THE WEEK THAT WAS

Surkh Chandni | ARY, Tuesdays 8.00 to 10.00pm

It’s that time in the story where the antagonist calls all the shots. Jawad (Asad Siddiqui), perpetrator of the acid attack on Ayeda (Sohai Ali Abro), has woven a malicious web round himself and his girlfriend/Ayeda’s bhabi Shumaila (Mansha Pasha), who knows about all his crimes.

Despite Jawad plunging a knife into him, Shumaila’s husband Mukhtar (Hasan Ahmed) escapes and ends up recovering in the hospital, while Ayeda and husband Aman (Osman Khalid Butt) confront Shumaila about her relationship with Jawad, and her malicious plans. Mukhtar’s mum Rukhsana (Lubna Aslam) kicks Shumaila out of her house. Shumaila goes to Jawad, who abuses her for worrying about Mukhtar, and she begins to realise what a mess she is in. Jawad frames Aman in a drug case, and Ayeda has another battle to fight.

Darr Khuda Se | Geo TV, Tuesdays 8.00pm

Tamkeen (Kiran Haq), falling in love with Rasheed (Saleem Mairaj), the sabzi-wallah, is far more interesting than the main storyline where Shawaiz (Imran Abbas) uses photoshopped pictures to harrass his subordinate Afreen (Sana Javed).

Imran Abbas looks comical instead of creepy, and Sana Javed is deadpan. Photoshopping pictures to get a girl into trouble is currently the rave with TV writers, and is being done to death is several plays. Tamkeen’s father Siddiqui (Qavi Khan) is furious with Rasheed for asking for his daughter’s hand in marriage, and Tamkeen resolves to tackle the situation.

What To Watch Out For (or not)

Dewar-i-Shab | Hum TV, Saturdays 8.00pm

Two disconnected stories running on parallel tracks find a common denominator in Khayyam (Shehroz Sabzwari). After fleeing from Sitara Begum’s (Bushra Ansari) kotha (brothel), Khayyam runs into his long-lost father Yusuf Kamal (Raja Haider). Of course Khayyam is clueless that this rich man, whose life he saves dramatically, is his father.

With this turn, the army of characters in Sitara Begum’s kotha, i.e. story one, now link up to Izhaar’s (Salim Mairaj) and Islam’s (Kamran Jilani) families, i.e. story two. The twist is that Izhaar’s rich and spoilt daughter-in-law Zubia (Ayesha Toor) turns out to be Khayyam’s step-sister. After leaving behind his lady love Geti (Sarah Khan), angry young man Khayyam may have acquired an identity, wealth and a step-family, but the jewellery that he ran off with is stolen sooner than we thought and Khayyam, for the time being, is in despair.

Published in Dawn, ICON, September 15th, 2019