THE WEEK THAT WAS

Pyar Ke Sadqay | Hum TV, Thursdays 8.00pm 

After much stress and anxiety over her precarious relationship with husband Abdullah (Bilal Abbas), the idiotic but endearing Mahjabeen (Yumna Zaidi) manages to melt his heart. Drawn to Mahjabeen’s innocent devotion to him, Abdullah actually musters up the courage to tell his first love Shanzay (Yashma Gill) that, although he is sincere with her, he will never leave his wife Mahjabeen because he loves her. For Shanzay, who was on the rebound after her short but bad marriage and getting overly comfortable with Abdullah, it comes as a shock and she vows never to see him again. Even if we were to believe that, there is still a big fat problem in Mahjabeen’s married life — her calculating, evil father-in-law Sarwar (Omair Rana).

Mehrposh | Geo TV, Fridays 8.00pm

Quite a few episodes have gone by without much development in the story. Previously, our TV dramas were fixated on showing prolonged wedding sequences, but the current obsession seems to be funerals and death situations, starting from the person dying right up to the family members leisurely visiting the graveyard — the closer the character to the dead, the longer the scene. So when Mehru’s (Ayeza Khan) father Master sahib (Rehan Sheikh) died, a whole episode was dedicated to his death. After her divorce, Mehru is picking up the pieces of her life by, among other things, slapping Shah Jehan (Danish Taimoor) whom she blames for her divorce. As she prepares to return to work, her ex-husband Naeem (Ali Abbas) prepares for his second arranged marriage, courtesy his evil aunt Shakeela (Iffat Rahim), who got him divorced in the first place.

What To Watch Out For

Dilruba | Hum TV, Saturdays 8.00pm

Karma has dealt Sanam (Hania Aamir) a mean hand. After her husband Razi’s (Nabeel Zuberi) death, for which Sanam is partially responsible, life has become a nightmare for her. Sanam’s family wants Razi’s elder brother Sabeeh (Mohib Mirza) to marry her, but he refuses because Razi’s last words — “don’t trust this woman” — about Sanam continue to haunt him. Not only is Sanam pregnant but she is living in constant fear that the photographer Ayaz (Asad Siddiqui) will blackmail her again — his earlier blackmail had, of course, led to Razi driving himself to death in fury over Sanam’s pictures. Both director Ali Hassan and Hania Aamir are handling Sanam’s role well, opening up layers with some great acting rather than bucketfuls of tears.

Published in Dawn, ICON, June 14th, 2020