THE WEEK THAT WAS

Jhooti | ARY, Saturdays 8.00pm

So far so good for Nimra (Iqra Aziz) who consistently lied through her teeth to create a volatile situation between her husband Nasir (Ahmed Ali Butt), her family and her in-laws — so much so that a pressurised and cornered Nasir divorces her. But that is fine with Nimra, for she has her jewellery and her haq-mehr. Instead of crying in remorse, she is already planning to invest the money, to be able to fulfill her dreams of becoming rich. Iqra Aziz shines in her role and we can’t wait to see her real-life husband, Yasir Hussain, to appear soon in the serial as an antagonist.

Hamari Kahani | Urdu1, Mon-Thurs 9.00pm

The last thing Fiza (Hazal Kaya) expected to go wrong when the social services people come to check whether the dysfunctional parents Fakhri (Reha Özcan) and Shukraan Elibol (Esra Bezen Bilgin) deserve the custody of their children or not, is that her mum Shukraan would choose that precise moment to slit her wrists and attempt suicide. In the hospital, a distraught Fiza meets Basit (Burak Deniz), who comes in with the Elibol family friend Turan (Mehmet Korhan Firat), who has been brought to the hospital with a gunshot wound after a squabble with some troublemakers. The blessing in disguise is that Shukraan’s bipolar disorder comes to light, which has been the reason for her erratic behaviour, and for which she can now be treated. It’s a reunion for Fiza and Basit, as Fiza’s husband Jamil (Mehmetcan Minciozlu) decides to divorce her. You cannot help falling in love with the characters who are neither perfect nor bad people, but portrayed as humans who keep making mistakes.

What To Watch Out For

Pyar Ke Sadqay | Hum TV, Thursdays 8.00pm

While the unhappily-married-to-an-older-woman-for-her-money Sarwar (Omair Rana) sulks over young Mahjabeen’s (Yumna Zaidi) wedding, and spends nearly all his time at his mother’s (Gul-i-Rana) house, he is clueless that because of an unprecedented turn of events, Mahjabeen has gotten married to his stepson, whom Sarwar deeply despises and spares no chance to abuse. Now he doesn’t quite know how he’s going to deal with this strange situation. Meanwhile, Mahjabeen, despite being incredibly ditsy, continues to build a rapport with her equally weird husband Abdullah (Bilal Abbas). The serial is picking up pace as an unusual love story with a fair share of intrigue brought in by the greedy, deceitful and horrible Sarwar. Omair Rana, Yumna Zaidi, Gul-i-Rana and Bilal Abbas are outstanding in their respective roles.

Published in Dawn, ICON, March 29th, 2020