0
THE WEEK THAT WAS
Mirza Ki Heer | ARY Digital, Wed-Thurs 8.00pm
Writer Zeeshan Junaid presents an exciting story that wastes no time, beginning with an action-packed rescue that pushes us into picking a side, and immediately rooting for the leads. Having won that point, director Aehsun Talish is left to fill in the context with lots of flashbacks and timeline hopping.
Heer (Hina Afridi) is forced to marry Dilnawaz (Zahid Ahmed) because her father owed Dilnawaz a huge sum of money. Stubbornly independent, Heer is caught in a debt trap, with the ruthless Dilnawaz obsessively hounding her in the name of “love”, without her consent. The man Heer really loves is her cousin, Mirza (Ali Raza), a budding athlete, and he is the one risking his life to spring her from Dilnawaz’s fortified haveli.
Nothing deep or original in the plot but, as mass entertainment, the first few episodes hit the target. Ali Raza has a strong screen presence, and he infuses his role with energy and conviction. Dipping his whole hand into a plate of nihari marks Dilnawaz as a clumsy, vulgar villain, but it becomes a contradiction when Zahid Ahmed cannot let go of his own elegant persona.
Muamma | Hum TV, Wed-Thurs 8.00pm
Very few mysteries retain the audience’s interest but writer Imran Nazir throws in one twist after another, without losing the dark red thread of the main plot.
Jehan Ara (Saba Qamar) is on the brink of her final revenge and release from the man who ruined her life — her abusive husband Sarmad (Syed Jibran) — when she loses everything. She claims to love Shah Jehan (Shehzad Shaikh), who is the one man who did not betray his wife. When Sarmad’s powerful uncle kidnaps Shah Jehan, she surrenders everything to save him. Such a hard defeat snatched from the jaws of victory should end her, but is there more to come, because nothing is absolute in this show?
Saba Qamar gives us a masterclass in acting, touching every nuance in her character’s emotions. Shehzad Shaikh is not the most emotive of actors and lacks expression in every scene. However painful her past, Jehan Ara has long crossed over from victim to perpetrator, and it remains to be seen how she is judged, and if Sarmad escapes. Syed Jibran is an amazingly versatile actor, playing the cunning villain without becoming a caricature.
Winter Love | Hum TV, Fri-Sat 8.00pm
After the hit Ramazan serial Fairytale, writer Sarah Majeed brings us another urban love story free from the usual drags of honour culture and class clashes.
Switching up the usual personality clash, Majeed casts the male lead, Hayat (Khushhal Khan), as the sunshine, happy-go-lucky romantic who reads Urdu literature and runs an event company. Hayat is headed to the US when he bumps into the organised, practical Mushk (Mawra Hocane), who has just lost both her parents, and is desperately looking for a way to keep her old home. Mushk’s mother ran a matchmaking service and now Mushk is in charge of it.
As usual, there is an array of quirky characters and a loving family. The standouts are Hayat’s parents, the elderly journalist Gulzar (Asif Raza Mir) and his constantly superstitious wife Gulnar (Asma Abbas), who is convinced that her husband has not forgotten his past love. So far, it’s a slow, gentle ride, and there is no deep connection for the audience to hook on to, except for the veteran couple.
What To Watch Out For (Or Not)
Shaidai | Geo TV, Coming soon
Feroze Khan plays an angry, rich man with a gun, opposite the bubbly Sahar Khan as his love interest, and Nawal Saeed in a negative role.
Published in Dawn, ICON, April 19th, 2026
