THE WEEK THAT WAS

Meray Paas Tum Ho | ARY, Saturdays 8.00pm

Well, you can die of a broken heart, according to Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar’s MPTH, where the writer did his signature cop-out, just the way he did in Pyare Afzal and Mohabbat Tum Se Nafrat Hai, by letting the most loved character die. MPTH started with a bang, remained steadily mind-blowing but lost steam in the last couple of episodes, concluding with a disappointing, flimsy finale.

Danish (Humayun Saeed) collapses with a heart attack as he comes to meet his ex-wife Mehwish (Ayeza Khan), and later (most unnecessarily) dying in the hospital after delivering a long speech in the ICU before he bids adieu to his son Rumi (Shees Sajjad Gul). Why couldn’t the serial have ended with a more plausible, practical finale with characters just moving on in their lives? Plus, if Danish hadn’t died, there could perhaps have been a sequel!

What To Watch Out For (Or Not)

Pyar Ke Sadqay | Hum TV, Thursdays 8.00pm

A soft, hummable OST, fresh humour and an immensely talented cast with Yumna Zaidi (Mahjabeen) and Bilal Abbas (Abdullah) in lead roles so quirky that you can’t help falling in love with, makes up this new serial. In complete contrast to her previous magnum opus (Cheekh), writer Zanjabeel Asim Shah returns with a light rom-com, where the ditsy Mahjabeen dreams of getting married mostly to get away from school where she has been repeating her grade for a few years. Her father Munshiji (do they still exist?) works for Abdullah’s imposing father Sarwar (Omair Rana) because of whom Abdullah, a maths whiz, has personality issues and flunks exams too.

Timid and confused, Abdullah gets bullied by Mahjabeen and together the duo is magical on screen. Director Farooq Rind’s work on the demeanour, body language and makeovers of the lead pair lends itself well to PKS, which looks like it is going to be the first blockbuster of this year.

Published in Dawn, ICON, February 2nd, 2020