THE WEEK THAT WAS

Shajr-i-Mamnu | Urdu1, Mon-Fri 9.00pm

Some astounding twists and turns in the story leave us pining for more. When protagonist Alihan (Onur Tuna) discovers an unpleasant truth about his dead mother and business partner Halit (Talal Bulut), Alihan marries antagonist Aliya (Sevval Sam) to accumulate all shares in their company, and buy his partner and Aliya’s ex-husband Halit out. But as a side-effect of this catastrophic move, he breaks his love Zainab’s (Sevda Erginci) heart once again. As everyone recovers from this unprecedented wedding, which Aliya wants to exploit but Alihan insists is just a business deal, Halit’s other ex-wife and Alihan’s sister Zareen (Nilgün Türksever) springs a surprise on Alihan by pulling out her shares and giving them to Halit who she still nurses a soft corner for. This restores Halit’s position in the company. But what completely clean bowls Aliya and Alihan (and the rest of us) is when Halit and Zareen appoint Zainab as the chairperson of the company. This slick Turkish serial continues to offer relentless entertainment five days a week.

Dunk | ARY, Wednesdays 8.00pm

While the reopening of the sexual harassment case by Haider (Bilal Abbas) is on the back-burner, two-faced Amal (Sana Javed) has created a manipulative mess at her in-laws. They may think she is an angel, but only her ex-fiance and presently her brother-in-law Haider, and his new wife Minaal (Azeikah Daniel), know how evil Amal really is. When Amal tries to create mistrust between Haider and Minaal, Minaal overlooks that because beyond the soft façade, she has the grit to tackle Amal. Undeterred, Amal deploys her last weapon to undermine Minaal’s trust for her husband. As Minaal approaches her bedroom, Amal unlocks the bedroom door from inside and emerges, leaving a perplexed Haider inside the room. Director Badar Mehmood loves his background music at a cacophonic level, but it’s making it a tad difficult to enjoy the open war between Amal and Haider.

What To Watch Out For

Raqeeb Se | Hum TV, Wednesdays 8.00pm

When Maqsood (Noman Ijaz) asks his mysteriously accommodating wife Hajra (Sania Saeed) if she would have stayed with him had he been a violent husband, Hajra refers to a past that had left her with no choice but to marry him. So apparently, a dark story in Hajra’s past justifies the audacity of the present situation in Maqsood’s married life. By removing herself from the house, Hajra subtly provides Maqsood and his old flame-cum-house guest Sakina (Hadiqa Kiani) time for ice-breakers, and is also trying to arrange her husband’s nikaah with Sakina by talking about it to Maqsood’s sister-in-law Atika (Saba Faisal). The drama is offbeat and low-key, but a powerful plot and performances keep you hooked.

Published in Dawn, ICON, April 25th, 2021