THE WEEK THAT WAS

Rashk | Express Entertainment, Mondays 9.00pm

Eshal Fayyaz plays Sabika, who cannot see it spelt right in front of her eyes that there is something awfully fishy between her husband Harry aka Haaris (Ali Josh) and best friend-cum-personal designer Manaal (Saniya Shamshad), even when she finds Harry in Manaal’s house. Having discovered that hubby Haaris has been hiding his previous marriage to Sabika and profusely lying to her from day one of their marriage, Manaal is deeply hurt and wants a divorce. But she is kind enough to maintain the ‘all is well’ façade for her mum and Haaris’ parents who are now convinced that it was nothing more than a lovers’ tiff that the two separated.

Meanwhile, Haaris’s immigration letter arrives and, uncharacteristically torn with guilt, he tells Sabika that there is someone else in his life and that he is unworthy of this letter and her love.

Romeo Weds Heer | Geo TV, Sundays 8.00pm

After weeks of being subjected to the Bollywood-inspired OST by Sahir Ali Bagga and Aima Baig — choreographed dance et al — the serial goes on air with a whimper. Cashing in on the success of Khaani, the producers return with what is supposed to be a peppy comedy with Sana Javed (Heer) and Feroze Khan (Romeo) as university students who carry on with high school antics such as boys throwing water on girls. Seriously?

Romeo wears a multicoloured denim jacket that says ‘Romeo’ along with flags of the world, flower power and any teensy graphic you can imagine. The bold, brash and beautiful Heer hates the college casanova Romeo. Predictably, she will fall for him later. A keffiyeh-clad Ali Safina doing his rather stale ‘Milk Sheikh’ avatar that he did for Aag TV years ago is also so passé. After the tremendous hype created for this Anjum Shehzad-directed venture penned by Dr Younis Butt, one can legitimately ask: where’s the storyline?

What To Watch Out For

Haivaan | ARY, Wednesdays 8.00-10.00pm

Faysal Quraishi plays the dodgy, introvert neighbourhood ‘uncle’ Hameed whose wife Kulsum (Iffat Umar) is a more grounded person. In the close-knit neighbourhood live the widow Azra (Savera Nadeem) and her two daughters Momina (Sanam Chaudhry) and Masooma (Areesha Ahsan). Masooma is friends with Hameed’s youngest daughter Jojo (Hoorain) and the girls go to school together and spend time in each other’s house. One day, when Hameed is home by himself drinking, and his family is out of station, Masooma comes over asking for Jojo and is later shown gagged and tied up under the bed by Hameed. Masooma is asthmatic and eventually dies of asphyxiation. A frantic search begins with announcements made from the neighbourhood mosque while the police unearth no clues to Masooma’s whereabouts.

Back home after a short trip, Kulsum discovers freshly planted rose bushes in the home garden. Kulsum’s comments about Hameed’s sudden interest in gardening makes him uncomfortable, for he has committed rape and murder, and is anxious as hell about it. When the maid discovers a girl’s slipper from under a sofa, Jojo identifies it as Masooma’s but Hameed says he has no idea where it came from. Meanwhile, Hameed’s son Maan arrives from the US, spots Momina, falls in love and wants to marry her despite Hameed’s disagreement. Mazhar Moin’s artistic direction and Sara Sadain Syed’s hard-hitting, realistic story makes this a must-watch.

Published in Dawn, ICON, October 28th, 2018

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