THE WEEK THAT WAS

Darr Khuda Se | Geo TV, Tuesdays 8.00pm

Not as immaculately executed as it could have been, the serial nevertheless tackled the issue of women’s harassment at work commendably. When life dealt each of them a bad hand, Afreen’s (Sana Javed) sister Tamkeen (Kiran Haq) and sister-in-law Shehla (Namra Shahid) unbelievably transformed from juicy vamps into kindred beings, and the story sagged. Losing all hope in life, the horrible Shahwaiz (Imran Abbas) hangs himself to death in jail, where he ends up after Afreen reports her harassment case to the police. Imran Abbas remained mediocre in his negative role while Sana Javed as Afreen was deadpan. This is that point in Imran Abbas’s career where he needs a comeback role.

Kahin Deep Jalay | Geo TV, Thursdays 8.00pm

Just how creepy does this get? Dewar Hatim (Hammad Farooqi) wants to marry manipulative widowed bhabi Shamila (Nazish Jahangir) just a few weeks after her husband Faham’s (Ali Abbas) death. But that was the only juicy turn in an otherwise dead story where husband Zeeshan (Imran Ashraf) is praying hard to get back with his wife Rida (Neelam Munir), who spends time at dargahs because she doesn’t want to get back with him. That is because he had accused her of cheating on him after receiving a wrong medical report that declared him impotent! One wonders if there is a script for the serial, or is each episode being written randomly!

What To Watch Out For

Dilruba | TV, Saturdays 8.00pm

Hania Aamir in her lead role as Sanam does not appear to be too different from her last two appearances, as Daneen in Anaa and Rumaisa in Ishqiya — the bold, brash and beautiful girl that she reels off with a swag that is all hers, but which has nothing new to offer. Sanam loves male attention and gets so much of it that she has little or no time for the rest of her middle-class family, and her flirtatious nature will probably get her into some trouble. Marina Khan, who plays Sanam’s mother, is forever reprimanding her daughter, but sounds way too polished for a middle-class housewife. The cast includes Nabil Zuberi (Suno Chanda), Syed Jibran, Mohib Mirza and Shehroze Sabzwari. With Ali Hasan at the helm and Qaisera Hayat penning the story, the serial is expected to be one of the biggies this year, so keep watching.

Published in Dawn, ICON, April 5th, 2020