THE WEEK THAT WAS

Sar-i-Rah | ARY, Saturdays 9.00pm

Writer Adeel Razzak presents a selection of contemporary stories that touch on some serious societal issues. The series begins with Saba Qamar in brilliant form as Rania, a woman forced to work as a taxi driver when her father falls ill. Despite having a working fiancé and a healthy brother, none of the men in her life are willing to step up and support the family when it falls on hard times.

Facing off against the moral judgements and two-faced declarations of honour, the young woman takes a stand and makes a living with the only tools she has. Like most of Razzak’s scripts, there is an element of discovery, which director Ahmed Bhatti captures perfectly, encapsulating each character in a few scenes and keeping the narrative going at a sharp pace. The episode ends with a woman carrying a baby in the taxi but denying she is the mother. Teasers show us the other characters in this show are a transgender/intersex man Sarang played by Munib Butt, and a TikTok star Rameen played by Saboor Aly.

Yunhi Hum | Hum TV, Sundays 8.00pm

Shot with a soft-focus lens, the Pakistan in this serial seems to be stuck in the 1950s, perhaps to draw an even sharper contrast between the clash of cultures the story is centred on. Twenty-five years ago, Dr Naveed Ali (Deepak Perwani) discarded his fianceé and family for a new life in America. Now he returns with a grown-up daughter, Kim, begging for forgiveness.

Kim (Maya Ali) gets her first culture shock at the airport: when the man she and her father think is a driver or a religious extremist because of his traditional clothes, turns out to be her second cousin Daud (Bilal Ashraf). Daud is equally unimpressed with Kim’s lack of manners and Western dress. A fluid, well-made first episode from director Ehtashamuddin and a strong story from Sarwat Nazir gives this show a lot of potential.

Deepak Perwani plays the disconnected American returnee flawlessly. Ali and Ashraf, manage the rare feat of connecting with the audience and their characters with minimal dialogues, effectively emoting with their eyes and low-key body language. This looks like a hit show with star power pulling in the masses, and the quality performances from the rest of the cast and crew drawing the rest.

Mujhay Pyar Hua Tha | ARY, Mondays 8.00pm

Saad (Wahaj Ali) bows out of an engagement with his cousin Maheer (Hania Aamir) because she has fallen in love with Areeb (Zaviyar Naumaan Ijaz), a man she met a couple of times. Areeb’s elite class mother is set against the match, and proves it by taking the first opportunity to destroy everything when Areeb falls ill on their wedding day. Predictably, Maheer’s father needs a stand-in dulha (groom), and Saad is emotionally blackmailed.

This is an incredibly popular serial because of the charisma of the leads Wahaj Ali and Hania Aamir, combined with director Badar Mehmood’s skill at creating melodrama out of an ordinary script. Full of flashbacks and repetitive, triggering dialogues about “middle class girls” and materialism, which riddle each episode, it still seems to thrill mass audiences. Disappointingly, the supporting cast make no attempt at authenticity, leaving the lead pair to carry the weight of the story on their luckily able shoulders.

What To Watch Out For (or not)

Munn Aangan | ARY, Coming soon

Intriguing teasers show three men entering Mahnoor’s (Anmol Baloch) life, but the one she chooses abandons her at their wedding. While the other rejected suitor turns to hate, will the third man turn to love?

Published in Dawn, ICON, February 19th, 2023