One thing is for sure Wali Bohat acha hai aur Wali ki Dulhan Faraa Suhaib Khan bohat achi hai . after the ups and downs of the last five or six episodes I had been a trifle suspicious about the finale but despite the predictable happy ending it still held a wonderful thrill of anticipation, a delightful surrender to that never  old-fashioned feeling of love

I counted  to 33 and then divided by 4 , yes ladies and gentleman we have been with Dayar e Dil   just over 8 months , one week over to be precise.  Just like any relationship we have had our ups and downs , there was the halcyon beginning in which we were completely enamored , then there was the realisation that there might be problems , then the reevaluation phase : is this worth sticking with after all ? Then came Faraa and Wali and we decided, hey , perhaps it wasn’t a bad decision to stick together after all , even then we had our blow up ,when Wali abducted Faraa and we almost , almost left…damn it .There were some uneven rocky roads to travel where sometimes we were up in there in love again and other times, we were just mad as hell at why things didn’t go as per the plan  way but we held fast and what a fabulous finale we got in the end .

The first few minutes into this episode I was a bit  apprehensive and to prove a appoint there was Faraa , dry heaving oops crying in front of Agha Jan because  Wali  was ignoring her over some gajjer ka halwa she had made . As usual we were not shown this whole incident but left to infer it and as usual I was left asking akhir kiyun ?  Hamara Qasoor kiya hai ? why couldn’t we have had those cute scenes in place of a lot of the Tajamul scenes or perhaps in place of the those endless breakfasts ? Then all of a sudden Team Dayar e Dil decided to get their act together . Pardon me for stumbling into a well made , sharply scripted beautifully picturised finally with some pitch perfect acting from Osman Khalid Butt and Maya Ali . We knew Wali was playing with Faraa and it was delicious fun to watch her squirm not because she deserved it as a punishment but simply because she needed to woman up and choose the Man in her life rather than looking around for straws to hold on to . It was hard to blame her , after her history with Wali she probably felt she had no ground to stand on but she has been so blind . How could Wali be doing everything only for Agha Jan ? Why would a Man put himself in the line of fire , put up with all the Moiz business and a mother in law like Roohi and even defy his mother, if he didn’t care about you deeply ? Faraa needed to step up and make her declaration of intent because when you are really , truly in love there is no such thing as ego. Maya Ali has proved herself to before and is an excellent actress who ,with a good director can make any role work .

I just loved how Wali was watching and playing with Faraa , this was probably going to be the first and last time Faraa would ever let him gain the upper hand so easily so why not enjoy it . I was so busy with the WaFa interaction I forgot about our abnormally subdued Roohi and the sudden ease between her and Arjumand . That is where good direction comes into play . Keep the audience focused on the foreground and the background flows by with little comment . Who apart from me wanted to see a  more contrite and hesitant  Roohi  ? Even when Wali announces his he wants to marry Faraa , true to style Roohi is not at all humbled or silently grateful that despite her best efforts her daughter was getting her dream come true. Instead we got a very matter of fact , well that’s good then kind of attitude ,so Roohi is consistent if nothing else. As usual all the genuine warmth came from Haveli waley .

After Wali and Faraa , Abid Ali have the best chemistry with basically everyone . This whole story would have fallen apart if AghaJan had not been so worth all the love and attention his grandchildren lavished on him. Abid Ali is always nothing short of magnificent , underpaying and bringing on the power just as needed in a near flawless performance. Even Bairam and Agha Jan relationship seemed to have a spark of realism .  So Agha Jan calls Wali over to rein him in but never quite succeeds . I liked how Agha Jan let both Wali and Faraa find their own way , he wants to protect his granddaughter but is wise enough to know that Faraa must cross that bridge alone otherwise there would always be a seed of doubt in Wali’s heart when things got tough , that maybe . just ,maybe this was all just a big compromise after all .

The best scenes were of course between Wali and Faraa this week . after some cool , well-played understatement Osman Khalid Butt brought out the full intensity of Wali’s feelings for Faraa this week . 8 Months is a long time and Hamarey Wali has been waiting much , much longer. He has to push Faraa right to the edge , before she breaks but when she does there is a look of such sweet expectancy and yearning on his face that I can hardly believe this is the Wali who keeps teasing Faraa about her being outspoken and batameez. I guess its fair to say OKB is  simply fabulous at  emoting, what others take a page full of dialogue to explain the audience can understand by looking at his eyes OKB is a real star whether it is mischeif or passion , quiet desperation or complete sang-froid , he can pull it off with ease.Hamara rishta Kayam rakna Chahtey ho ?……….  The quiet affirmation from Wali was beautiful and powerful, giving that whole scene more of an impact than any lambey speeches. Is it me or did Wali really give Faraa a “medal ” for her daring to come and sleep in his room ?  It seemed like the director deliberately cut off the  scene rather sharply … or is it may fevered Victorian mind , that thinks a kiss was suggested ?   Apart from the constant crying , Maya Ali was superb too matching up to Wali in almost every scene . Her desperation to stop the divorce , the Freudian turn into Wali’s room (master stroke Farhat Ishtiaq !) and her slow dawning happiness at finding that for all her losing she had already won were great to watch . I think that we talk a lot about Osmaya and OKB ‘s chemistry with Maya but here it was illustrated to perfection . Director Haseeb Hassan captured this deeply personal and passionate moments all the depth and focus that made this ending magical .  This is the power of Farhat Ishtiaq’s writing . She writes about love so movingly there is no need for vulgarity , exposure or anything inappropriate , the passion is in the feelings of the characters for each other and the lack of physicality and sense of control only work to distill those feelings even more .Intimacy is inferred rather than overt making it all the more powerful.

I was not a puddle of mush when Wali asked why he cannot make such “haseen Ghaltiya” but by the time OKB said told  Faraa “Ghalti sey apni sahee Jagaa pey aagaee” , I had definitively gone into a semi liquid state . Breaking into this reverie , Agha Jan asks what exactly Faraa is doing in Wali’s room , this time of the morning ? The  old sparring teasing Fara and Wali are back , taking Agha Jan’s attention ,far far away from the ahem ….situation …..  This is the great thing about this relationship it is that rare thing in Pakistani dramas , a love between couple who are on the same level , who consider each other equals withouth the usual patriarchal deference to an older husband and a naive young wife . Wali maybe the better person, but having seen Faraa at her worst he also knows her at her best , he knows her heart and accepts her lock stock and barrel.  Faraa  also knows what a perfectionist  Wali is , how domineering he can be but she cannot think of living without him . Needless to say I loved this episode and simply because it was so beautifully written and equally well-directed and acted that I am forced to say it could have been like this every episode you know …. We could have cake everyday, I mean every week if only we didn’t have to stretch things and could focus on the main players.

I am not one of those people who hated the  back story , I think a lot of the back story was a necessary introduction and set a great stage for Wali and Faraa . My main complaint was that Roohi and some of the back story seemed to overshadow the WaFA story . I suppose it is a question of balance. Who could forget Ali Rehman as everyone’s favourite Suhaib ? what a sweetheart , I cried my eye out when he his character died so again a round of applause for him and his stand out performance . That unforgettable last hug for Behroz …forever in my memory . Moiz beychara , the convenient villain we all watnted to slap , Great job Ahmed Zeb for making us hate Moiz ! Hareem Farooq  and Mikaal Zulfikar have also been outstanding and I loved their performances again : applause . I think Sanam Saeed was good in the first 12 episodes , playing her character with sincerity but towards the end she could not give her character any nuance and that maybe due to Farhat Ishtiaq who needed to give Roohina’s character some growth or maturity if not out right change. Having said that, this must was an amazingly plotted drama with two of everything , be it deaths , funerals , kidnappings or nikkah’s . Such plot progression is challenging to say the least but Farhat Ishtiaq kept the audience connected despite our complaints for 8 months . If she tortured us with breakfast scenes she is also then one who wrote  lovely scenes of Fara and Wali in the garden and everywhere else , Behroz and Roohi , Suhaib and Arjumand and of course Agha Jan . she is the one who created these wonderful characters we have loved.  I have not always been happy with director Haseeb Hassan because I felt he missed an opportunity or two ( the horse ride and the haunted house )but then there have been times that he has manged this story with such excellence and  proficiency that he was able to make the predictable thrilling  and compelling in  a way few others can .Haseeb Hassan has managed to bring out some great performances from his actors and where I have complaints , I also loved the beautiful picturisation of the scenery of Baltistan (hats off to the DOP for a fabulous job !!) and my favourite scenes of Wali and Faraa arguing in the garden and so many others . Take a bow team Dayar e dil ,not perfect but a wonderful serial that we just couldnt stop watching .

By Sadaf