THE WEEK THAT WAS

Jalan | ARY, Wednesdays 8.00pm

A Pemra ban and very soon an ‘unban’ — fortunately for its enthusiasts, Jalan didn’t miss a single week of airing. In fact, it returned with an action-packed episode which was all Nadia Husain’s. As Asfand’s (Emmad Irfani) elder sister, Kinza (Nadia Husain) is horrified to find things changed in her brother’s house. The pregnant wife Meenu (Areeba Habib) has been thrown out and sent off to her parents’ house while Meenu’s bad, bad sister Neesha (Minal Khan) is living in Asfand’s guest house. All this is too much for the fiery Kinza and, on finding out what’s going on, she literally drags Neesha out of Asfand’s house. But he arrives just in time to confront Kinza. Not just that, pressurised by Neesha, he goes over to Neesha’s parents’ house, pushes and shoves Meenu around, and divorces her. Whether the divorce is technically possible or not is the writer Sidra Sehar Imran’s prerogative, but Jalan is pacey, racy and entertaining.

Sabaat | Hum TV, Sundays 8.00pm

The story has picked up a bit with the fiery and arrogant Miraal (Sarah Khan) hell-bent on wrecking her marriage, on account of being jealous of her psychiatrist husband Haaris’ (Usman Mukhtar) patients. When she confirms through her spy Atif (Abbas Ashraf Awan) that Haaris is lying to her about doing lectures instead of his clinic, she immaturely blocks his number and tells him categorically that this is the end of their marriage. Haaris can’t have been a very competent psychiatrist for he couldn’t figure out, even while treating her, that Miraal is a complete lunatic.

What To Watch Out For (Or Not)

Hamari Kahani | Urdu TV, Mon-Fri 9.00pm

Well into its second season, there has not been a single boring episode so far in this serial. Fiza (Hazal Kaya) and Basit (Burak Deniz) are finally married but not yet together. To get rid of his pestering first wife Neha (Olcay Yusufoğlu), Basit had to orchestrate a fatal accident in which he is supposed to have died. But Neha finds a gold tooth in the dead person’s remains, and she is adamant that she has been fooled. So now it’s a cat-and-mouse game until she finds out. Meanwhile, thoroughly disgusted with Basit’s sense of adventure, Fiza finds a cushy job in a hotel. Her friend Yaalay (Nesrin Cavvadzade) decides to adopt sister-in-law Zainab’s (Miray Akay) illegimate baby, and Fiza’s brother Rehmat (Yagiz Can Conyali) and the gorgeous Dia (Melisa Dongel) are in love, so there’s lots of sizzling chemistry. Each character continues to be relatable and the everyday situations have us totally hooked.

Published in Dawn, ICON, October 4th, 2020