THE WEEK THAT WAS

Ehd-i-Wafa | Hum TV, Sundays 8.00pm

All four friends Shahzain (Osman Khalid Butt), Shehryar (Ahmed Ali Akbar), Saad (Ahad Raza Mir) and Shariq (Wahaj Ali) are now graduated and moving on with their vastly different lives, with Saad having joined the military academy. Interspersed with military drill scenes captured well by director Saife Hassan is comedy by the slightly annoying Rani (Zara Noor Abbas) and the Seraiki cadet Gulzar (Adnan Samad Khan) who has owned his role from his very first scene.

Saad meeting Dua (Alizeh Shah) at the bus station and Dua getting off her bus just to be with him offers refreshing romance, as does the rom-com between Shahzain and Rani. With four male protagonists and a military setting sans saas-bahu shenanigans, this all-out entertainer, unlike other drama serials, is being enjoyed by male audiences as well.

Alif | Geo TV, Saturdays 8.00pm

With his grandfather Abdul Alla’s (Manzar Shebai) words about spirituality haunting him, Momin (Hamza Ali Abbasi) realises that, despite being a top film director with a luxurious lifestyle and a beautiful girlfriend, he is a lonely man after all. Juxtaposed is Momina (the aspiring actress he humiliated) who gets a fantastic break in her acting career but loses her beloved brother Jahangir (Hadi Bin Arshad), for whose kidney treatment she was desperately trying to raise money.

Little does Momin know that his girlfriend Neha (Sadaf Kanwal) is cheating on him with her friend Zulfi, who she wants Momin to cast in his next film. Momin is not keen on Zulfi, can sniff something fishy and has a surprise in store for her. Haseeb Hassan’s direction and the performances all round are a treat to watch.

What To Watch Out For

Meray Paas Tum Ho | ARY, Saturdays 8.00pm

The entire 12th episode focused on the three main characters through the span of a few hours in one night. Before beautiful wife Mahwish (Ayeza Khan) walks out on her husband Danish (Humayun Saeed), he asks her to cut a cake for their last wedding anniversary, and then proceeds to make tea for her and the ‘other’ man Shehwar (Adnan Siddiqui) who has arrived to pick her up.

Creepy or weird as the serial may be, writer Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar had us watching aghast as the remorseless Mahwish walked out the door, wheeling out her trolley bag. But while we were wallowing in sympathy for Danish, he changes the game and shocks us and Mahwish by saying something truly demeaning about her to Shehwar — and also setting social media abuzz yet again about Qamar’s misogyny. Nevertheless, can’t wait to see what Danish’s next move will be, and how big a mistake Mahwish has committed.

Published in Dawn, ICON, November 10th, 2019