Samira Fazal seems to be giving us hit after hit…Mera Saeein, Mera Naseeb, and now Mastana Mahi.

Episode 1 was pretty good in my opinon. I didn’t think that it was really mind-blowing or anything as I had been expecting. However, from all of the promos, it seems that the story is going to pick up and become pretty interesting as the story goes on, so we’ll see. The main characters of this show so far are Adil (Fahad Mustafa), and Arleen (Mehreen Raheal). Okay, so I’ll admit that I wasn’t happy to see Mehreen Raheal in the cast. Fahad Mustafa is one of my favorites, but her…well, I don’t like her acting very much. I mean, in Dastaan, the drama in which every actor was at its peak, her acting was pretty bad. But she did a pretty good job so far in the first episode. Maybe she got acting lessons, or maybe she just got better with time. Yes, the director probably did do a good job with her, but I don’t think we can give him all the credit, as Mehreen did a pretty bad job in Dastaan even though it was directed by Haissam Hussain. Whatever the case, I’m hoping that Mehreen Raheal will be able to perform as well as she has in the first episode as the show goes on.

So Mehreen’s character Arleen is a girl who was born in…wherever they live. I don’t think it was mentioned in the first episode where the story is taking place, but if anyone knows please feel free to leave a comment. Anyway, she was born in this place and has lived here her whole life. Her family is Pakistani, but she doesn’t consider herself so. And she has a boyfriend who is about a million years older than her. He has been divorced before, and has a daughter who is about the same age as Arleen, maybe a year or two younger. Arleen is engaged to him, and her father can’t stand him and doesn’t want her to marry him.

Fahad Mustafa’s character Adil is from Pakistan. He came over to…wherever they live, so that he could go to college there. He meets Arleen while taking pictures, as it seems to be a hobby of his. They become friends, and it’s obvious that Adil likes her. And that’s all that has happened in the first episode. It’s a pretty good start in my opinion.

I don’t really like the character of Arleen. There’s nothing wrong with being open-minded, but she is a bit too open-minded. But I think I’m going to like the message that her character is going to bring. Her father is expecting her to not marry her 600 year old boyfriend because he is not Muslim. Arleen replies “Meri closet mein aik dupatta nahin hai, mainey kabhi Quran nahin para. Just because my family is Muslim, I’m Muslim?” You can’t expect your kids to follow the rules of Islam if you never teach them what Islam is. Living abroad, I’ve seen things like this happen all the time. Hopefully, Arleen’s character will showcase a good message for everyone.

I have a feeling thart Adil’s character is going to have some sort of backstory. The conversation between him and his mother (Sakina Sammo) doesn’t really give much information, but it’s just a hunch.

The director, Roomi Insha, has done a fantastic job so far. Just the first couple of scenes, in which Adil is going around taking pictures, have shown that this drama isn’t going to disappoint us directing wise. And the DOP seems to be doing a great job as well, as the techincal aspects of the show seem pretty spot-on. Let’s hope that this drama of Samira Fazal will be as good as the previous we’ve seen.

—Noorie

P.S Dastaan’s Sohail Haider is back with another hit song! Can’t get it out of my head!

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