THE WEEK THAT WAS
Deewaar | Hum TV, Daily 7.00pm
This show takes a deep dive into some very familiar issues within every family, while holding back on the melodrama. Joint-family systems are always explained with appeals to emotion and unity, even though their biggest strength has actually been their ability to support weaker members.
Gurriya Baji (Sunita Marshall) is a single parent who has kept her family together after her parents’ and husband’s deaths. Now, her two married brothers are chafing at the compromises of living together and, naturally, their wives have their own agendas. This could have devolved into basic class and financial confrontations, but the makers have added some valuable nuance, showing that the weak can be just as manipulative.
Sunita Marshall gives a good performance, but so far none of the writing has moved to any insightful commentary to allow her more meat. The younger members of the cast have a lot of potential if they can move past the generic styling that does not allow for differentiation. The appeal of this serial lies in its accurate portrayal of relationships without continuous sermons and judgements. What is missing, as with all family dramas, is the way overwhelming compassion can stunt growth and enable, or even create, a dependent mindset.
Bhanwar | Express TV, Wed-Thurs 8.00pm
Time to step out of our urban comfort zones of relationships and marriages and into a less colourful, harsher reality. Writer Rida Bilal brings us a gripping tale of ordinary people caught in schemes and traps by scammers and traffickers.
Shaheen (Mansha Pasha) is a young widow running a small home-cooking business, so how does she manage to attract the eye of a wealthy Dubai investor, Haris (Ali Safina)? Banafshe (Areeqa Haq) understands the responsibility of being the one girl in her family whose parents encouraged her education, but how is she trapped in a girls’ hostel?
Director Abu Aleeha has given this script the slow, rising tension of a thriller, illustrating how easy it is to become a part of a newspaper headline. Good performances are combined with a director who keeps us focused despite a lot of characters and a story that begins to knit together a few episodes down.
Shaidai | Geo TV, Wed-Thurs 8.00pm
What had been a fun, enjoyable fantasy romance about a wealthy businessman, Ali Khan (Feroze Khan), who plays a poor guy to win over a middle-class girl, has taken a serious turn.
Sahar Hashmi as Miral, the vivacious, overconfident young girl he falls for, was fun to watch, and her pairing with Feroze Khan worked well. After the revelation that she and Ali are cousins, and the terrible hatred and feud caused by her mother’s love marriage, Miral’s love turns into bitterness. Adding to the fire, arch-villain Aeliya (Nawal Saeed) has Miral convinced that Ali’s family are responsible for her parents’ death. Any normal human being would wish to create distance but, as this is a Pakistani drama, Miral defies all reason and decides on a “marriage of revenge” to Ali.
Sahar Hashmi carries her part with disarming charm and the naivete of youth. The writer has underwritten the villains and the misguided grandmother (Bushra Ansari) is hard to believe. The weakest link in the show is Nawal Saeed, whose distracting contact lenses and focus on glamour take away from what could have been a strong, serious performance. Feroze Khan takes a welcome step back from obsessed lover in a restrained portrayal, and still gets ratings.
What To Watch Out For (Or Not)
Muhafiz | Geo TV, Daily 9.00pm
Junaid Khan stars as a tough, practical policeman who ends up as the bodyguard of the spoiled daughter of a wealthy man.
Published in Dawn, ICON, July 5th, 2026
