Considering how much I’ve been enjoying Sanjha ever since it started, I was surprised at how easily my attention wandered today. A strangely mediocre episode in view of the high standards set by the ones earlier, this one just seemed to meander around without getting anywhere, till it came to the final confrontation scene between Mumtaz and Shabo. Watching the two veteran actresses, Seemi Pasha and Resham go head to head in a dramatic end certainly woke me up, and saved the hour from being a complete washout.
The episode began with Naseem dying in a car accident. On the other hand, Sanjha who was unaware of her sister’s death kept on pleading the Seth to make it possible to reunite her with Naseem. Giving in to her pleas, arrangements are made for Sanjha to go meet her sister at Dr. Ammar’s house, but alas it was already too late. Sanjha falls apart when she hears of Naseem’s death. Increasingly aware of the Seth’s increasing interest in Sanjha, his wife urges her trusted servant to keep a close eye on her husband’s new found entertainment. At Tibi Gali, at Mumtaz’s kothi-khana, Weeda’s morose behavior earns him Mumtaz’s ire and it is in trying to get Weeda to stand up for himself that Shabo, his mother, loses her life, as a furious Mumtaz strangles her to death.
Given that it was a ho-hum episode, the inconsistencies in the narrative and the issues with the makeup/wardrobe department were glaringly obvious. For instance, how did the Seth’s servant know Dr. Ammar’s address? Sanjha had never been there so she couldn’t have possibly told him. Similarly, in the pre-cap for the next episode we see Dr. Ammar going to visit the Seth’s wife. How does he get that address? In terms of makeup/wardrobe, I had commented once before on Nauman Ejaz’s patently fake moustache. Today, in all of his close-ups, the mustache looked so out of place alongwith his equally fake beard that it was almost laughable. And, as for his “grey” hair – as a friend aptly put it: “yeh baal dhoop main toh sufaid nahin kiye!” Clearly the men’s makeup/wardrobe department needs a little more of a boost. Hopefully next week’s episode will be more on par with the very high standards set by this serial so far. Looking forward!
Written by SZ~
