THE WEEK THAT WAS

Dil-i-Nadaan | Geo TV, Mon-Tues 8.00pm

Nayab (Amar Khan) is a sheltered young woman who lives with her brother, bhabhi (sister-in-law) and grandmother. An orphan, Nayab lags behind most girls her age, busy shouldering the responsibility of the whole house while her bhabhi works. Fearful for her future,

Nayab’s grandmother (Seemi Raheel) sells her gold ornaments so her granddaughter can complete her education and get married.

Nayab is mocked at college and falls into a few bad situations from which a stranger, Zaviyar (Mikaal Zulfikar), keeps saving her. Zaviyar is a wealthy CEO who comes from a very “status-conscious” family. Zaviyar is attracted to Nayab and his grandmother is impressed with Nayab’s “traditional values” and innocence, so it seems they will marry despite their lack of compatibility. All of this is designed to build up a clash of class between the leads, and a brainless, besotted rich girl is added to keep the masala quotient up.

This could have been a good story if the writer had put some thought into the characters and their motivations, instead of making it an Indian-style soap opera. Amar Khan and Mikaal Zulfikar look too old for their roles but this hasn’t deterred the masses from watching.

Jafaa | Hum TV, Fridays 8.00pm

Reckless and spoiled, Deebu (Sehar Khan) is forced to marry by her reactionary parents; she does everything wrong, but somehow she gets her happily ever after. Meanwhile her cautious, kind, play-it-by-the-rules cousin Dr Zara (Mawra Hocane) becomes the victim of domestic violence, and leaves her mentally disturbed husband.

The difference lies in the men they marry. Deebu’s husband, Numair (Usman Mukhtar), is a gentle man who goes above and beyond to not just forgive but understand, and to build an honest relationship with Deebu. In contrast, though Zara’s husband, Hassan (Mohib Mirza), claims to love her, he expects perfection and total obedience to his whims. He is a damaged soul who needs to work on his mental health. Zara tries to “fix” his issues with kindness and understanding, but soon realises she is out of her depth.

Bolstered by some great performances from all four leads, Jafaa highlights the sheer random vagaries of fate that can throw off course the plans we have set for our lives. The challenging story has raised a lot of debate and it would have been even better with depth and raw honesty from the protagonists, such as Deebu, instead of comforting platitudes.

Gentleman | Green Entertainment, Sundays 8.00pm

This black comedy comes to a critical juncture, as all three contenders for Zarnab (Yumna Zaidi) prepare to do or die.

Munna (Humayun Saeed) has taken over from Rehmati (Adnan Siddiqui) and is now the chief gangster he never wanted to be. Zarnab’s ex-fiancé, the corrupt assistant commissioner Faris (Zahid Ahmed), is on a vendetta to wipe Munna off the face of the earth with or without Rehmati’s help. This story uses deadpan humour and a heavy dose of fantasy to deliver some hard-hitting social and political commentary about who controls Karachi.

Humayun Saeed and Adnan Siddiqui are in fine form, handling the reems of tongue-twisting dialogue that author Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar is known for. Qamar’s rhetorical style, steeped in metaphor, is much-loved by traditional audiences but might exhaust the younger generation of viewers not used to parsing riddles every second sentence. An entertaining serial, this would have gained more traction with some tighter editing that would have allowed a shorter, sharper show.

What To Watch Out For (or not)

Bismil | ARY, Wed-Thurs 8.00pm

Yet another predictable story about a materialistic girl (Hareem Farooq) and an older married man (Naumaan Ijaz) and his disappointed first wife (Savera Nadeem).

Published in Dawn, ICON, September 1st, 2024