THE WEEK THAT WAS

Tubelite | Express TV, Thurs-Fri 8.00pm

A show that is written, produced and directed by one person, in this case Wajahat Rauf, is usually a red flag. But the first episode of this fun buddies-to-business-to-life partners may be the exception.

Five friends are about to graduate business school and, as they discuss their lacklustre grades, one friend’s idea inspires them to become entrepreneurs. Like everyone else in Pakistan, their first thought is to approach any rich connections, so begins the journey to ‘Tubelite’, a new kind of streaming platform.

Momin Saqib, Maryam Nafees, Romania Khan, Meer Yusuf and Raza Samo (who may be the break-out star of the show) gel nicely together, infusing life and joy into their roles. The script does drift into fantasy gear for a while, when the team almost immediately gets a million dollar offer which they reject. Then Aijazz Aslam (as himself) steps in with a jolting shot of reality and laughs, reminding them start-up money is hard-earned. This show has great potential if it avoids slipping into Disney mode, and keeps the story close to the real struggles of starting a business.

Mannat Murad | Geo TV, Concluded

This successful serial ended on a rushed, disappointing note as all the couple’s issues were squeezed into a convenient one-episode box of a traditional happy ending.

Mannat (Iqra Aziz) is an uncompromising young woman who speaks her mind. She falls in love with Murad (Talha Chahour), an only son with a lot of charm but no strength of character to stand up to his evil, domineering mother. This would have been a typical saas-bahu drama, except the writer (Nadiya Akhter) was wise enough to present it as a romcom, making it palatable for a larger audience. Murad’s sisters, mother and khalas (maternal aunts) are straight-up villains who lack self-reflection, and are abundant in petty jealousies. The real villain of the show, however, is Murad, whose good looks and sweet ways disguise a weak, deceitful man. He finally speaks for Mannat after she is publicly humiliated and her character questioned.

The happy ending rewards him with a good wife, a new baby and a sister married off to Mannat’s elder brother, despite his ongoing cowardice and lack of accountability. Talha Chahour and Iqra Aziz were excellent, providing all the joy and charm they had, to make this watchable. Good performances from Faiza Gilani and veteran and extremely versatile Irsa Ghazal as the insecure mother-daughter duo had become too negative to be considered amusing towards the end.

Akharra | Green Entertainment, Wednesdays 8.00pm

Feroze Khan’s intense, commercially oriented style fuses with Green Entertainment’s more traditional, script and character-oriented ethos to give us an entertaining hybrid. Set in the traditional pehelwan culture of Punjab, we see an array of authentic, well-written characters spinning a tale of romance and competition.

Dil Sher (Feroze) is the easy-going younger son, while his older brother Sultan (Faraz Farooqui) carries on the family tradition of wrestling. The rivalry between Dil Sher’s father (Waseem Abbas) and Chaudhry Riyasat is getting dangerous. Sultan may have won a match but will he lose something else?

Meanwhile, Dil Sher meets Sitara (Sonya Hussyn), sparking an unlikely attraction. Anjum Shehzad handles Shahid Dogar’s action-packed script with film-like flair, eliciting good performances from a cast that fits the cinematic vibe. Sonya Hussyn, Feroze Khan, Faraz Farooqui and Kashif Hussain shine bright in this mass entertainer.

What To Watch Out For (or not)

Burns Road Kay Romeo Juliet | ARY, Coming soon

Hamza Sohail puts aside his usual urban, rich-boy cool look to become a ghunda street fighter in what looks like an intense love story with Iqra Aziz.

Published in Dawn, ICON, January 28th, 2024