THE WEEK THAT WAS

Kaisi Teri Khudgharzi | ARY, Wednesdays 8.00pm

As expected, the whitewashing and romanticising of Shamsher’s (Danish Taimoor) violent and criminal behaviour has begun. Convinced that Mehak (Durrefishan Saleem) has died in a car accident on the wedding day he had forced on her, Shamsher mourns her loss in full, tender, Devdas mode. His father, who ordered the murder, finds this tedious and pushes his son to move on. The twist in the tale is that Mehak is alive and in Multan. As usual, wherever Mehak goes she finds someone to persecute her and there are plenty of scenes of her patiently suffering.

The women in this drama are either stupid or evil, with little nuance in between. Mehak might have been the silliest, but Shamsher’s supposedly cunning bhabi and her sister still managed to beat her in the competition for least intelligent woman on screen. While the bhabi celebrates Mehak’s murder, she still wants an unstable, clearly angry young man like Shamsher for her sister. The sister is just as stupid and keeps offering herself to Shamsher despite numerous rebuffs and insults.

This badly written drama is chock-full of stereotypes, repetition and artificial situations that can barely be justified. Billed as a mass entertainer, the show has captured an audience that enjoyed a similar (but better written) story, Deewangi. The bad news is that these good ratings mean we will only see more of the same, as channels now consider this a great revenue formula.

Zakham | Geo TV, Mondays 9.00pm

Areej (Sehar Khan) has escaped an abusive marriage to Sikandar (Aagha Ali) and married his kind, honourable brother Affan (Azfar Rehman). Areej has struggled through life and has trouble trusting people. Sikander and his other ex-wife Aimen (Sidra Niazi) have teamed up to ruin Affan and Areej’s marriage because both are stubborn compulsive personalities. The good thing about the show is both villains are shown slowly facing consequences for their negativity and self-centred behaviour. However, the story must go on, so, instead of trusting her loving husband or brother or herself, a pregnant Areej is convinced by the unstable Aiman to believe Affan is a murderer. This daily soap style drama is strictly for fans of melodrama.

What To Watch Out For (Or Not)

Bakhtawar | Hum TV, Sundays 8.00pm

Yumna Zaidi ditches the blinking naïve girl avatar to play a more layered role such as Bakhtawar. A young woman finds it impossible to live in a male-dominated world so she decides to live as a man. Intriguing teasers show us Bakhtawar takes on a range of identities to meet the challenges in her life. When she witnesses a murder, how long before her secret is exposed?

Published in Dawn, ICON, July 24th, 2022