Its now time for another review, since we’re now almost headed towards the closure of ‘Manjali’.
Since the last time I wrote, the story has moved forward at quite a quick pace. We’ve seen so many characters been butchered as the episodes progressed. Some totally at once, and others continue to do so at a snail’s speed.
Fakhri Begum somehow managed to convince Jalal Mirza to get Taimoor & Tooba married. The twist in the tale being, Tooba’s reluctance to this alliance on the surface and also trying to keep her dignity intact by keeping her mouth shut regarding the whole issue. Wahab Ahmed, has been what we would call a ‘greedy and selfish’ person whose shortcomings can be overcome by the enormous display of wealth, that Jalal Mizra’s proposal has gotten for him.
Moving on, Zareena’s best option to avoid this match is for Tooba & Ramis to escape before the inevitable happens. As expected from such a weak character as Ramis, he disappears from the surface of the earth. Tooba now has no other choice, but to appear as a sacrificial lamb in the aftermath of these events that eventually leads to the dreadful wedding of the leads of the drama.
Further as the drama continues, Ramis re-appears right on time for the Rukhsati leaving a completely bewildered and shattered Zareena and Gudiya in guilt. But, the million dollar question here, is where was Ramis all this while?
That, leads us to the entry of yet another character, Dr.Sidra, who happens to be his ‘savior’in disguise and tries to console him in his grief and betrayal of Tooba.
Immediately, after the wedding, Taimoor shows his true colors and asks Tooba to sing that very song that got him to cause quite a commotion at Rameen’s wedding. Tooba, being the most intellectual being of this drama is already aware of Taimoor’s real intentions and his true feelings for her. There has been no amends made, on his part to prove himself to be worthy of being her husband. All her fears, have now officially come true.
As the writer have it, Tooba is willing to continue playing the part of a mazloom aurat for Taimoor’s family’s sake.
Meanwhile, Wahab Ahmed also realises that Maina and Bunty have been playing with all this while, and thanks to him, Maina now goes missing from our screens. Chalo bhai, aik toh naiki ki iss bandey ney.
The dialogues of ‘Manjali’ are truly commendable. They are definitely, some of the best ones I’ve heard this year. The direction by Nadeem Baig is very good too. But what lacks in the narrative, is depth. Most of the developments int he script, are just expected to be assumed by the viewer. There is no logical explanation for some of the characters appearing / disappearing between scenes. Also, there’s no consistency in the character graph of most characters. They appear to be saying a line in one episode, but their actions in the very next episode are the complete opposite, especially Rameen.
The main actors that are bound to catch your attention are Mikaal Zulfikar, Shehryar Zaidi and Saba Hameed. Mehwish Hayat is strictly okay. She does seem disinterested in her scenes now. From the rest of the cast, Faris Shafi needs to really brush up his acting skills. Ali Safina and Natasha Ali, don’t really have much to do and are completely wasted.
Overall, this is more of a play that can be viewed for timepass only, especially if there’s really nothing else to do.
Manjali, now airs every Wednesday @ 8:30pm on GEO.
