If someone were to ask if such a time of sweetness and innocence ever really did exist, I would answer: yes it did, and if it didn’t ……it should have. Watching the first episode of Sadkey Tumharey was as magical as the promos and teasers promised. It was as if the fabric of time and had frayed just a little allowing the viewer to slip back into a much simpler time where there was no internet and no cell phones. Ehatashamuddin has brought a beautiful vision full of light and gentle colours to our screens that which I hope will keep us just as entranced till the end.

Shanno played by the ever lovely Mahirah Khan is infatuated with her fiancé and Khala ka beta Khalil, even though she hasn’t met him in ten years. Khalil(Adnan Malik),  is just not interested in some cousin in a dusty village and asks their mutual cousin Maqsood to tell her not to think of him.Even  Shanno’s parents have changed their minds ; after so many years and so little interaction they too want to move on .  But Shanno cannot move on , she longs to meet Khalil the center of her dreams. She  and her friends go to  pray at a dargah and Khalil sees her in his dreams. So the scene is set for them to meet at a family wedding.

One of the great strengths of this story are the family scenes , the little hierarchies and most of all the love shared between them . It was heartening to hear Shannos’ father wonder if breaking off the engagement would hurt his daughter’s feelings and even more sweet to see Shanno and her sisters give up their right to the first roti to their ever hungry little brother . The way Khalil’s father insists a souteli Khala is just as good as a saggi Khala and how he should talk to his elder cousin with respect are all  values woven into our daily which have not changed with the passage of time.

The story, like the times is not complex but the full HumTv (read Momina Duraid) treatment it blooms like a flower. Each scene was a well-crafted piece of art, from the village of Bhopalwalla to the house in Lahore. With a story like this there is a danger of over-romanticizing the past but so far the director has managed not to blur the sharp edges of reality. The dirty village street , the dusty houses , the importance of Maqsood’s bicycle and even Shanno’s greedy little brother Haider  all lend enough depth to make the softer images just possible. As a Punjabi I could really relate to all the intricacies of family life portrayed, even if live sat samundar paar .Apart from the slightly overdone “going to the Darga” scenes there was a wonderful authenticity to this episode that is rooted deep in our culture .  There is no doubt Khalil Ur Rehman is genius at script writing but unlike Pyarey Afzal the dialogues were not allowed to overshadow the actual story. There was more showing than telling ,at least in this episode .

It is easy enough to sit spellbound just by Mahirah Khan’s beauty but her acting is well up to par too. She seems very comfortable as Shanno and the only complaint I can muster is that she did not sound Punjabi enough in the first few scenes. Suffice to say in our recent interview with Khalil Ur Rehman (coming soon) he said she had done complete justice Shanno’s   character. Adnan Malik is nice surprise, carrying of Khalil Ur Rehman Qamar’s autobiographical role with a touch less swagger than the dialogues would suggest, ultimately making him much more likable. Even at a distance Mahirah and Adnan have that special screen chemistry required to make a romance like this work, so it looks as if their actual scenes together will be fascinating.

The rest of the cast looks at ease in all their roles and as yet no one seems out of place. The only thing annoying the heck out of me is Shanno’s best friend’s makeup. Whoever gave that poor girl that bucket of white out was not her friend. A note to our actors/actresses/producers.. In case you hadn’t noticed we are Pakistani ..Some of us are white, some of us are brown and we are every colour in between.. Please accept this and let everyone feel beautiful the way God made them.

Thank you Momina Duraid , Director Ehtashamuddin  and team Sadkey tumharey for bringing back the fragrance of a time not so long ago. Most of all thank you Khalil Ur Rehman Qamar for sharing part of your life in the form of this serial with us  .

Written By Sadaf