THE WEEK THAT WAS

Deewangi | Geo TV, Wednesdays 8.00pm

The rich businessman Sultan’s (Danish Taimoor) employee Ramsha (Faiza Ali), whom he had planted to organise a break-up between Nageen (Hiba Bukhari) and her husband Haroon (Ali Abbas), digs up dirt against Sultan and blackmails him, telling him that she will tell Haroon about Sultan’s past connection with Nageen. Being a reporter, Ramsha has been on Nageen’s trail since she met her, and found Nageen’s video that had gone viral in the past on social media. It’s the video where Nageen slaps Sultan in public. Ramsha has decided to revive her past relationship with Haroon, for whom Sultan has conveniently found a job in Dubai, and now Ramsha wants to work in Dubai, too. The story would be so much more exciting if Nageen’s sulking scenes were chopped out.

Jhooti | ARY, Saturdays 8.00pm

Even if we ignore the scene where the swindlers, Nirma’s (Iqra Aziz) husband Ali (Yasir Hussain), his friend and Nirma’s best friend Samira (Iman Zaidi), get together in a public place playing ‘catch-catch’ with wads of money, the end of this engaging story was unnecessarily over-the-top and overdramatic. Nirma, who was greedy, wicked and lied incessantly to get her way in life because she wanted a better status for herself in society, can surely be swindled, lose her friends and family, but she doesn’t have to end up in a cell for the mentally disturbed. Was that the only option for the writer Ali Moeen? Nirma could have ended up back with her family, or could have found work as help in someone’s house, and that would have been enough punishment for her. But men get away with it all, so nothing horrible happened to the con-artist husband Ali who robbed Nirma of her home, her inheritance and all her money. Ali wiped Nirma clean, presented her with divorce papers and told her that he had conned her, and left her in a heap on the floor as she fainted. The end was unsatisfactory and needed more work, but you can YouTube this one for Iqra Aziz and Yasir Hussain’s fine acting skills.

What To Watch Out For

Dilruba | Hum TV, Saturdays 8.00pm

It’s bad timing for Sanam’s (Hania Amir) wayward husband Khurram (Syed Jibran), who arrives home with his new wife Natasha (Ghana Ali) to see a room full of people assembled for Khurram’s father Daniyal’s (Shehryar Zaidi) funeral proceedings. It’s equally shocking for Sanam, who promptly yells at her husband and throws the newlyweds out of her house. After all, her father-in-law may have passed on, but has left the house to his daughter-in-law Sanam. Kudos to writer Qaisera Hayat, for creating a premise for women’s empowerment. Aftershocks for Khurram include a trip to the lawyer, where he learns that his dad hasn’t left him much at all, and that he is quite dependent on his first wife Sanam. It will be fun to watch the gold-digger Natasha’s next move.

Published in Dawn, ICON, July 26th, 2020