THE WEEK THAT WAS

Gul-o-Gulzar | ARY, Thursdays 8.00pm

The story gets exciting as the deceitful Gul (Saboor Aly) stays overnight at Gulzar’s (Kinza Hashmi) house for her brother’s wedding festivities. Gulzar, in an innocent but stupid move, shows Gul all the bridal jewellery and, in an unexpected twist, the next morning Gul is missing and so is the jewellery. Gul’s vegetable vendor father (Nayyer Ejaz) reports to the police that Gulzar, being Gul’s best friend, must have known all along about Gul’s plan, and must have assisted her in eloping with someone.

Also missing from the scene is hustler Adil (Omar Shahzad), who Gul had been seeing and coercing to marry her. While the furore about Gul’s escapade and the theft is playing out, Gulzar gets engaged without her consent after a random proposal is accepted by her family. Would be fun if the suitor turns out to be none other than Adil!

Shahrukh Ki Saaliyan | Geo TV, Sundays 7.00pm

Anoushay’s (Ramsha Khan) lame suicide attempt, where she twists her ankle (pun not intended), finally manages to convince her tyrannical father, Havaldar Maula Bakhsh (Rehan Sheikh), about her undying love for Shahrukh (Ahsan Khan). He decides to visit Shahrukh in the office to fish for some details on his future son-in-law.

Once again, the hilarious love triangle between Shahrukh, his Gujrati-speaking co-worker Komal (Chand) and Anoushay (Ramsha Khan) plays up. As Shahrukh steps out to get some goodies for Maula Bakhsh’s tea that Chand dutifully brings in, Komal gets an opportunity to apprise Maula Bakhsh of her version of Shahrukh’s love story, where she, and not Anoushay, is the one whom Shahrukh loves. Once again, Shahrukh is in a pickle. New entrant Chand is well-cast for her role and effortlessly funny.

What To Watch Out For

Inkaar | Hum TV, Mondays 8.00pm

After losing her court case against Rehan Chaudhry (Imran Ashraf), Hajra (Yumna Zaidi) struggles to survive against relentless pressure from the Chaudhrys to marry Rehan, the man who allegedly stabbed her countless times with a pair of scissors. A friend advises her to take her war to social media (the newest trend in drama scripts tackling serious social issues), and soon Hajra has the public on her side, creating discomfort for the Chaudhrys.

When Hajra is interviewed on TV, Rehan’s father (Imran Peerzada) threatens to get even and Rehan’s evil step-mum (Munazza Arif) retaliates by purchasing the most popular TV spot for her son. Despite little omissions, Zafar Mairaj’s unique story, and Kashif Nisar’s immaculate direction, has us hooked to each consecutive episode.

Published in Dawn, ICON, July 28th, 2019