Khan | Geo Entertainment Sunday 10:30pm

an a serial become a hit just because Baber Javed produces it? Not really. Khan is a well-shot, big-budget action- thriller with Noman Ijaz playing a ruthless homicidal kingmaker with a deceptively calm exterior that only he can pull off in his signature style and paired with Shaista Lodhi. Ali Faizan, the director [Dua and Dhani fame] is managing a huge cast of 150 characters and competing against ARY’s Jeeto Pakistan in the Sunday night slot. The background music overpowers the action scenes, and we are waiting for Odho’s role to become less innocuous, for Shaista and Noman to show some chemistry and for some karma in Khan’s life.

Zindaan | Ary Digital Sunday 8.00pm

The hugely talented 19-year-old Aiman Khan plays the prettiest vamp on TV against her real life fiancé Mubeen Butt married in the play to Fatima Effendi as Lubna. Fresh faces and refreshing sets, writer Samina Ijaaz weaves a tight plot with unprecedented twists and turns around the vamp who nearly kills herself when she finds her unrequitted love getting married to someone else. Mubeen and Aiman Khan’s star-studded, Bollywood-type engagement earlier this year made them glossier than Aiman’s previous work in Faseeh Bari plays and Mubeen Butt’s silver screen venture Halla Gulla put together. Hence the serial is a hit with their huge fan following as well as regular TV drama audiences.

WHAT TO WATCH OUT FOR (OR NOT)

Watch out for Ramazan Transmissions on all channels, less for spiritual guidance and more for an entertainment circus. Your favourite televangelists, anchors, cricketers and top actors such as Sadia Imam, Noman Ijaz and Bushra Ansari and even news talk show stars such as Sheikh Rashid make appearances to entertain us in the last few fasting hours and beyond iftar. The bizarre Maula Jatt theme with Shoaib Akhtar and Wasim Akram is not a side-effect of too much sehri but for real. There are prizes galore including automobiles and air planes for the live audiences participating. Who said this has to be only about spiritual awakening and not business?

Published in Dawn, ICON, June 4th, 2017