THE WEEK THAT WAS

Bandhay Ek Dor Se | Geo TV, Wed-Thurs 8.00pm

Married because their families misunderstood their friendship for romance, Umar (Ahsan Khan) and Maheen (Ushna Shah) are now keeping up appearances. But to spice up their lives, Maheen’s best friend and Umar’s ex-love interest, Roshni (Hina Altaf), is back with a vengeance. Conveniently camouflaging how she had dumped Umar and gone after a rich fellow who dumped her, Roshni has decided to wreck Umar’s state of mind and his marriage. She complicates things by pretending to be hurt and broken but sincere to Umar, while painting Maheen as the evil one. In reality, Maheen is the one being victimised in Roshni and Umar’s mind games. After a lot of preamble, the story is shaping up.

Dilruba | Hum TV, Saturdays 8.00pm

Realisations galore, as Sanam (Hania Amir) realises what an idiot she has been to take khula from Khurram (Syed Jibran), and letting go of the beautiful house and wealth that she had with the marriage. Khurram realises how he has been fooled by his new wife Natasha (Ghana Ali), who is standing in the middle of their luxurious lawn and discussing her evil plan with her boyfriend in detail so that Khurram can hear all of it and accuse her of being deceitful to her face, and divorce her the next minute. Sanam also realises that she is a mother when the baby she neglected is taken away by dead ex-husband Razi’s (Nabeel Zuberi) mother. After fun and frolic in the first half of the serial, where Sanam was enjoying the attention of her admirers, the serial has become a tearful saga of regret and remorse. Watch only if you can predict an exciting finale, and not the predictable one where Sanam will end up with the still-single cousin Sabeeh (Mohib Mirza), whom she had heartlessly rejected when life was good.

What To Watch Out For

Ghisi Pitti Mohabbat | ARY, Thursdays 8.00pm

With his strong perception of human psychology, Fasih Bari’s characters are relatable in this light yet deeply sensitive story. Newly-married Samia (Ramsha Khan) is getting more and more intrigued about her husband Riz’s (Wahaj Ali) indifference towards her so early in their court marriage. Little does she know that he is fascinated by the charms of a gorgeous older woman Noor (Arjumand Rahim), who is manipulating him for fun and some perks, such as free accommodation in Riz’s friend’s house. Saba Parvez as Samia’s mother-in-law Aziza Sultana, Sana Askari as the sister-in-law Farhat Parveen, Saife Hassan as the father-in-law and Naheed who looks after the kitchen are hilarious and on top of their roles. GPM is not to be missed.

Published in Dawn, ICON, September 13th, 2020