THE WEEK THAT WAS

Pukaar | ARY, Thursdays 8.00pm

Farooq Rind directs the serial penned by Adeel Razzak (the award-winning writer of Muqaddas). The story gets pacey from the third episode. Clueless of what marrying into a feudal set up entails, urban girl Samra (Yumna Zaidi) marries sweet feudal boy Fahad Sultan (Saad Qureshi) and has a tough time learning conservative feudal rules from the stern mum-in-law Jia Ali.

The young couple soon discover that the marriage was a bait to pressurise Fahad to live in the village and contest elections to materialise Fahad’s father, Baba Sultan (Rehan Sheikh)’s dream of continuing the feudal and political heritage of the family through his only son. As the young couple’s relationship gets stormy, enter Sarang (Zahid Ahmad) to create some intriguing surprises.

Teri Meri Kahani | Hum TV, Wed-Thurs 9.10pm

After bagging 2017’s Rising Star Hum Award and 2018’s Lux Style Award in the same category, model Saheefa Jabbar Khattak makes her acting debut as Deena, playing the lead opposite Azfar Rehman.

Samra Ahmed writes an interesting story of a London-based girl who divorces her errant husband and leaves her well-to-do mother (Laila Wasti) behind to meet and live with her not-so-well-to-do father (Noman Masood) in Pakistan.

The parents had divorced when she was a kid and her mother forbade her from contacting her dad. Deena soon realises that the loving dad is a package deal in a conservative setup with a mean phuppo and an arranged marriage with Ibrahim (Azfar Rehman). The twist is that Ibrahim loves Sofia (Saboor Aly). Ali Faizan (Piya Mann Bhaye) directs the serial.

WHAT TO WATCH OUT FOR (OR NOT)

Kaif-e-Baharan | Geo TV, Sundays 8.00pm

Aiman Khan plays Seeerat Fatima, a young teacher resigned to her life of misery. She lives with and looks after her bed-ridden father who has lost her in a gambling bet to Shahnwawaz (Adnan Shah Tipu), a thug who will marry her even though she despises him. Why the loathesome character frequents their house and misbehaves like a lecher is only something that the director Nadeem Siddiqui knows, for surely the house doors have locks and bolts.

A complicated story by Almas-ul-Ain Khalid where Seerat’s mother (Huma Nawab), now married to someone else, still weeps and pines for her estranged daughter who was taken away from her by the gambler-drunkard husband.

Mohammed plays the male lead Kamran who is Shaista’s (Marina’s Khan) son, and who Shaista is keen on marrying off to Farwa who Kamran doesn’t fancy. Marina Khan and Huma Nawab play sisters.

When Kamran is injured in a mugging incident, Seerat saves his life and he falls for her. She later discovers Kamran’s ID card from Shahnwaz’s wallet (left behind in her home) that the latter is the perpetrator of the crime. The Baber Javed production with an inspiring story suffers from sloppy direction.

Published in Dawn, ICON, March 11th, 2018