THE WEEK THAT WAS

Ab Dekh Khuda Kya Karta hai | Geo TV, Tuesdays 8.00pm

After Jan-i-Alam (Danish Taimoor) peaked in his evilness by marrying Maryam (Sanam Chaudhry) only to divorce her at their valima reception, karma doesn’t spare him. The story is forwarded to six years later with his sister Erum (Maryam Noor) being mentally and physically traumatised at the hands of a con-artist whom she fell in love with. As Jan-i-Alam arranges psychiatric treatment and plastic surgery for Erum, he feels that his misery is actually Maryam’s curse.

On the other hand, Maryam now teaches in a boarding school, her mother (Parveen Akbar) is dead and she supports Hamna (Areesha Ahsan) who is the daughter of Jan-i-Alam’s driver Malik (Rashid Farooqi) who had given Maryam protection from Jan-i-Alam earlier. Here she meets Shan-i-Alam (Humayun Ashraf) who turns out to be the US-returned brother of Jan-i-Alam, but of course she doesn’t know that. Since she has been bitten once, she mistakes his genuine help for malicious intent and gives him a piece of her mind. Shan-i-Alam can’t help but fall in love with her. Meanwhile, Jan-i-Alam meets Malik and begs him to give him the whereabouts of Maryam as he wants to apologise to her, for in retrospect he too has fallen in love with her.

Deedan | A-Plus, Saturdays 8.00pm

Soon after their wedding, Resham’s (Sanam Saeed) husband Shabaz Khan (Hassan Noman) departs for Dubai and Resham settles into her routine of toiling all day looking after her in-laws and their house. Her friend Pulwusha marries Alamzeb (Sarfaraz Ashraf) who whisks her off to the city where he works as a driver. Pulwusha has a happy married life and has started to work as a domestic servant as her husband has no issues with his wife working, much to her astonishment and in contrast to the village norms.

The story takes a twist when, soon after Shabaz Khan’s departure, news of his death in an occupational accident arrives as a huge shock for Resham and her in-laws. It, nevertheless, gives Zardab (Mohib Mirza) hope that Resham might now want to come back to him as they loved each other before she got married. But Resham has resigned herself to the life of a widow.

What To Watch Out For

Ranjha Ranjha Kardi | Hum TV, Saturdays 8.00 pm

Faiza Iftikhar’s gripping story is directed by Kashif Nisar. This is a battlefield of talent — Iqra Aziz fabulous in the role of Noori, an ambitious garbage collector, and Imran Ashraf as Bhola, a mentally-challenged man who falls in love with her. As a child, Noori was drawn to Bibi Jannatay (Zaib Rehman) who teaches Quran to the village children. Bibi Jannatay teaches Noori to read and write and she is set to take her matriculation exam. Since Noori doesn’t want to live collecting rubbish but wants to make a living doing respectable work, Jannatay Bibi helps her find a job at a garment factory and accommodation in the city with a family whose children she had taught Quran to.

Noori is astounded but loves the fact that she now lives in a clean room, is served food in a tray and drinks water from a clean glass. In her new life, she meets three men: Sahir (Syed Junaid), a handsome shopkeeper who falls for her brashness and beauty; Bhola, who in his innocence finds her endearing; and Shauka (Noor-ul-Hassan), her drug addict father’s friend who has returned to their village with a bit of money and has evil designs on Noori, and whom she instantly dislikes.

Published in Dawn, ICON, November 18th, 2018