Slow and steady wins the race. That’s what I’m going with. The story keeps moving forward slowly albeit steadily and even though not much transpired today, it was still engaging nonetheless. I cannot deny the very obvious old man charm that’s dripping off Haider Masood. Add to that his empathy and those brooding eyes and we have the ultimate female fantasy. Well, okay maybe not the ultimate, but close enough! With Aimen keeping herself locked up in her room, Haider has taken it upon himself to nurture her into a strong, confident woman. Why, I have to wonder, does he feel obligated to being nice towards her? Yeh Haider Masood aise kyun baat karte hein, itni apnaiyat se? Is his concern merely out of respect for Taufeeq Kamaal? Something tells me, there’s more to it than meets the eye. If there were any other actor playing the role, I’d imagine he would come off as a creep but Adnan Siddiqui has clearly nailed the role and kept a certain amount of grace to it. Aiman looks the part of a naïve, lachrymose lost soul, however, I only wish she had some element of substance. Those monotones and those depressingly dull outfits aren’t scoring any additional sympathy points. She seems to have an inclination towards reading and the background Disney score kept reminding me of a classic fairytale.
My favorite scene was the one where Haider handed her a box of chocolates- jab koi tofah deh toh ussey foran kholkay dekhna chahiye, denay waley ko khushi hoti hai… aur ikhlaqan saamney waley ko bhi poochna chahiye- kya pata uska bhi dil charaha ho! We also get to know more about Bibi- Haider’s Phupi. She was childless and widowed after 10 years of marriage and came to live with her brother Masood. She busied herself raising Haider and his sister Maria, who was married at a young age and lives in Turkey. I like how closely-knit the family- was it a mere coincidence that Bibi was knitting while reminiscing about her life? Something to ponder…
It seems that Mazhar, the andhrooni Lahore mein rehney wala larka, played his cards right! After Sajeela leaves her home and ends up at his doorstep, he allows her to spend the night but come morning, he convinces her to return home with lectures on respect and family values. Mohabbat sirf lena ka nahin, deney ka bhi naam hoti hai. Back to present day and Mazhar consistently exhibits an obvious lack of patience and compassion. What keeps Sajeela with him and for how long will they survive? Apparently, Mazhar is previously married to his cousin and has conveniently kept those details to himself. Let’s see how Sajeela reacts to this bit of information.
At the end of episode 4, I’ve got no serious complaints so here’s to another good episode. What do you think?
Kanwal Murtaza
