka BHAI, hum sub ka pyara, DB team ka laadla, the one and only- Raahim! I don’t know why Aashi had to formally announce what name she has come up with for Saman ka Bhai because we already know that she’s been calling him, ‘Raahim’. Plus wasn’t it Farah’s wish to call her son Raahim? I mean, the story is already so pathetic so the least the writer CAN do is make sure that such plot holes are avoided because no matter how minute or insignificant they appear to be, they make the play a lot worse- if it isn’t already!

Khair, the name’s not the topic of interest here because right now, I am enjoying this I-told-you-so-look, guys! See, I told you we are gonna have the piya and 2 biwis living happy together, sharing one roof with their respective children scenario here? Even though the Biwi No.1 has got some ulterior motives of showering all the love and affection on Raahim, I am sure by the end of the play, the begmaat will learn to share the love(s) of their lives and ah there you have it- a complete, picture perfect, happy shappy, FAMILY!

”Kia tum ab mujhay kabhi maaf nahe karo gay.” Umm, remind me again, who was the infidel partner here? Hassan or Aashi? Hassan. But who’s asking for forgiveness here? Aashi. Sick or what? I mean, Aisha wasn’t even directly responsible for the stunt Farah pulled off but still she’s the one supposed to feel guilty here and what’s worse? She’s perfectly fine with it too!

The phrase, ‘Saman ka BHAI’ was actually used quite a few times by Aisha because one of the MANY reasons why she is lattu over Raahim is that, ”Woh Saman ka Bhai hai. Uss kay baghair na Saman kha rahi hai na pee rahi hai. Aap zara uss ki haalat tou dekhen.” Yaar, give me room to breathe please! Even though the way Amber Khan delivers her dialogues makes me cringe, I have this newfound respect for her today because thank God, at least there’s someone here who doesn’t think that Saman’s cute! ”Yeh bacha uss bachi ka khilona tou nahe.” As sad as it is, Saman’s character is as poorly written as that of Hassan because so much, no, everything about her makes no sense whatsoever. You know what girls her age SHOULD be doing? They should be reading naunihaal, watching Disney movies, filling their coloring books and the list goes on but thinking about little BHAI day and night is not what little girls like to do, writer jee!

Oh and if Aisha poses so much of a life threat to Farah & Raahim, why do Farah’s parents easily let their daughter and nawasa go to Aisha’s place without taking a firm stand? And apparently, Farah’s mom knows where Aisha lives and even more surprisingly, Aisha knows the way to her sautan’s house too! I don’t know if Farah’s decision to stay with Hassan and Aisha surprised you guys but if I talk about myself, I would’ve been surprised if Farah had refused to go with her sautan because she has been so thickheaded since day one that it’s actually her intelligence that will come off as a surprise now!

I really don’t know what on earth is Aisha thinking? Okay, she truly, madly, deeply, loves Raahim and all, but for how long does she think she can keep Farah from taking care of her child especially when Farah is right under the same roof! No offense to the blessed brain of hers but her ‘plan’ is actually very flawed!

Hey, don’t you think since the last few episodes, a considerably large amount of screen time is given to a bunch of senseless and purposeless and yawn-provoking flashbacks? From the bottom of my heart, I advise ARY to end this play ASAP because enough is enough yaar, and I really really mean it in every sense of the word!

And brace yourselves, people because the pic below is SHOCKING!

What do you think of the episode? Share your thoughts on episode 20 of Dusri Biwi!

Maryam Mehdi

Forgive me for questioning the obvious but where does THAT happen? You know, one of the numerous detestable things about this play has to be the fact that it’s extremely difficult (read impossible) to relate to! I mean, when does a man hand over his nawaasa to the woman who happens to be his daughter’s sautan? I would, for the first time EVER, pat him on the back for admitting it aloud that yes, Aisha has been through a lot and this situation is traumatic for as well but this sudden and I would definitely say, HUGE change in his approach is staggering because wasn’t he blaming Aisha for ruining his daughter’s life the other day?

Aisha is not a bechari and I don’t feel a thing for her. There, I said it. I know that she has been going through extreme circumstances and her once ideal, perfect world confined to Hassan has been shattered but my question was, is and always will be: what has she done for herself? Hassan & Farah’s parents- it seems like they all had the license to pour out their frustrations on her and she just listened to them with this painful frown of hers, when it was she who should have given THEM a piece of her mind!

Saman, you got your wish! I hope you’re happy now. It seems like Saman’s obsession with her BHAI was so powerful that it blinded Aashi and now, mommy dearest is lattu over this little guy too! If I heard them right, she named him Raahim. Mehmaan tou who hota hai jo janay kay liye ata hai aur yeh tou hamesha meray paas rahayga. And that’s more of a reason why I have this growing fear that they will show Biwi No.1 & 2 living happily ever after.

Pata nahe chalta kay Aisha khush hai ya udaas. I commend the wise duo (Bhai and Bhabi) for saying it aloud because to be very honest, I too am clueless as to WHAT makes Aisha happy? When Farah was unconscious, she was afraid kay Hassan adhooray hogaye and now that Farah has regained her consciousness, she is crying kay ab Hassan mukammal ho gaye! You know, more than the leads, I really want Bhai and Bhabi to have their happy ending because they most certainly deserve it.

I just want this purposeless drama to end and I really hope that the next episode is the second last episode because it’s not even gaining much TRPs so what’s the point?

What do you think of the latest developments? Share your thoughts!

Maryam Mehdi

Eighteen episodes down, and what I wouldn’t give to see Dusri Biwi’s last episode grace my screen! While the 17th episode had nothing substantial to offer (like the whole play itself), the 18th installment had a lot to reveal about the latest turn of events.

For a fleeting moment, I saw a ‘glimmer’ of hope that Farah will re-discover the ability to think things through thanks to the company of her sane friend and she’d somehow manage on her own without having to go back to Hassan because she is better off without a guy who has been despicably insensitive and from a materialistic angle, broke too! But wait- can a female writer stand a strong & self-reliant female lead? NO! To reunite Hassan with the love of this life, oh sorry, the second love of his life (the first being Aashi, remember, he loves both his wives, okay?), he has this accident which actually wasn’t very severe, mind you, but khair, as soon as Farah hears about this, she goes back to her hubby dearest. So much for ‘mein ab kabhi bhi waapis nahe jaungi!’

Hassan’s accident actually worked like a charm because thanks to this, he got the love, care & affection of both his begmaat- there’s his Biwi No.1 pressing his clothes while Biwi No.2 spoon feeding him- life couldn’t get any better!

Trust me, I totally understand the fact that now that Hassan’s no more loyal to her, Aisha’s life has lost its meaning and purpose but if you ask me, her mood swings are excruciatingly painful! I mean, one moment she reacts as if she’d just storm off and never speak to Hassan again but right the other, she goes like, ‘mein tou Hassan kay liye hi jeeti hun aur ussi kay liye khatam bhi hojaun gi.’ (dialogues ka standard tou check karain ;P) Doesn’t it always bug you when a female lead resents the fasaad ki jurr’s second biwi more than the fasaad ki jurr himself? And I still don’t get why Aisha chose to stay in the hospital for the sake of Farah because all she could do was move here and there like a bhatki hui badrooh!

It’s definitely not Hareem Farooq’s best performance, not that I blame her- Aisha’s character lacks depth and the dialogues are carelessly written.

I remember how plays like Aahista Aahista, Izteraab, Bari Aapa & Humnasheen showed extremely submissive, docile and too good to be true second wives but I must say that when it comes to being a sacrificial lamb, Farah surpasses them all big time! I feel that the writer will not be completely satisfied until and unless the viewers unite & shout with all their might, ‘YES, Farah is the MOST MAZLOOM & BECHARI wife of all time!!’ They don’t want us to feel for Aisha as much as they want us to shower our sympathies on FARAH! Well, this time around, Farah tries to commit suicide so that Aisha, Hassan and Saman can have their ‘happy ending’. Just to remind you guys, Farah was the ‘other woman’, wasn’t she? Even if her conscience is bugging her now, it’s not like she didn’t know what she was signing up for! Hassan aur Aisha ki family disturb honahe rahi, in ki family disturb ho chuki hai!!

Heyyyyy, kitnay dinon say BHAI BHAI BHAI ka shor tha aur ab pata bhi nahe chala kay its BHAI OR BEHEN? If it’s a girl, I can already predict Saman saying, ”magar aap nay tou kaha tha kay aunty BHAI gift karain gi!” Saman’s mind is as twisted as her father’s- I mean, she simply refuses to stay with her Mamu and Maami, even though the poor souls have dedicated their whole lives to the well-being of Aisha and Saman, but as strange as it is, she is truly, madly, deeply in love with this recently discovered AUNTY! Well, Farah’s condition is very critical but her child is alive and healthy which means that there can only be two upcoming scenarios and both of them are pathetic to say the least. One, Farah might die and Aisha would take care of the child as her own. Two, Farah might survive and like I said somewhere before, Hassan+Biwi No.1 & 2+Saman+BHAII=WeAreAHappyFamily!

I would like to comment that by the end of the latest episode, they actually managed to capture that dusri shadi has created nothing but a mess- Hassan, Aisha, Saman, Farah and her family- they are suffering in one way or another and as Hassan’s friend rightly puts it, ”Dekho kaun kaun jal raha hai iss aag mein!” So I guess I can commend the writer for that ;).

Share your thoughts on this!

Maryam Mehdi

You know, ARY Digital shouldn’t have changed their TV symbol thingy on Women’s Day because the content they are bringing forward totally rejects the idea of ‘women empowerment’- tonight’s episode of Dusri Biwi showed how both the biwis are totally dependent on Hassan’s ‘faisla’ (the word ‘faisla was on a roll tonight) and Aashi, especially, doesn’t seem to have the courage to take a decision for herself. However, I would like to say that for the first time ever, I lovedd the way Farhi said it to Hassan’s face, ‘Mein aap say koi rishta NAHE rakhna chahti.’ But what I didn’t like was how she took this decision solely because, ‘Mein Hassan ko khush dekhna chahti hoon. Meri wajah say unki puri family bohat disturbed hai’. I would have praised her a lot more if she had made this decision not to show how much of a qurbaani ka bakra she is but to actually free herself from the hold of a guy who isn’t worth her time and care.

The pet phrase of all the lead characters in this episode was, ‘tumhara kia faisla hai/yeh mera aakhri faisla hai’. If you haven’t seen this episode and want to know what’s happening, here’s what you should know: Aashi is double-facepalming & CRYING, Hassan is sleepy+confused, Saman is lattu over her aunty and unborn bhai (being nauseously irritating is her forte after all), Bhai is senti, Bajjo is over-concerned, Farah is doing what she’s best at- hysterically CRYING & frowning and repeat (the frown is a MUST) and Farah’s dad is doing what he has always been good at- threatening! Don’t believe me? Have a look!

Aashi is solely relying on Hassan’s ‘faisla’ and I felt that she was actually begging for Hassan’s support, especially when she kept on saying,  ‘Mujhay aur Saman ko tumhari zaroorat hai!’

‘Tum Saman say ulti seedhi baatain mat kia karo, Hassan’- finally Aashi sensed that the case of her already airhead daughter is getting out of hand because of Hassan’s lame promises (believe me, ‘ulti seedhi baatain’ is an understatement!) and she finally pointed out the obvious (which has ALWAYS been a tough job for her confined mind)! You know, someone should hand over a book on child psychology to the writer because NO child in the world calls his/her mother, ‘gandi Mama’ because of a stupid aunty who didn’t stay for more than a week & an imaginary ‘BHAI’ who hasn’t even made an appearance!

Even though it seems that Farhi has made up her mind for once, her father’s reaction suggests that Farhi won’t be able to act according to her decision. Farhi’s parents were aware of Hassan’s marriage right from the beginning so they should have been foresighted enough to realize that their daughter will never be able to have her happy ending this way. Agar Hassan aur Farah nut-jobs hogye thay, tou at least the ‘mature’ duo should have refused to Hassan’s proposal but no no, I still remember how Farah’s mother said, ‘Hassan bhalay shadi shuda hai, ek bachi ka baap hai magar Aamir say laakh darjay acha hai!’

What are your thoughts on today’s episode? Share your views, please!

Maryam Mehdi

”I have a dream that one day Pakistani drama serials will show a strong-headed wife staying true to her vow of never returning to her loser husband.”
Hayee, until that day comes, I guess we are stuck with wives who are so thickheaded that when their husbands  deceive them, they blame neither the husband in question nor the other woman but they go on with their lives, thinking as if it’s their lack of attention due to which their husbands simply ‘lost’ their interest, after all un kay shauhar tou doodh peetay bachay hain, like, they don’t have a sense of right and wrong! Coming back to the story, well, Biwi No.1 couldn’t leave her piya dearest on the rehm-o-karam of Biwi N.2 and she just HAD to remind her sautan of the fact that, ‘Sirf mein apnay loser piya ki shirt press karti thi, karti hun aur karti rahoon gi’ because according to Biwi No.1, it doesn’t matter if he shattered her trust or married another woman and is having a baby too, what matters is the fact that her name is attached to that of this pathetic guy and as long as that’s the case, she will stay by him through thick and thin. As far as I can recall, Aisha had made it clear that she only went back to Hassan for the sake of her daughter but if that’s the case, why is she so concerned as to who takes care of Hassan’s things? From whatever we’ve seen up till now, all I can deduce is that our dusri biwi plays follow a certain pattern so here are a few, fixed phases:

A- Mills & Boon Phase: At this stage, the marital life is shown to be just perfecttttttttt. Overloaded with super-cheesy dialogues, exchange of promises andd in this play, Hassan used to sing Aisha to sleep so you can guess how difficult it gets for viewers to figure out why did the piya resort to dusri shadi.

B- Love can strike anywhere anytime Phase: Well, here the husband just wakes up one day and  magically falls in love with a girl who happens to be unmarried and yet, she chooses to live the rest of her life with an already married guy- epitome of true love, huh?

C- Disclosure and Immediate After-Effects Phase: That’s when the news of piya’s dusri shadi is out in the open and the Biwi No.1’s whole world collapses AND her dhokaybaaz piya is the last person she wants to see.

D- Patch-up Phase: Normally this phase comes after a lot of apologies & justifications from the piya’s end but surprise, surprise, in this case, it didn’t take piya’s sweet talking but actually Bhabi’s golden advice  to make Biwi No.1 realize that life without sartaaj is a life not worth living! So cool!

E- Biwi No.1 Vs. Biwi No.2 ‘Clash of the Titans’ Phase: Needless to say, this stage involves incessant attempts of both the begmaat to win the only thing they have in common*drumrolls* their sartaaj! The ironic part is that the piya’s not even worth  fighting for and while these two ladies are struggling to win their piya jee, the fasaad ki jurr enjoys the situation with a triumphant smile because the world hasn’t been a better place for him! Even though we haven’t exactly reached this stage in this play yet, I can smell it from here!

I wish I could talk to the writer and ask her what in the world was she thinking while penning Bhabi Jee’s dialogues because they were perhaps the worsttttt dialogues I’ve come across in a long, long, time! Let me just say that I don’t doubt her intentions one bit- words can’t explain how concerned Bhai and Bhabi Jee are about Aisha- too bad they’re not blessed with a cerebrum and this time around, Bhai Jee’s logic was at least making some sense but about Bhabi Jee, I’ve given up! According to her, Hassan tou bohat narmdil aur masoom tha aur hai. I mean, since when? Woh tou uss larki nay ussay apnay jaal mein phasa liya. And I couldn’t believe my ears when she advised Aisha to take this whole situation as a ‘challenge’ to win Hassan and prove to him that Farah is not worth his time or attention. Aisha, tum khud ko jor kar uss ko (Farah ko) tor do! Girl, you’re so wise that Socrates is weeping in his grave!

To tell you the truth, I am finding Farah and Saman’s bonding veryyyyy unnatural and forced! As far as I know Farah’s 24/7 frown isn’t exactly the sort that’d attract kids and how can Saman grow so close to a woman over a few days? I mean, Saman was actually ‘missing’ her dream ‘aunty’ (Farah)!

And it SEEMS like Amir is gone for good and I lay emphasis on this ‘seem’ because Amir is writer’s darling- she adds him whenever she craves some tension and discards him whenever she feels like. I know the name of this Amir guy- Ahmed Ali! UFF! Now that I am watching IshqParast (will review it too), there’s only one sing that clicks my mind everytime I see him on the screen: Chahay mujhay koi Jungleeee kahayyyy! Seriously, this guy loves to play the junooni of the year and I don’t know if it’s just me but Farah and Amir’s scene today reminded me of Rameen and Numair/Aazar’s scenes and this is something I found way too cringe-worthy! Hey guys, Taj Begum ko halka na lo! I really feel like holding that glass jar in my hand to see how much it weighs because I couldn’t believe my eyes when Amir just fell flat on the floor- just like that! All I can say is, next time someone tries to strike you with some glass thing, Amir ka anjaam yaad rakhna! Shukar hai the guy didn’t die on spot! For those who didn’t watch the episode, Amir tried to physically harass Farah (remember, Karachi is so safe that we keep our doors unlocked so anyone can barge his/her way in) but Taj Biwi struck him with a glass jar thingy AND Amir lost his consciousness! He was taken to the police and now he has left the city- so that’s supposed to be the end of his character, no?

So this is what Episode 13 was all about. I am extremely disappointed and let’s see how the story’s going to shape up now. Share your thoughts, people!

Maryam Mehdi

Whoaa, after I was done watching this episode, I spent some time sulking over the fact that my exams marked their entry right when the most happening episode of Dusri Biwi went on-air! For so longgg I was craving this climax because I was curious to know how’d Aisha react to the worst news of the century. I had initially intended to review episodes 12 & 13 together, but no no, this episode must be discussed separately!

I don’t know if I should be saying this but I have this newfound respect for Amir :P- okay, he is a psychotic guy who can stoop low for revenge but breaking the news about Hassan and Farah’s marriage is perhaps the most qaabil-fakhr thing he’s ever done because needless to say, we all were desperate to see Hassan’s true face being exposed to Aisha and since it’s Amir who finally did the honours, I am thankful to him for giving us the kalaijay-pay-thandak-parnay-wali feeling! I think this was the right time for disclosure because had they not shown it to us any sooner, the story (which is already the last thing that can get the viewers jumping for excitement) would have become stagnant. I don’t have any complains with regards to the pace of the show because thankfully, I guess the director had enough brains to  figure it out that a sound pace is the only thing that can attract viewers to this play. I don’t know the name of the actor playing Amir’s role but I must say that his facial expressions were spot-on especially when he said, ”Aap nay apni bari begum sahiba ko bataya nahe kay aap nay shaadi karli hai aur ab Masha Allah say bachay kay baap bhi bannay walay hain.” I was enjoying every bit of Hassan’s helplessness and this was as kalaijay-ko-thandak-providing for me as it was for Amir :P

Coming to the serious part, Aisha’s reaction has been spot-on (although a tight slap/punch was something I was craving lekin khair humari bari begum sahiba bari lehaaz wali hain :P) and seeking Ahmed’s support was totally the right thing to do. She rightly held Hassan and Farah equally responsible for everything and I liked Aisha’s outburst in front of Ahmed- Ahmed had been wanting to handle the situation by concealing the news because he wanted to see his sister living a ”happy” life with Hassan but Aisha was upset with his approach, which goes to show that she’s not one of those people who simply refuse to face the truth just because they don’t want their illusions destroyed and going by Aisha’s reaction, it seems like she  definitely doesn’t want to live the rest of her life with someone who has been nothing but dishonest & unfaithful to her. I would LOVE to see her moving on- my wishful thinking, huh? I must confess that I honestly felt a lot for Aisha and I had no trouble relating to the emotional turmoil she was going through because since day one, they left no stones unturned in showing us what Hassan means to Aisha. Her world revolved around him- she trusted him like anything, only to find that all this time she was trusting an unimaginably shameless guy who just HAD to turn into a beizzati-prone, behiss & bewafa shauhar after being smitten by a girl with fiance-problems! Aisha was gullible and naive but she was plain sweet and meant no harm so seeing her crying over a guy like Hassan was something depressing.

You know when Hassan said kay Saman has never even seen him and Aisha being upset with each other, I couldn’t help but question it aloud that when things are sooooooooo picture-perfect, things don’t just go horribly wrongggg like this and since the writer didn’t bother to make it clear, can someone please do the honours and tell me again that all of a sudden, WHAT did actually compel Hassan to resort to dusri shadi?

This episode, to some extent, did show how dusri shadi was nothing but a mistake for both Hassan & Farah and Farah’s flashback showing how her sister had warned her about the adverse side to dusri shadi also indicates that Farah regrets this decision. Hassan has not only lost his reputation and respect in the eyes of Aisha, he is also struggling financially and it’s good that they’ve portrayed how taking care of two wives also gives rise to financial problems. He misses his daughter and his daughter misses him and this is the second ‘Big Bang’ play in which a strong father-daughter relationship is shown and the child star gets a considerable amount of screen time.

And ohh, it seems like Karachi is the safest city in the world because quite surprisingly, both Aisha and her brother keep their homes unlocked and anyone can barge in-just like that!

Even though this episode was comparatively better than the previous episodes, the initial ‘bonding’ scenes between Aisha & Farah are actually worrying me because Aisha commented how having a son will remain her and Hassan’s ‘unfulfilled’ desire so you never know- they could be setting this unprecedented trend of Husband+Biwi No.1+Biwi No.2+Daughter1+Son1=WeAreAHappyFamily!  Hayee, like I mentioned before, the thought alone makes me shudder!

What do you think of the latest developments? Share your thoughts, please!

Maryam Mehdi

Here I am, scratching my head and struggling to find the right words to explain what’s happening in Dusri Biwi. Just so you know, I am the kind of person who always takes the worst possible scenarios into consideration but I have to admit that seeing Aisha and Farah (the former not knowing that the latter’s her sautan) living together under one roof was something I didn’t think of. It’s not that I had some great expectations but HumTv’s ”Aahista Aahista” touch is making me go ballistic!!

I know it sounds boring but Amir’s presence ”frightens” Farah to death  (zzzzzzzzzz) and when Farah finally musters up the courage to go out to buy something for herself, she finds Amir following her but for a guy soo desperate, it’s unbelievable how he didn’t follow her into the store- bus gari say hi ‘FARAH’ chilla kar chalay gaye! This guy has got so much time on his hands- he is apparently or I should say, obviously jobless yet he owns a Corolla! Right when Farah thinks that her coast is clear,  she bumps into *drumrolls* Aisha! As vulnerable as she is, Biwi No.2 loses her consciousness but our Biwi No.1 comes to the rescue! Haha, not every day a biwi turns into a maseeha for the girl with whom she happens to share the love of her life, huh? So Aisha brings Farah home and lo and behold! Biwi No.1 & 2 are living under the same roof! Aisha recognized Farah instantly and on a serious note, I would like someone to remind me of the episode in which the two ladies actually met each other in person because it may be my weak memory that all I can recall are the phone conversations they had with each other.

Uss larki mein aisa kia hai sab ko uss say pyar hojata hai?
Thank you for asking it aloud, Ashi, isn’t it a coincidence that we both were wondering the same thing???!? All I see when I look at Farah is a fed-up-of-life girl with obnoxiously scattered, half-dyed hair and a terrible frown, muttering something in her putting-to-sleep voice.

Tum 2 din say ghar say ghayab ho aur tumharay shauhar nay tum say contact karne ki koshish nahe ki? I was actually veryyy relieved when Aisha questioned Farah about her husband because considering Aisha’s exceptional case of gullibility, it’s actually a HUGEE accomplishment for her confined mind to point out the obvious! Also, just within two days, Saman has grown soooo close to Farah- this seems way too forced! I mean, what’s the writer’s point here- dusri biwian can be perfecttt step-mothers too?! I am running out of words to describe how detestable Hassan is but this time I’d really like to give Aisha a piece of my mind: ARE YOU INSANE? Agar tumharay shauhar kay ghar mein tumharay liye jagah nahe tou tum yaheen rahogi- meray saath! HELLO? Did it never dawn on Aisha that there are loadssss of other people, or to be more precise, ‘blood relatives’ who can take care of a girl abandoned by her hubby, for instance, ammi, abba, bhai, behen, chacha chachi, taaya taayi, phupo phupa, mamu, maami, khala khalu, dadi dada, nana nani!! Its soo unbelievably infuriating that Aisha doesn’t even ask herself: why am I taking care of my piya’s EX-colleague, I repeat EX-colleague?!

Bhai Jee’s bharam tou uff! He is losing his temper and I laugh out loud every time I see him and Bhabi Jee on the screen- they’re a good-for-nothing duo, you know. It was sooo hilarious the way he snapped his fingers and said, ‘Mein tumhe apni behen ka ghar tabah karnay nahe dunga! Samjhi tum?’ *snaps fingers*:P

I always liked Hassan’s friend for being the only voice of reason in this play but no no, how can the writer let us enjoy the experience of watching someone taunting Hassan? This friend offers some golden words: jaisa chal raha hai waisa hi chalnay do! See, this whole Farah-and-Aisha-staying-together thing is not ending anytime soon! You know, I am dreading the unthinkable: what IF IF IF after a lot of drama and rona dhona, they show Hassan, Aisha, Farah, Saman and the newborn baby leading a peaceful life in the last episode? I know it’s tooo bad to be true but considering how kind and considerate both wives appear to be and how well Farah is getting along with Saman, I am having a veryy bad bad feeling about this!

Please do let me know what you think of the latest developments. :)

P.S: Since my papers are about to begin and they’re not ending any time before 19th Feb, 2015, I will review Episode 12 & 13 together. I am so sorry but you guys are an amazing bunch of readers so I hope you understand :) Have a great day and yes, do wish me luck!

Maryam Mehdi

Oh My God!! I must say that the supporting characters of this play (Amir, Bhai Jee and Bhabi Jee) are not only hopelessly farigh but also the biggest twits in the history of twits and I couldn’t help but wonder aloud: WHAT WERE THEY THINKING? Bhai and Bhabi have actually lost their brain screws and the lameness level of their ‘tactics’ to change Farah’s mind actually left me perplexed! The supporting characters were given a lot of coverage today so they better have something substantial to contribute to the story.

Alright so all of a sudden it turns out that Bhai Jee’s inner politician has finally sprung to life after stumbling upon Hassan’s infidelity. Bhai Jee’s significant other, like a couple of other characters in the play, is yateem so the only person she has in this whole wide world is Ahmed and therefore, everything that’s important for her hubby is important to her and since she can’t say ‘NO’ to him, she conveniently sides with him no matter how ridiculously lame his plans are. And oh, the couple of other yateem characters are Aisha and Hassan-I’m pretty sure about the former but the latter’s parents might mark their entry because its DB airing on ARY, so anything can happen now :P.

Well, Bhai Jee’s plan No.1 was that acting all goody-goody and sweet in front of Farah and then brain-feeding her against Hassan would be enough to separate the two but little did he know that Farah’s blindly in lovee (zzzzzz) and even though his analysis on Hassan was spot-on, Farah didn’t budge because in the world of dusri biwis, she is the epitome of sabr & wafa *sighs*. But I’d just like to say that even though leaving Hassan is out of question for Farah, she does seem to realize that marrying Hassan wasn’t exactly the best decision she ever made. Throughout the episode, she was apprehensive and to some extent, contrite. Okay so when plan No.1 failed, Bhai Jee stepped in with yet another tactic to convince Farah that she can leave Hassan without any sort of fears and well, as anybody could guess, Bhai and Bhabi Jee are childless (hence the farighness) so Bhabi Jee approaches Farah and offers some great words of wisdom (I made some changes): dekho agar tum bachay ki wajah say Hassan ko nahe chor parahi tou kia masla hai? Mujhay pata hai kay mein tumhari sautan ki bhabi hun, tumhara Ahmed say koi blood relation nahe hai BUT meray mian jee khisak chuke hain aur according to him, tum itni achi ho kay ek dafa ki request par humain apna bacha dedo gi- see, it’s a walk in the park, right? Hand over the baby to us and our family frame will be completed, you’ll be able to walk out on Hassan and your piya, along with his Biwi No.1 and Beti No.1, will live happily ever after. The End. THREE problems, ONE solution ^_^ So while Bhai Jee is pleased with himself for coming up with a plan so foolproof, Farah shuts Bhabi Jee up and well, Bhai Jee has to come up with ANOTHER plan. Now, this time around, he decides to bribe Farah with his brand new BANGLA because he still doubts her persistence and thinks that his brand new irresistible offer should do the trick.

Honestly speaking, it never dawned on me that Hassan isn’t as affluent as his house, car, mobile phone, office, fancy suits, hair gel and the dresses of his begmaat suggest so the fact that Hassan is struggling financially because of multiple responsibilities did come across as something shocking. This goes to show that apart from being disloyal, dishonest and shameless, Hassan was senseless too which is why he tied the second knot, despite knowing that his financial conditions are not very sound or ideal for supporting two families. Plus, both his Biwi No.1 and 2 were expecting at the same time so that’s how his decisions show a lack of forethought- nut-job he is! I am soo glad that Aisha and Hassan’s scenes in Murree weren’t shown because to see someone like Hassan expressing his love for his Biwi No.1 would’ve been unbearable so thanks for sparing us the torture! You know, Hassan, Aisha and Saman- they look picture perfect as a family and Fahad Mustafa and Hareem Farooq share great chemistry and if only they’d brought together the same people for a better project, we would have been looking forward to it. But here we are, looking at a guy juggling and twirling around (the twirling in the opening sequence makes it even worseeee) his Biwi No.1 and 2. You know, sometimes I wonder how a girl who used to be so active and independent before marriage can be so content with a post-marriage life that only involves lazing around and waiting for a phone call that’s never meant to come? You know, I would have a lot more respect for this play only if they show Farah leaving Hassan and starting a life on her own (even if that means living in Bhai Jee’s plot) :P. Hayee, but khair, right now, our Biwi No.2 is having a candlelit dinner with HERSELF because her piyaaa is in MURREE, with his BIWI NO.1 and BETI NO.1 and BIWI NO.2 is discontented and yet, she is ‘celebrating’ the day she met the guy because of whom she’s all alone right now, true love, huh?

Well, well, well, Amir sure didn’t learn his lesson and here he is doing what he is best at doing- harassing! The thing about this guy is that he LOVES to drop notes and letters because he believes in PENNING his thoughts and feelings. Someone wise once told him that letters serve as ‘aadhi mulaqaat’ and Amir sure took this veryy seriously. Like I mentioned before, if he doesn’t have anything to add to the story, as I suspect, he should leave ASAP.

This episode clearly showed that Farah is not satisfied with her life so I really really hope that she takes a stand for herself; the chances are slim but I like to hope for the better ;) What do you think of the latest developments? Share your thoughts!

Maryam Mehdi

Yaar aap sab kuch chorain, bus yeh sunain: Farah is no longer ‘just’ Farah- she is Hassan’s Farhi!!! I have to recover from a laughing fit and you might think I’m overreacting here but trust me, the way Hassan (Fahad Mustafa) said ‘aap meri Farhi ka khayal rakhay ga’ was soo nauseatingly comical that once again I had this, ‘what-on-earth-am-I-WATCHING&HEARING feeling! I was about to have my ears checked but Hassan said it AGAIN and that’s when I had one of my rare Eureka moments- I have finally discovered the wisdom behind Hassan’s logic of nicknaming his wives! As far as I can figure, whenever Hassan feels like his wife is being extra supportive and nice, he changes the ending syllable of her name from ‘a’ to ‘i’- you see, Aishaaa became Ashiiii and right when he saw that his Biwi No.2 is not only going to give birth to his child but is also selling her gold kay kangan for him, helping out his excruciatingly irritating daughter with her homework and sharing some romantic moments with him when Biwi No.1 isn’t around, he realized that its only fair to alter Biwi No.2’s name and lo and behold! Farah becomes Farhii! Chalo, ab batanay mein bhi acha lagay ga: Hi guys, this is Hassan here and here meet my begmaat, Ashiii and Farhiii!’

Pheww, thanks for bearing with me guys, the thing is that this episode was just soo pathetic that I had to struggle to regain my composure and now that I am back to normal, let’s just say that each and every character from this play must be locked up inside a mental asylum starting from Bhai, Bhabi, Hassan, Aisha, Farah right down to Saman! I haven’t come across dialogues as disgusting as the ones I came across here. I mean, Hassan ‘promises’ Saman that she will ‘receive’ a bhai as her Bday gift and his actual words are: aunty aap ko bhai daingi?!! What’s the writer’s point here- Aisha and Saman are ‘lucky’ enough to have Farah in their lives because only she will do the honours of completing the family frame? And I may be wrong but I couldn’t help but wonder that Saman is probably in class 2 and the maths exercises of her grade can’t be that hard but it’s strange how Ashi (who is most certainly NOT an illiterate/uneducated person) didn’t know how to help her daughter out which again seemed to be one of the writer’s attempts to show how ‘badly’ Aisha and Saman depend on Farah for the simplest of things and they just can’t do without her! Yes, Saman ‘abhi sirf bachi hai’ but it’s the 21st century and even children are very smart these days so it is extremely unnatural that Saman is accepting all the abnormal explanations & dilasay so happily & wholeheartedly. Sometimes it almost seems kay even if Ashii leaves Saman someday, it’ll only take Hassan’s sweet talking and Aunty’s puppet mimicry to make Saman forget all about her mommy dearest!

And I don’t think I disclosed the most shocking part yet: while these ‘bday par Aunty bhai gift karain gi’ talks were going on, Aisha was listening but not reacting! I mean, tell me, where in the world does THAT happen? You know, that’s exactly why I don’t feel anything for Aisha anymore because as much as I can  understand what she’s going through, the truth is that she is the one making all the wrong decisions for herself.

Have a look, jis ki wajah say ro rahi hai, ussi kay kaandhay par sar rakh kar rorahi hai! (see below)

Alright, that much expected ‘Aisha ya Farah’ ultimatum has been issued to Hassan but remember, our hero, nope- villain is in love with both his wives so he can’t think of leaving either of them. Hassan is so dheet that since the day he got nikkah-fied, his justification has been: BAS sab kuch aisay hi hogya aur mein nay kuch bhi soch samajh kar nahe kia! Look bhai, you weren’t a moppet, you weren’t drugged, no one pointed a gun at you or threatened to pull the trigger so HOW do you explain, ‘bas hogya’?! By the way, I loved the way Aisha corrected him when he was continuing his ‘I love you Ashii’ ki rutt! Throughout tonight’s episode, Aisha was in this queer state of confusion. She is an educated mother of one and I guess at this point, she should be able to trust her own instincts & judgement to make the right decision but no no, even though she’s well aware that Hassan doesn’t deserve her, she still relies on the advice of the Socrates of the family- her Bhabi Jee! Bhabi is the aunty agony of the family and according to her, jis tarah Farah nay Hassan ko ‘pyar’ say tumse cheena, tum bhi Hassan ko ‘pyar’ say hasil karlo! And lo and behold! Aisha is following her advice too! My point is, why can’t she think for herself and why does she allow a third person’s advice to alter the course of her life? On a serious note, it’s good to see that Aisha is not acting as if things are perfectly normal with Hassan which is actually a good sign warna I was thinking kay Aisha isn’t even a human being!

A  moment of relief: Farah’s parents are finally back so I GUESS we won’t be witnessing the two-biwis-living-under-one-roof scenario next time so congrats! By the way, Ashii’s life turned upside down, she just found out that she has a sautan and she has to witness her daughter-sautan’s bonding scenes too but isn’t it ironic how din ho ya raat, her blush-on, lipstick & eye-shades suggest that she gets ample of time to take care of her make-up?

Share your thoughts on this episode, please!

Maryam Mehdi

Directed by Anjum Shahzad, written by Samina Ijaz, produced by Big Bang (best known for creativity, recent venture: Koi Nahe Apna) and starring Fahad Mustafa, Hareem Farooq and Maha Warsi, ARY’s ‘fakhria paishkush’ involves lots of twirling- the ladies twirl around in delight to show off their dresses and the guy twirls around his donon biwian with a self-congratulatory smile to tell the world,’Dekho, mein nay do shadian kar kay kia teer mara hai’. If you have seen the promos and the OST, you definitely know what I’m talking about. I am sure had they put in half as much effort, time and money in the script of the play as they put into the good-for-nothing lehengas, mathapattian and chooriyan of the begmaat, something more constructive would’ve surfaced. Our writers are obsessed with the idea of ‘dusri shadi’ and entertainment channels have been churning out one play after another based on this done-to-death topic. ‘Dusri Biwi’ is no different and this time around too, the story is baseless: Only God knows what’s gotten into the bewafa shauhar who was leading a picture-perfect marital life but then he woke up with this sudden whim to become involved in someone else and cheat on his pehli biwi. I mean I had anticipated how stupid the twists and turns would be but this one, in particular, left me bewildered. Well, one doesn’t have to be a genius to guess the story. The name says it all!

Alright, so there you have it: a tooooo good to be true, typical wife, oh sorry, pehli biwi, Aisha (Hareem Farooq) who is pretty, docile, submissive,  khidmatguzaar and totally depends on her husband, Hassan for everything, like, the gal can’t shop for herself because her husband does that for her. Ha! Then what completes the family frame is their daughter, Saman. Perfect family, no?

Aandd the award for ‘The Most Complicated + Confused +Poorly developed Character’ goes to Hassan (Fahad Mustafa). On one hand, he loves Aisha to death, he sings her to sleep (seriously!) and performs household chores for her but the next instant, the entry of a female colleague, Farah, changes everything. Maha Warsi receives the ‘honour’ of playing the titular character of the play: *drumrolls* Dusri Biwi! Farah works at Hassan’s office and is engaged to an immature and demanding guy, Amir. Farah isn’t very fond of him as he is short-tempered and overly-possessive. Hassan develops a liking for Farah and continually peeks his nose into her personal matters. Eventually, both Farah and Hassan fall in love with each other. And at this stage of the story, Farah has confessed her love for Hassan and is breaking off her engagement. The only question I can put forth is: is Karachi devoid of all eligible bachelors that young girls are obsessing over married men? I know this is definitely not the case in actual life but I wonder why this trend is strengthening its grip in our plays.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is what Dusri Biwi is all about! Masterpiece, right? And to match this masterpiece, they decided to choose its shayaan-e-shaan OST (which is perhaps the only area where ARY is excelling these days; recent examples include Dil Nahe Manta, another epic comedy). Ahmed Jahanzaib has offered his vocals and the song is filmy and its video has too much-twirling going on! Also, the lighting is pathetic. I mean, Hassan and Aisha’s house is literally screaming out aloud: Why so gloomy?!

I seriously don’t know what the hype was all about. Hareem Farooq looks stunning and the make-up artist has done justice to her attractive face (no choona pheww) but her acting doesn’t really strike a chord. According to some sources, with this play, Fahad Mustafa puts an end to his silver-screen career. I really wish he had been more sensible in making this choice, considering this was his LAST play. I am actually glad he is taking a break because his expressions are monotonous than ever.

Did you watch Dusri Biwi? I would love to know what you guys think of it. And oh yes, (see below)

Let me give you Option C: Writer ki!!!

Ab choose karo, Musalmano!

Maryam Mehdi