THE WEEK THAT WAS

Mera Rab Waaris | Geo TV, Thursdays 8.00pm

All hell breaks loose after Ayesha’s (Madiha Imam) vicious brother-in-law Mazhar (Tipu Sharif) accuses her of having an extra-marital affair with the other brother-in-law Faizi (Mirza Zain Baig). Believing Mazhar, Ayesha’s husband Haris (Danish Taimoor) sends her packing off for home, and insults Faizi badly when he brings over his wife/Haris’s sister Nimra (Anumta Qureshi). Nimra pleads her husband and Ayesha’s innocence but both families pay no heed until Nimra’s father Zaheer (the late Abid Ali) intervenes. Zaheer refuses to believe any accusations against Ayesha and pacifies Faizi.

While Nimra, who was thrown out of the house earlier (into the garden from where she refuses to budge), is restored back home with her in-laws, poor Ayesha is still in her parents’ home crying buckets, sticking to her idea that she is being punished by God for some unintentional bad deed! Mazhar goes off for the night thinking his wife Kinzi (Hira Hussain) is at her parent’s house, but she returns early and the fun begins when she gets a whiff of his extra-marital affair.

Khaas | Hum TV, Fridays 8.00pm

This is the most finely-tuned serial by director Danish Nawaz yet. No beatings, no push-and-shove but still Saba’s (Sanam Baloch) torturous marriage with Amaan (Ali Rehman) ends because of his narcissism, insensitivity, and his extra-marital affair with ex-girlfriend Salma (Hira Tareen).

But after his second marriage to Salma, karma catches up with him, giving him a dose of his own medicine, because Salma is as narcissistic and self-obsessed as he is, and he had failed to see it before the wedding. The delicate nuances and plausible situations are delightful to watch as Amaan slowly realises that his new wife is everything that Saba was not, and that he has truly lost a gem of a woman and landed himself right into a mess.

What To Watch Out For

Meray Paas Tum Ho | ARY, Saturdays 8.00pm

Any thoughts about Humayun Saeed looking too old as Danish, Mehwish’s (Ayeza Khan) husband are dispelled because of his ease with the role. The icing on the cake comes with Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar’s well-researched screenplay about the loopholes of how a government clerk can accept bribes and make money on the side. Yet again, Danish’s conscience wins and, much to his wife’s dismay, he returns a huge load of cash offered to him.

Meanwhile, reminding one of Indecent Proposal (1993), the serial gets intriguing as Adnan Siddiqui (Shehwaar) hovers in the background, poisoning Mehwish’s mind, enticing her with his wealth and charm, all under the pretext of friendship with Danish. With three million views on YouTube already, this one is not to be missed.

Published in Dawn, ICON, September 22nd, 2019