Now, what I don’t like is when my first impression of a play compels me to be over-critical, I honestly feel it is unfair to discredit or disapprove a play based only on one episode. But what do you do when you find most of the things over-exaggerated and flawed…to be honest or not to be honest, that is the question!! So I am just going to be my candid old self and welcome some serious wrath from Ayesha Khan’s fans in particular. I will try my utmost to sound as objective as I possibly can because I do accept the fact that not all shows take-off right from the first episode, some stories/characters take time to build-up or grow on the viewers.
I saw a lot of likes for the first episode and there are definitely tons of people looking forward to watching the play, so I watched it one more time before penning down my thoughts and guess what I found no hidden charm….oops sorry. Well the play does have a lot going to for it in terms of its credentials and that was exactly the reason I was looking forward to this play. It has been written by Qaisra Hayat, a very big name in Urdu literature, known for her Mystic and social romantic novels. The director Nain Maniar has many notable plays and telefilms to his credit, most of his work has been aired on TV one, he was the man behind ‘Mahmoodabad Ki Malkain’. Maseeha has been produced by Shahzad Nasib and Samina Hamuyun Saeed, two very big names in the business. The cast with Ayesha Khan, Nouman Masood, Zainab Qayuum and Rubina Ashraf, among others is first-rate for sure. I have been looking forward to watching Nouman Masood and ZQ in particular. I thoroughly enjoyed their performances in ‘Mere Khawab Reza Reza’ and ‘Mere Pass Pass’, respectively.
The story of the play revolves around Aalish, a girl who comes from a very rich background but is ‘blindly’ in love with Sherry (Affan Waheed), who comes from a lower-middle class family and has two younger sisters (who seriously need to grow up!) and a paralyzed mother to look after. While Aalish’s views regarding charity work etc are very commendable but at the same time she is spoiled to the core, one can see that in the way she behaves towards her mother and would not compromise on her coffee! Is she in denial? How can a girl like her be in love with a boy like Sherry? Or is she just being her defiant self? I felt like Ms.Aalish has two different personalities, one for the rest of the world and the other for Sherry, found it rather difficult to relate to. Affan Waheed’s expressions and over-all acting was not at all impressive in this episode, the only thing he is good with is giving a sweet smile everything else is just plain flat.
Rubina Ashraf’s acting was definitely up-to-the-mark, I saw her last in ‘Samdhan’, this character is completely different from the one she had in ‘Samdhan’ and I thoroughly enjoyed her performance…very well-done, no overacting like rest of the actors in the show. Aalish walks in when her mother is being interviewed and the interviewer quite conveniently starts interviewing her, does that really happen? In fact do most of the things that are being shown in this play really happen? Basit, a very wealthy and yet another spoiled character in the play, however is extremely impressed with Aalish’s interview and will do anything to have her in his life. I was hoping to see Nouman Masood in a different role this time but this one is too similar to the one he had in ‘Mere Khawab Reza Reza’…. The rich spoiled guy who can get any woman in the world but can’t get that one girl he wants, very original! The two things that Aalish and Basit have in common are that they both belong to very rich families and telling their mothers off is their favorite thing to do. That is another problem I have with this plays, Is insulting one’s mother an in thing? Or is it the norm in the ‘upper-class’? Or maybe the mothers in this class deserve just that since they are evil women too involved in business and less in family! Really can’t make out what is the reason behind showing this. A little defiance is no problem but this is a bit too much and surely something I can’t bear to see more of. The close-ups of the actors, the loud ever-present background music, the exaggerated characters and a bit of overacting here and there made me feel like I was watching a play on Star Plus.
Over-all I felt it was not the kind of play I would be able to relate to or enjoy but I do intend to give it a shot in the hope that it may have something substantial to offer in the coming episodes! I have no shame in confessing that with quite a few brilliant shows on air I am justified in being spoilt for choice.
Author: Fatima Awan.
