Talk about an entry! Boy oh boy! Faysal Quraishi certainly knows how to make one. But I’m jumping ahead of myself.
For a drama that’s been hyped beyond measure the first episode was rather mellow and (as much as I hate to say it) a bit flat, but flat isn’t necessarily bad.
Our story commences, as most of our stories do, with a mangni and soon to be wedding. Buland and Rudaba’s fathers have decided on a match made in drama heaven – sharif, khandani, rayees. With the mangi out of the way we’re in the thick of things, and thick they are.
Kehtay hain har ghar mein ek bhadi zaroor hota hai. Iss kahani mein lekin ek nahi, do nahi, teen-teen bhadi hain. Hamara pehla bhadi Adil ki begum aur Rudaba ki bhabhi: Sahira. I think we’re on trend with the evil bhabhi (aren’t they all?) and in this case there’s not one but two! Sahira seems to be a spoilt girl with a bad attitude especially with her words. She’s constantly on someone’s case, if not Adil then Tayyaba, if not her then Bashar. Although she reserves the most teekha andaaz for hubby dearest. Woh kya mohavara hai kaman say nikla hua teer… I wish Sahira would pay heed.
Next up: Tayyaba, the lesser evil (at least for now) of the two sister-in-laws. From what I can gather Sundus Tariq is perfect for this role, since her last performance as Alishba in Humnasheen was particularly pacheeda. She did seem nicer than Sahira though as she quickly acknowledged that arranged marriages “have their own charm”. Side note: Why is it that we’ve come to a point where we believe arranged marriages are a sign of the past, that they are wrong and bad, yet, love marriages are the future and accompany with them all things good?
And as though on cue enter our teesra bhadi, ji haan, Bashar saab. Now I think Sahira has met her match in Bashar, agar woh teekhi hai to Bashar utna hi tedha. Enter a rude, uncouth, brash, loud and at least momentarily unlikable man. Mulazamon par chilana, mehmanoon kay saath bad-tameezi, Faysal Quraishi owned the character and this is just the start! We have yet to see him interact with Rudaba, Tayyaba, and Adil.
To complicate matters Bakhtiar and Abbaji are shot on their way home. Ab kya yoga? (Waise we all know kya yoga).
In a nice surprise I got to see Qutub (of BILU fame) in a more toned down version of the gharayloo mulazim. Gone are the white gloves, tuxedo, and smattering of English and here we have kurta clad, topi wearing, namaazi naukar. At least Rudaba will have some moral support for the trials she has to face.
What I can gather from this episode is that it seems to pit good against bad, virtue against vice, and so on. On one side we have Rudaba – unwillingly engaged to a khandani ladka of her father’s choosing – Bakhatiar, Buland, and Abbaji. On the other we have Bashar and his sisters. In the middle is Adil, quietly relinquishing his rights as an elder brother but not necessarily giving up his morals for Sahira and her family. Quite the balancing act if you ask me.
Usually such dichotomies can get tiring very quickly, I mean life is not black and white, there’s a lot of grey area involved, and I hope we get to see that.
Not really a stellar premiere but not half bad either. Maheen Rizvi was flawless as Sahira, Faisal Qureshi didn’t have enough screen time in my opinion (but we’ll be seeing more of him, I guess, that was the idea), Adil was good, as were the older gentleman, even Ushna was convincing (enough) as a bhooli-bhaali, masoom ladki (what with not talking to her fiancé on the phone!).
The editing was good as was the camerawork lekin meri ek darkhaast hai ki lighting ko theek karein. Kaafi andharay hai!
Until next week.
RB (Tweet me!)
P.S. Mein aap say mazart chahoon ga ki mujhe thoodi dairi ho gayee is review mein lekin thoodi masroofiyat thi.
