THE WEEK THAT WAS

Ye Dil Mera | Hum TV, Wednesdays 8.00pm

For several snail-paced episodes of endlessly recurring flashbacks, it was the mysterious Amanullah (Ahad Raza Mir) versus ruthless murderer (of Amanullah’s parents) Mir Farooq Zaman (Adnan Siddiqui), until finally the much-awaited scene arrives where Amanullah confronts Mir Farooq and tells him who he actually is, and how he married Mir Farooq’s daughter Aina (Sajal Aly) to take revenge for his family’s murder. But no earth-shattering emotion was displayed by either actor. Nevertheless, with the cat out of the bag, Amanullah still loves Aina, but Aina hates him for accusing her beloved dad Mir Farooq of homicide, and is in denial. Mir Farooq has set his mind on killing Amanullah. Now that the wishy-washy climax is over, the oh-so-predictable end should come soon.

Kahin Deep Jalay | Geo TV, Thursdays 8.00pm

After getting married to her brother-in-law Hatim (Hammad Farooqi), the cunning Shamila (Nazish Jahangir) drops her miserable widow act and gets back to her favourite pastime — crass family politics. Since passwords and phone security doesn’t exist in TV plays, Shamila uses her sister-in-law Rida’s mobile phone to text Tauqir (Ali Ansari) from Rida’s past and stir up some trouble. At the next golden opportunity to grab Rida’s phone, she sends Rida’s estranged husband Zeeshan (Imran Ashraf) a message asking for divorce and threatening khula, but this time Shamila is caught red-handed by brother-in-law Asim (Syed Arez). Within minutes, Shamila is exposed to the whole family, and her new hubby Hatim promptly divorces her while everyone gapes at each other in shock. After receiving the message, however, Rida’s husband Zeeshan becomes suicidal! The script here is lost and the turns in the story are so random that you can watch this one for a laugh and also to see Neelam Munir and Imran Ashraf in probably their worst play, roles and performances.

What To Watch Out For

Jeeto Pakistan | ARY, Daily 7.30 pm

Fahad Mustafa hosts a creatively revamped, Covid-19-compliant show sans a live gift-hungry audience. He may not be jumping on cars and motorbikes but Fahad still talks and dances his inimitable ‘thikki thikki’ in his new league-style game plan. There are five teams of participants representing five cities captained by Humayun Saeed leading Karachi Lions, Adnan Siddiqui leading Lahore Falcons, Shaista Lodhi for Peshawar Stallions, Sarfaraz Ahmed for Quetta Knights and Sana Javed for Islamabad Dragons. Other glamourous celebrities make daily appearances, while everyone including the participants maintain social distancing. More than the competition, the controversy and news-making celebrity interactions make the show a juicy watch.

Published in Dawn, ICON, May 17th, 2020