THE WEEK THAT WAS

Jalan | ARY, Tues-Wed 8.00 pm

Just the way all evil women get punished with a heavy dose of karma in all of our dramas, the mean, manipulative Neesha’s (Minal Khan) crazy antics also end in extreme tragedy. Hallucinating about her sister Meenu’s (Areeba Habib) ghost chasing her, Neesha drives off in a huff and has an accident where her car supposedly catches fire, and later Neesha is shown sitting abandoned in a shelter home, while other women are discussing how her sorry state was a result of her own misdeeds. How they knew all that remains a mystery, as does why Neesha ends up at the shelter home and why her family did not look for her. Asfandyar (Emaad Irfani), the sister’s husband that Neesha had married, dies out of grief once he realises how he was responsible for his wife Meenu’s death. This is not the first time that a popular drama that soared with ratings has had a predictably absurd finale. Nevertheless, Minal Khan set a benchmark for herself in her role as Neesha.

What To Watch Out For

Shajar-i-Mamnoo | Urdu1, Mon-Fri 9.00pm

Directed by Neslihan Yesilyurt, this dubbed Turkish play Yasal Elma (2018) or Forbidden Apple is the story of two sisters Zainab (Sevda Erginc) and Yildiz (Eda Ece) who have totally different personalities. The ethical Zainab works with a young businessman Alihan (Onur Tuna) who is arrogant, rich, and has a girlfriend he doesn’t commit to. Of course there are undercurrents between Zainab and Alihan. Yildiz dreams of being wealthy and her life changes when she gets a job offer from Aaliya (Sevval Sam), the middle-aged third wife of rich businessman Khalid (Talat Bulut). Aliya hires Yildiz to have an affair with her husband, so she can dump him for cheating on her. There’s plenty of eye-candy, a solid plot and lots of gloss, and it’s perfect to round off wintry weeknights.

Published in Dawn, ICON, December 27th, 2020