THE WEEK THAT WAS

O Rangreza | Hum TV, Friday 9.00pm

Dumpukht director Kashif Nisar liberates the actor in Sajal Ali like no director has ever done before. Sajal transcends all her previous endeavours as Sassi, the beautiful, bold and brash daughter of poet Khayyam Sani (Nauman Ijaz). She confronts him for his double standards after he falls for a film actress Sonia Jehan (Sana Fakhar) but finds it difficult to come to terms with his own daughter wanting to live her dream of becoming a film star, the complete opposite of her plain Jane mother (Irsa Ghazal) who she despises for her lack of joie de vivre. Particularly enjoyable are the sequences between Sajal and Bilal Abbas Khan, a promising young actor.

Kosem Sultan Season 2 | Urdu1, Mon-Wed 9.00pm

Despite the ever-popular Beren Saat (Bihtar of Ishq-i-Mamnoon) being replaced by the beautiful Nurgül Yeşilçay as Kosem Sultan in Season 2, the Turkish sequel to the 2011 period drama (originally titled Muhteşem Yüzyıl Kosem) continues to draw a faithful audience most week nights.

Those who enjoyed Ottoman history with Geo TV’s Mera Sultan can get their fix with this story of a slave girl who became one of the most powerful women in Ottoman history after being captured and sent to the harem of Sultan Ahmed I. Well-composed music, splendid costumes, beautiful palace interiors and exteriors, manipulative complex characters, executions, twists, traitors and an involved plot (with just a few holes) make this an intriguing watch.

What to watch out for

Malkan | Geo TV, Monday 8.00pm

Following the off-beat role of a medium who speaks to the dead in TVOne’s Dhund, Maria Wasti makes a brilliant comeback to acting with the title role in Geo TV’s Malkan.

A 180-degree turn from Malika-i-Aliya (where she played the evil bahu), here Maria plays Gulnaz, the courtesan who marries into a traditional set-up and confronts a relentlessly disapproving mum-in-law (Samina Ahmed). But is Malkan any different from Malika-i-Aliya with the same kind of manipulation and connivance happening in order to get her paws on the the money and inheritance? Produced by Aijazz Aslam, directed by Wajahat Hussain and penned by Sarwat Nazir (Mein Abdul Qadir Hoon) this serial promises a bit of a filmi plot but we have high expectations from an actor of Maria Wasti’s calibre.

Published in Dawn, ICON, October 8th, 2017