THE WEEK THAT WAS

Mehrposh | Geo TV, Sundays 8.00pm

When Mehru’s (Ayeza Khan) second husband-to-be and mother-in-law-to-be are arrested for running a human trafficking gang, right from the mehndi-mayoun event, we might have thought that now Mehru would finally be married off to Shahjehan (Danish Taimoor). But no such luck. Shahjehan’s manipulative mother Kaneez (Humaira Bano) utilises the wedding set-up to get the nikaah ceremony done for Mehru’s sister Ayat (Zainab Shabbir) and Shahjehan — much to Ayat’s delight and Shahjehan’s dismay. Shahjehan’s one last attempt to convince Mehru fails, as Mehru doubts his sincerity, believing he got the groom arrested to clear the coast for himself. The story is realistic and performances at par, but now that Shahjehan is married to Ayat, there isn’t much hope of seeing the real-life couple (Ayeza and Danish) romancing on screen, something that attracted us towards the serial in the first place.

Kashf | Hum TV, Tuesdays 8.00pm

While Kashf (Hira Mani) and hubby Wajdaan (Junaid Khan) are honeymooning, Kashf’s father Imtiaz (Waseem Abbas) continues to hoodwink people at the astaana, by pretending to be getting spiritual feedback from Kashf, as people convey their problems over the mobile phone. In reality, there is no one at the other end. Burning with jealousy over Kashf’s marriage to Wajdaan, Kashf’s sister Zoya (Sabeena Farooq) connives with Kashf’s competitor Matiullah (Saleem Mairaj) and falls into his trap by agreeing to marry him. And all this time, Wajdaan’s patience at Kashf’s nightmares is running so low that he voices his concern about their marriage lasting. Director Danish Nawaz’s off-beat serial seems to be dragging a wee bit.

What To Watch Out For (Or Not)

Prem Gali | ARY, Mondays 8.00pm

Joya’s (Sohai Ali Abro) and Hamza’s (Farhan Saeed) rendezvous gets ruined when Hamza’s uncle Luqman (Abdullah Farhatullah) follows Hamza out of curiosity, and Joya’s best friend Farri (Anoushay Abbasi) sneaks up from behind Joya to see who she is getting all dressed up for. To top it all off, Joya’s firecracker mother Shireen (Saba Hameed) makes a trip to the terrace and catches Farri and Hamza snooping around. It is misconstrued as Farri being there to meet Luqman. Much to Farri’s delight, her mother Haseena (Farah Shah) decides to marry Farri off to Luqman. His family happily agrees, but Luqman feels he is betraying his dead wife and in front of all Prem Gali residents, declares that Farri is like a sister to him, which comes as a huge disappointment to Farri. A dozen lively characters in plausible situations with peppy lines keep this rom-com bubbly and perfect to kick off the week with.

Published in Dawn, ICON, September 27th, 2020