THE WEEK THAT WAS

Berukhi | ARY, Wednesdays 8.00pm

Cartoonish but entertaining villains played by Iffat Umar, Saba Hamid and Nazish Jehangir steal the show in Berukhi, carrying it on their very able shoulders as we wait to see their inevitable bad ends. Unlike most dramas of this kind, the positive characters played by Rehan Shaikh, Usman Pirzada and Junaid Khan are no fools, thwarting much of the negativity with sensible decisions.

After Hiba Bukhari’s solid performance in Fitoor, it’s disappointing to see her role does not give her scope for much except the usual virtue-signalling as yet. Despite that, this is a good show that has all the details worked out.

Protagonists who stop nothing short of murder, fainting mothers and dark family secrets should make this filmi story hard to watch but Ghazala Naqvi’s structured script makes every crazy coincidence seem just plausible enough. Director Mohsin Ali has wisely taken the hint and chosen not to dwell too much on each scene, and is moving the story along at a fair pace. Yet the thought remains, what if the producers had skipped the kitchen politics and framed this as the dark thriller/ mystery it had the potential to be?

Ishq-i-Laa | HumTV, Thursdays 8.00pm

This thoughtful script from Qaisara Hayat meets its match with director Amin Iqbal’s storytelling skills, bringing every layer of this spiritual story to life. Yumna Zaidi, Uzma Hassan and Seemi Raheel have been fantastic, bringing their characters beautifully to life. Yumna’s character, Azka, has been written in a confusing way: assertive in front of Azlan and her manipulative bhabhi, but blinking blandly into space when the villain’s mother puts a ring on her finger. Apart from that odd note, the face-off between the unwanted suitor (Adnan Samad Khan) and her supportive brother, played by Sohail Sameer, has been a great track to watch.

Sajal Aly as Shanaya has gone a little overboard with the glamour, but there is no question about her acting skills, which seem to have lent a little emotional power to Azaan Sami Khan’s novice, less emotive style as Azlan. The tendency at Hum TV to throw new actors (especially those with “star connections”) into lead roles and see if they float continues with Azaan Khan. While he may develop into a better performer over time, he has had to face a lot of criticism, something that could have been avoided with a sensible, gradual approach.

The random placement of veteran actor Nadeem Baig giving short, pointed homilies on morality required better context and, at times, some serious editing, but his sonorous voice carries all before him.

Ae Musht-i-Khaak | GeoTV, Mon-Tues 8.00pm

Despite its pretensions, this is yet another toxic-lover story starring Feroz Khan, who seems to be offered only one kind of roles. Sana Javed provides the tempting opposition to Khan’s hopes of low-level world domination, in which everyone has to agree with his whims.

Contradicting an initially reasonable premise, the first episode was full of fake, badly written scenes. To add insult to injury, the audience is asked to believe Asad Siddiqui could be Sana Javed’s “twin brother”, and both are barely out of college. If anyone is wondering how much more 7th Sky Productions can insult their audiences’ intelligence, the high ratings for this episode shows us the sky really is the limit!

What To Watch Out For

Teri Raah Mein | ARY, Coming Soon

Shahroz Sabzwari tries his luck with this misogynist, regressive trope as yet another toxic lover. This time, in a daring display of originality, he is the evil, Westernised guy who cannot help but fall in love with “Ms Traditional Values”, and is seen wearing glasses.

Published in Dawn, ICON, December 26th, 2021