THE TUBE

THE WEEK THAT WAS

Meher Mah | Express TV, Mondays 8.00pm

Express Entertainment adds to their push to compete with the big three channels, by upping its content quality with big-name stars and some strong mini-serials. Meher Mah brings back the popular pairing of Hira Salman and Affan Waheed in a romantic mystery. Rohail (Affan Waheed) misses a flight and is forced to travel from Sukkur to Karachi by coach, where he meets Roohi (Hira Salman), a young woman going to meet her husband. Roohi is a runaway and looks as if she might be pregnant. Rohail cannot abandon her and takes her home, promising to help reunite her with her husband.

Curiously, his mother welcomes a complete stranger into her house, which is in full wedding preparations, after hearing the name Roohi. Roohi’s husband, Javed, seems to have disappeared. His mobile number is registered to someone else and the address to his house is empty with the owners living overseas. The story moves fast, the leads capture our attention but the situation and the way Roohi is easily embraced by the household is not justified by the writing, and seems odd.

Faraib | Hum TV, Sundays 9.00pm

In a conservative, male-dominated society, the only women that succeed are those that captivate and manipulate the men around them. Shehnaz (Maria Wasti) is such a clever woman, one who rules her husband (Adnan Jaffar) and her wealthy, young brother-in-law Sultan (Zain Baig). When she sees that her equally manipulative younger sister may challenge her powerful position, she breaks her engagement to Sultan and tricks her into marrying an old man.

Drunk on power, Shehnaz brings the oppressed Sonia (Zainab Shabbir) to marry Sultan, so she can continue to rule. Will Shehnaz’s reign continue or will Sonia make a place in Sultan’s heart? Will Shehnaz’s true nature ever become apparent to the slavishly devoted Sultan. This is a good show with a well-constructed plot that explores some common themes, such as the way honour culture and family systems are used to control and stunt women who are financially dependent.

Maria Wasti is a treat to watch and keeps the villainy from becoming cartoonish. Good performances from Zain Baig, Zainab Shabbir and Adnan Jaffar make this worth tuning in to every week.

Tere Ishq Ke Naam | ARY, Thursdays 8.00pm

Altamush (Usama Khan) refuses to wait till his fiancée, Rutba, graduates as per her father Meher Ali’s request, and persuades the young woman to elope. After their secret nikaah, Meher Ali (Jamal Shah) still forgives them and plans a grand reception. Altamush’s ego is still not satisfied and he demands yet another proof of Rutba’s absolute loyalty to him: asking her to steal the deeds to her father’s property and mother’s jewellery as proof.

Rutba is blindly in love and assumes none of these things really matter, but Altamush goes into a rage and divorces her on the spot. Rutba’s worried father decides to marry Rutba to Khursheed (Zaviyar Ijaz), a poor cousin whom Rutba has always looked down on. This is a typical family melodrama with a bit of a moral lesson, where no one is allowed to heal or mature, and a new shaadi is the cure for everything. Usama Khan is the star of the show as the hot-tempered, bad boy antagonist, while Hiba Bukhari carries her role convincingly as the foolish, spoiled, only daughter.