I had written last week that I want to be surprised! I had hoped for an explosive finale! And of course, at the back of my mind, a little voice was telling me to be realistic. After all, so many surprises have been uncovered and so many twists have been unleashed. What could possibly happen than (as Annie had commented) Meesha’s confession of love?

Come 8:00 pm and I remained totally glued to my seat, unable to move a muscle till the very last minute. Thankfully, I had refrained from watching any promos or precaps of this last episode so like Meesha, I too was wondering how in the world was Rooman going to pull off his stunt. The twist towards the end was totally unexpected, and I must confess I did NOT see that coming at all. At one point, I was actually wondering if we were in for a wholly different ending from the novel, but thankfully, the story did not digress too much.

In terms of this episode, there were some issues with editing – one conversation of Meesha and Rooman played twice, which turned the entire sentimental sequence into a comical one. In another supposedly sentimental conversation, Meesha’s voice went up several decibels and Rooman looked terribly uncomfortable. In fact, I am not sure why both Maya Ali and Faizan Khawaja, who have otherwise done such a terrific job, fell so short in these crucial scenes (for which we had all been waiting for so long).

However, I will not let these minor glitches take over the moment of glory for the younger and very talented cast. All three Maya Ali, Faizan Khawaja and Osman Khalid Butt deserve a round of applause for their extremely sincere portrayal of the characters they were playing. It would be an understatement to declare that they were totally into their characters. Rooman with his heroics, Meesha with her Cinderella-ness and Mayer with his Prince Charming turned wimp demeanour will definitely not be forgotten for a very long time. Not to take credit away from the senior cast, Qavi Khan, Nasreen Qureshi, Hina Bayat and Saba Hameed gave their very best as well. Shah Baba’s acting all throughout this episode made me quite sure he was about to have a heart attack. Esheeta and Warda Butt played the evil stepsisters to near-perfection as well.

Faiza Iftikhar – this HAS to be your best script EVER. After reading the end of the novel, I had wondered how life would have been for Meesha had she married Mayer. Thanks to the serial, I understand perfectly why there is no guarantee of a ‘happily ever after’ just because you get together with the prince of your dreams. And sometimes, the knight in the shining armour comes from totally unexpected places. If only our youth would understand the connotations of what has been portrayed here…

Kudos also to the director, Haissam Hussain. His signature was stamped over most of the scenes, making me so nostalgic that at one point, I actually went back to watch Dastaan. The chemistry between the characters, and the way the novel was brought to life was amazingly done. You could actually feel for all the characters, which is so rare with the serials on air these days. With short scenes, and scenic locales, this serial was a treat to watch from the start to the end. I am definitely looking forward to the next project of Faiza Iftikhar with Haissam Hussain based on the novel “Hisar-e-Muhabbat”.

For now, I will just go and watch the last episode again!

Thank you to the entire team of Aik Nayee Cinderella for an hour of pure entertainment in the past 19 weeks and with it, an enlightening insight into “fairyland”.

Written by Drama Buff ([email protected])

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