After last week’s slightly slower episode, this one seemed a lot more balanced and evenly paced. On a technical level this is one of the better episodes , nicely edited , well-acted and all the elements of the story building up like steadily gathering storm clouds ready to pour out their contents on our unsuspecting heroine. On paper it is almost inconceivable that Asher Hussain: elite class Yale graduate, successful businessman, golden son and all around chosen one could possibly feel insecure. But in reality: as the old saying goes, love makes fools of the best of us. When some men get angry they throw things, the shout or curse but for the higher minded, better educated sorts it seems an icy wall of impenetrable silence and contempt is the modus operandi. Poor Khirad does not know what hit her as the loving husband who dropped her off at the engagement party suddenly begins to ignore her, avoids her company and rebuff her every attempt at connection with.
If only Khirad’s mother had been alive or she had a sister they might have told her ignore him and he will get over it. However the point is made very clearly that she is alone in this world, that her only connection is as she pointed out to him in the last episode ,Asher. It takes a day or so for Asher to calm down but it is quite obvious that by the time he leaves for Islamabad despite his cold behavior he has calmed down at least a little. Is it me or does Fawad suddenly have My Mujtaba’s haircut?
Poor Khirad is so sweet in her attempts to manao Asher …aap bohat achey lag rahey hai ..yes tell me something else I don’t know Is the look on our hero’s face. When I first watched this I was so angry at Asher and this time it was even more irritating. Khirad cannot stand next to Khizar who is her classmate but Asher going off on a conference with hot cousin who committed suicide over him is just fine. I also noticed that newly engaged Talha did not seem to mind Khizar and the other male classmates of his wife attending the wedding and teasing him about his bride. I have a feeling Farhat Ishtiaq deliberately juxtaposed the two situations to show this was a shade in Asher’s character not Khirad’s fault at all.
Overall I found this episode very powerful , very emotional episode bringing me down firmly on Khirad’s side. The first time I watched I never expected what happened in episode 11,it came as a complete shock ! What I had thought was Atiqa Odho’s bad acting skills: the fake smile the formal but effusive courtesies she showed Khirad had me fooled. I enjoyed Khizar’s pleading scene with Sara which seemed like a pathetic echo of the scenes between Khirad and Asher and even Sara and Asher. It guess self-awareness or introspection were not Asher or Sara’s strong points. Khizar actually came over as quite sincere in his attraction to Sara and his dislike of Asher, so Noor Hassan deserves some credit there.
