THE WEEK THAT WAS

Baandi | Hum TV, Fridays 8pm

The dominant and mean Faiza Begum (Hina Dilpazeer) continues to treat maid servant Meeru (Aiman Khan) obnoxiously, which includes scalding her hand with an electric iron for burning a shawl while ironing it. Poor Meeru-cum-Cinderella was only thinking about her Prince Charming, Faiza Begum’s handsome son Wali (Munib Butt), who escapes his hawk-eyed mother and marks his interest in Meeru by promising to teach her to read and write. Faiza Begum was too busy bride-hunting for her son, about which he coolly snubs her, much to her immense disapproval.

Meanwhile, victimised by her husband Aadi (Kamran Jillani), Faiza Begum’s daughter Rameen (Hajra Yasmeen) discovers that Aadi is having an extra-marital affair but can do little about it as she has no support from her family. Back in Meeru’s village, feudal lord Tahavar (Yasir Husain) threatens to kill Meeru’s parents and burn the village if they don’t hand over Meeru to him, so they plan to escape the village with the father hobbling on a bandaged foot. Yasir Husain just doesn’t cut it as the wicked feudal despite his overt moustache-twirling and kicking over of charpoys.Writer Asma Nabeel (Khaani) does get a little carried away at creating over-dramatic tearjerkers. With Aiman Khan sobbing at the slightest misdemeanor by Faiza or Tahawar, Yasir Husain is there for comic relief.

Kyunke Ishq Baraye Farokht Nahin | A-Plus, Thursdays 8pm

Cousins fall in love and suffer bouts of jealousy as uncles and aunts play antagonists. Sabeen (Moomal Khalid) and Mustafa (Shehroze Sabzwari) love each other but Mustafa’s mother Nafeesa/Sabeen’s Taiji (Beena Chaudhry) can’t stand the sight of Sabeen even though, due to some sinister family secret, Sabeen lives with them. Taiji’s other niece Sobia (Ghana Ali) loves Mustafa and pretends to be Sabeen’s friend but actually hates her. A rich cousin Shazain (Junaid Khan, three-piece suits galore) who also loves Sabeen wants to prove to her that money can buy everything, including her love for him.

When Taiji douses herself with kerosene oil to set herself on fire, her husband Akhlaq (Tanveer Jamal) puts his foot down that if Sabeen and Mustafa are not married, he would divorce her. The wedding is all set but Shazain has decided to act like a complete dork and presents Akhlaq with a blank cheque to buy him off, and promises property to Sabeen if she would marry him. On the mehndi night, Mustafa suffers an accident and is hospitalised in critical condition. He requires an operation for which the family needs to arrange for some money. Things get even more ridiculous when Shazain suggests to Sabeen that he would pay Mustafa’s medical bills only if she spends two nights with him.

What To Watch Out For

Khudparast | ARY, Saturdays 9pm

Radain Shah’s powerful story is about Uswa (Ramsha Khan), a lively, middle-class girl who is pitted against husband Hannan (Shehzad Sheikh) who has violent anger issues and her conservative and controlling mum-in-law Bakhtawar (Asma Abbas). Family pressure had forced her to marry into the wealthy family but Uswa fails to keep her cool and lashes back at the stifling atmosphere she lives in. She also learns that Beenish (Nausheen Shah), her sister-in-law, only bears with a wayward, alcoholic husband (Hassan Ahmed) and their dominant mum-in-law because she doesn’t have a family to return to.

Refusing to apologise to her mum-in-law for something she doesn’t believe is her fault, Uswa leaves her in-laws’ house to return home. Her mum is on her side but her brothers fail to support her. Beenish drums some sense into Hannan who calls Uswa with a peace offering and she returns, but decides to give her mum-in-law a taste of her own medicine by cleverly using Hannan against his mum. The scenes are charged and the editing snappy, while Ramsha Khan and Asma Abbas share amazing screen presence.

Published in Dawn, ICON, December 9th, 2018