THE WEEK THAT WAS

Siskiyan | Bol TV, Thursdays 8.00pm

Visually rich and in-depth backdrops of everyday life in a small locality — so typical of Mazhar Moin’s direction — and realistic characters by Seema Ghazal make the story of the conservative, lower middle-class family a compelling watch. Mohammed Husain (filmstar Nadeem), a hardworking tailor, and his wife Khadija (Hina Dilpazeer), have two daughters, Azmi (Maria Wasti) and the younger Mumtaz (Faryal Mehmood). Khadija, complains endlessly about how difficult it is to get the younger daughter married off if the elder one’s marriage has failed. Mumtaz is a dreamy character who reads romantic novels and is desperate to get herself a better life. At a friend’s wedding, Mumtaz meets Faraz, (Imran Ashraf) who is equally smitten with her, and continues to meet him on the sly.

When Mohammed Husain’s income improves, he purchases a motorcycle at which Khadija is cheesed off because she only wants to save money for the daughters’ weddings. Umair bunks high school and gets involved in stealing money through a series of break-ins from the neighbourhood general store. A twist comes when, amidst all the hullabaloo, Mohammed Husain, the sole bread-winner of the family, is badly injured in a traffic accident.

What To Watch Out For

Aangan | Hum TV, Fridays 8.00pm

Based on Khadija Mastoor’s novel and written for the screen by Mustafa Afridi, Ehteshamuddin’s mega-hyped and star-studded serial with an extravagant budget finally kicked off with an intriguing episode. Muted colour tones of a beautiful haveli in the backdrop of the Khilafat Movement create an elaborate pre-Partition ambience.

The Malikan or lady of the house (Zeb Rehman) and her husband Mian Jee (Abid Ali) live with their three sons (two are married and one busy with political activities) and their daughter Salma (Soniya Hussain) in the haveli in a matriarchal set-up. Not only does the Malikan takes annual accounts from her munshi but also blatantly jabs Mian Jee for his kept women Akhtari and Firdous (actors yet to be revealed) for whom rations are supplied from the haveli. The bold and beautiful Salma has her heart set on Subhan (Ahsan Khan) who is a servant in the haveli. When the all-controlling Malikan discovers Salma coquettishly holding hands with Subhan in a crop-storing barn, all hell breaks loose. Salma is brutally whipped by the Malikan and Subhan sacked. This is only the beginning of the sizzling romance.

Published in Dawn, ICON, December 30th, 2018