Ruswai | ARY, Tuesdays 8.00pm

After some monotonous, no-action episodes, the story finally moves on when wife Samira (Sana Javed) and her brother Hamza (Osama Tahir) catch Samira’s errant, chauvinist, pilot husband Salman (Mikaal Zulfiqar) red-handed with the ‘other woman’ Pinky (Shermeen Ali) on a three-day date. While everyone assumed Salman was on a flight, the car-tracker company alerts Samira about the suspicious location of Salman’s car. On being caught, Salman is taken aback but arrogant as usual. A shocked Samira reminds him of his double standards, and declares the marriage as over. Hamza takes a stand for his sister and his wife Wardah (Minna Tariq) has to bear the brunt of the watta-satta arrangement, as Hamza declares Salman’s chapter closed and forbids Wardah from seeing her parents ever again.

Darr Khuda Se | Geo TV, Tuesdays 8.00pm

Just as the confused Raza (Hammad Farooqi) backs out of his proposal for Afreen (Sana Javed), her colleague Kashif (Ali Rizvi) comes to her house to confess that he was behind their boss Shahwaiz’s (Imran Abbas) blackmailing plan to Photoshop inappropriate photographs of Afreen, who is also Shahwaiz’s sister-in-law by his second marriage. Shahwaiz’s real self is exposed to his in-laws while it’s a clean chit for Afreen who regains her dignity and confidence, and tells Raza off for judging her. Kudos to Sarwar Nazir for penning Afreen’s character as that of a strong-willed woman. Shahwaiz will return from his honeymoon to find that his bed-ridden and paralytic first wife (Mariam Mirza), whom he grossly mistreated, is also back on her feet.

What To Watch Out For
Jhooti | ARY, Saturdays 8.00pm

Iqra Aziz is in yet another meaty role as Nimra, the beautiful, selfish, dangerously materialistic and glib liar — perhaps the newest trend for female actors is to play more realistic roles with shades of treachery. Since she is the only daughter and the youngest sibling, Nimra’s family wants to marry her off, but she rejects the general store owner Nasir’s (Ahmed Ali Butt) proposal as she cannot see him providing her with the swank lifestyle that she dreams of.

Hoping that Nasir’s family would disagree and back off, Nimra makes unreasonable demands, including that of putting their house and the general store in her name, but Nasir’s family agrees! Now what trick does Nimra have up her sleeve to get out of this sticky situation, or will she actually go ahead and marry Nasir? The trio of Iqra Aziz, Ahmed Ali Butt and Yasir Hussain (yet to make an appearance) will be a treat to watch as Nimra’s web of lies and deceit unfolds in Ali Moeen’s story.

Published in Dawn, ICON, February 9th, 2020