THE WEEK THAT WAS

Hurmat | Hum TV, Mon-Tues 8.00pm

While other channels have worked hard on creative scripts and invested in big stars and outdoor location shoots, Hum TV has managed to pull in ratings with a low-budget story and a Gen-Z pairing. Starring YouTuber Shahveer Jafry and ex-YouTuber-now-proven-actress Dananeer Mobeen, the serial initially seems like a simple chick-lit romance.

Hurmat (Dananeer Mobeen) and her mother (Uzma Hassan) live under the constant oppression of her strict and violent father, Akram (Ali Tahir). Akram had a wild past, which he spent in love with a bored-looking courtesan (Anoushay Abbasi), and is obsessed with preventing the past from repeating itself. Hurmat manages to get to college, where she meets two good friends, Kainat aka Kenny (Raheen Basharat) and Fenny (Muajha Kashif), and it is this cute friendship that actually makes the show worth watching most of the time. The interactions between the young girls feel fresh and authentic, especially when compared to the usual deadly rivalries.

Writer Kashif Anwar has written meaningful serials such as Sabaat (2020), Neem (2023) and the amazing Nauroz (2023), so hope remains for some interesting twists and turns here. Shahveer is not a trained actor and has received some criticism for his performance.

Dar-i-Nijaat | ARY Digital, Fri-Sat 8.00pm

Zaryab (Durefishan Saleem) is slowly pulling the broken pieces of her psyche together in the less metropolitan city of Hyderabad, while blindly following the slower rhythms of her mother-in-law’s life.

Despite Zaryab’s angry outbursts, rooted in self-hatred and mistrust, her mother-in-law Khushbakht (Sania Saeed) remains in a state of unbelievable, otherworldly patience. The flashbacks of Khushbakht’s past suffering are chilling and explain the reason for the older woman’s determined good nature. Zaryab asks Abu Bakar (Sheheryar Munawar) to marry her, to prove a point to her manipulative ex-boyfriend Zamil (Nameer Khan). Zaryab’s self-loathing and anger at Zamil find an outlet in Abu Bakar, whose patience for his broken young wife is a miracle in the context of South Asian culture.

Excellent performances from the entire cast and the growing chemistry between Sheheryar Munawar and Durefishan Saleem make this one of the most watchable serials currently on-air. Director Saqib Khan has taken what could have been a difficult-to-accept script and made it into a showpiece of Pakistani television, while capturing the imagination of audiences worldwide.

Bano | Geo TV, Daily 9.00pm

Noor (Saima Qureshi) is an ambitious woman who forced her son Sheheryar (Haris Waheed) into a marriage of convenience with the spoiled daughter of her business partner. What exact advantage this confers is unclear, but details in this Indian/Turkish-style drama are not important.

This is a self-aware Cinderella story, where a middle-class girl, Bano (Hina Tariq), loses her first love and ends up being Sheheryar’s second wife. Sheheryar is the better-written character and, despite the ‘soap-style’ leaps of credulity required to watch the show, Haris Waheed makes his character believable. Hina Tariq as the street cricket-playing ‘bholi, bhaali larrki’ [innocent girl] is still a tough sell, but that determined look in her eyes will come in useful for the difficult situations that follow.

The show has gained a lot of currency because the dialogues are reasonable with zero attempts at flowery pretension, and not everyone is a cartoonish villain. However, that will change soon, as the competition for Sheheryar’s attention will become intense, according to the initial teasers. This is a show purely for escapism and entertainment, reflected in the fast pace of the story, with crisp direction from Furqan Adam.

What To Watch Out For (Or Not)

Lahu | Geo TV, Coming soon

Hamza Ali Abbasi joins the cast of Abdullah Kadwani and Asad Qureshi’s 7th Sky Entertainment’s upcoming Lahu, a thrilling serial about succession politics, starring the ever-popular pair of Bilal Abbas and Sajal Aly.

Published in Dawn, ICON, October 25th, 2026