THE WEEK THAT WAS

Duniyapur | Green Entertainment, Wednesdays 8.00pm

A weak central government and an ignorant electorate that regularly votes in their own enemies produces a state within a state like Duniyapur.

Ruled by cruel, sadistic nawabs for generations, Duniyapur is now under the control of Nauroz Adam (Naumaan Ijaz) and his family, who once served the feudal lords. Adam’s two sons — the rash, reactionary Nayaab (Ali Reza) and the younger, more rational Shahmir (Khushhal Khan) — have an intense rivalry with the nawab’s last remaining son, Nawab Farhad (Hassan Niazi). When Nayaab is attacked by masked thugs, his rage leads to an unthinking revenge, thus dragging the Adam family and his more restrained brother Shahmir into another open confrontation. Nayaab is captured but Shahmir is stabbed by the panicked Nawabzadi Ana (Ramsha Khan), falling from the top of an old palace to what should be his death.

However, this is a script from Radain Shah, whose previous magnum opus was about an obsessed lover, so there will be elements of cinematic fantasy. Shahmir is most likely to survive. Sami Khan is the newly appointed SHO, taken for a literal ride by the ruling Adam group, to show him exactly how little power he holds in this exciting, action-packed first episode.

Baby Baji Ki Bahuwain | ARY, Sundays 7.00pm

A new director, Tahseen Khan, and a new writer, Saqib Ali Rana, have been roped in to recreate the magic of the original superhit serial. So far, the team has retained most of the actors and the all-important essence of the beloved original characters.

Even better, although the negative family members have been accepted back into the family fold, they are not completely forgiven by everyone. The plotting, manipulative Asra Bhabi (Javaria Saud) and violent, angry malcontent Naseer Bhai (Hasan Ahmed) are on a precarious redemption arc that could collapse beneath them at any time. What is missing is the spiritual development necessary for true growth, and a lack of self-awareness in the positive characters of how they ceded control to the darker sides of not just their spouses’ natures, but their own.

The strength of the first season lay not just in idealising or promoting the joint family system, which has been the backbone of South Asian society for thousands of years, but also acknowledging its victims. Forced marriages, tolerating abuse and the inevitable misuse of generational hierarchy were all tackled without losing sight of the many positives.

Jaan Se Pyara Juni | Hum TV, Wednesdays 8.00pm

Junaid (Zahid Ahmed) is a quiet, hardworking man who loves his neighbour, the arrogant Husan Ara (Hira Salman) from afar. Spurned by the materialistic Husan Ara, he realises he has wasted a lot of his youth in false hopes and jumps into a rushed marriage with a young girl, Mina (Mamya Shajafar), who has also been rejected by her fiancé.

This is a shock his possessive, manipulative, older sister Safina (Faiza Hassan) can never recover from, and she spends the rest of the episodes trying to oust Junaid’s wife.

There is zero chemistry between any of the leads and the show survives on petty female rivalry and jealousy angles, and the story is going round in circles. Junaid has become a rich man, his sister is constantly trying to ruin both his married life and his bank balance, but he is annoyingly oblivious. None of the characters have any balance or nuance, leaving a good actor such as Zahid Ahmed, wasted in this serial.

What To Watch Out For (or not)

Sunn Mere Dil | Geo TV, Coming soon

New teasers for Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar’s upcoming mega serial for Geo TV, Sunn Mere Dil, feature Wahaj Ali as a Devdas-like character, igniting even more interest for this show.

Published in Dawn, ICON, October 6th, 2024