THE WEEK THAT WAS

Deewangi | Geo TV, Wednesdays 8.00pm

Rich, eligible bachelor Sultan (Danish Taimoor) falls for intercity bus service hostess Nageen (Hiba Bukhari). Since he has no parents, Sultan is being pressurised by family elders to marry cousin Narmeen (Zoya Nasir styled tackily in Western wear), who blatantly tells him that she loves him but he has no interest in her.

Such a deewana Sultan has become for Nageen that, despite his busy schedule, he finds the time to buy intercity bus tickets (that he throws away on the day Nageen is not on duty), and travels between cities to ogle at Nageen, who is a middle-class girl, working to help support her sister’s greedy family with whom she lives. When Sultan offers Nageen a job out of the blue, she throws his visiting card in his face. The job harassment angle being tackled by writer Sadia Akhtar is commendable.

What To Watch Out For (Or Not)

Ye Dil Mera | Hum TV, Wednesdays 8.00pm

Psychological thrillers seem to the newest thing with our drama writers and, in this case, both the leads are psychotic — Amaan (Ahad Raza Mir) and Aina (Sajal Aly) — but there are still no thrills. Amaan is becoming more erratic and mysterious as the story progresses. After winning over Aina’s heart and her father Mir Farooq Zaman’s (Adnan Siddiqui) trust to get engaged to Aina, Amaan has begun to behave strangely.

First it is the temperamental behaviour with his new fiancée. Next he covertly teams up with the unhappy Sahira (Rabia Butt), Mir Farooq Zaman’s secret wife hidden away in another city. For some reason, Amaan plans to dig up dirt and data on Aina’s father and is ready to pay Sahira a load of money, to which she agrees. But his decision to dump Aina comes as a surprise to the audience and Aina.

Published in Dawn, ICON, January 5th, 2020