THE WEEK THAT WAS

Deewangi | Geo TV, Wednesdays 8.00pm

The powerful tycoon Sultan Durrani (Danish Taimoor) is ridiculously fixated on his first love, the middle-class Nageen (Hiba Bukhari), who is married to his employee Haroon (Ali Abbas). After getting Haroon a cushy job and smoothly shattering Haroon’s mother’s (Humera Bano) dreams of Sultan marrying Haroon’s sister Rida (Aiza Awan) — by referring to her as his little sister — Sultan’s latest gimmick is to plant Haroon’s ex-girlfriend Ramsha (Faiza Ali) in Haroon’s life, after most conveniently sending him on a trip to Lahore. Sultan of course uses this opportunity to harass Nageen to his heart’s content, telling her to get a divorce from Haroon and marry him. Sultan even tells her about Haroon having met Ramsha. Poor Nageen almost blurts out everything about Sultan to hubby Haroon on the phone, but her sister Nuzhat (Faiza Gillani) stops her just in time, warning her that Haroon will immediately divorce her. What, perhaps, keeps the viewers glued is the bizzareness of this crazy romance.

Pyaar Ke Sadqay | Hum TV, Thursdays 8.00pm

At last, things are beginning to go just the way the evil Sarwar (Omair Rana) would like them to. His stepson Abdullah (Bilal Abbas) has sent his wife Mahjabeen (Yumna Zaidi) home, and Sarwar can’t wait for Abdullah to marry his university crush Shanzay (Yashma Gill), thereby clearing the way for Sarwar, who then plans to marry Mahjabeen. Even though Sarwar has managed to get wife Mansoora (Atiqa Odho) on his side, his stepdaughter Washma (Srha Asghar) has guessed almost exactly what is going on, and gives Abdullah a piece of her mind. Abdullah’s weak nature and his ability to get bullied and manipulated by his stepfather is creating a terrible situation for poor Mahjabeen. While Omair Rana, Yumna Zaidi and Bilal Abbas are delivering some of their best performances yet, Srha Asghar as Washma and Malik Raza as Munshee have definitely gone a notch up in their craft.

What To Watch Out For

Jalan | ARY, Wednesdays 8.00pm

Sidra Sehar Imran’s story seems to be following the latest trend emerging presently in our TV plays, where the central character is a greedy woman — someone who is ready to compromise everything for a fancy lifestyle. So Neesha (Minal Khan) is the material girl who tosses her average-guy fiancé Ahmar (Fahad Sheikh) around like an old shoe, especially since her sister Meenu (Areeba Habib) got married to the rich and handsome Asfand (Emmad Irfani). Now Neesha wants absolutely everything that her sister has. We have seen stories around jealousy and envy previously, too, but director Aabis Reza’s treatment and a star-studded cast, including Hajra Yamin, Nadia Hussain and Maira Khan, sets this one apart.

Published in Dawn, ICON, July 5th, 2020