THE WEEK THAT WAS

Katherine | Filmazia, Sunday 9pm

Following the success of 2014’s Russian drama serial Ishq Aatish — originally called Poka Stanitsa Spit [While the Village is Asleep] — for which Aima Baig sang Ishq Aatish Hai, European history buffs are now enjoying another Russian serial, an award-winning epic rerun on popular request.

Shot in St Petersburg, Moscow and Prague, it is a beautiful depiction of the era of Catherine, the Empress of Russia. Starring Marina Aleksandrova, the story revolves round princess Sophie Friederike Auguste who is married into the royal family and how she survives palace intrigues and plots, a coup d’état and the assassination of her husband Peter III to becomes the empress. The serial originally premiered in 2014 in Russia and held top ratings.

What to watch out for

Chanar Ghati | TV One, Wednesday 8pm

After a long hiatus director Ghazanfar Ali (Big G) is back with Chanar Ghati (CG), a historical tale of intense love, betrayal and revenge peppered with fantasy/supernatural where characters traverse back and forth in time while going through strange experiences and unraveling mysteries with the dead.

The engaging screenplay is by Umar Khitab. Since our audiences are used to Sanjay Leela Bhansali-type opulence in period drama sets or at least of Mor Mahal level, CG’s historical scene depiction is sadly stuck in the PTV of the early ’80s.

Nevertheless, CG has an interesting star line up with Samiya Mumtaz, Alyy Khan, Tipu Sharif, Shamayel Tareen and Ghazanfar Ali’s protégés Dino and Anoushey Ashraf with Ali Noor (Noori) who is making his acting debut.

Published in Dawn, ICON, August 27th, 2017