Take a bow, Team Shukk
This episode was spectacular as a follow up to last week’s episode which barely contained all the simmering hurt, resentments and shakk-shubah. This week that pressure cooker blew up with the unraveling of relationships, hidden truths laid bare and left the characters grappling with changing realities.
Seherish finally confronts ‘Sham about Sania being his ex-fiancee as well his assistant. This is Aisha Khan at her best – she is able to convey so much empathy for her situation despite her false assumptions. Her hurt, betrayal and pain is palpable without dissolving into tears or any over the top shrillness.
‘Sham’s though in the wrong about not telling Seherish, his ego is not willing to bend to give credence to Seherish’s accusations. While I think he is trying to be patient with Seherish, his sense of fairness and perhaps sadness at being suspected by his wife is making him clam up even more. Love Adeel Husain’s effortless ease in conveying all that the character is experiencing. Though they all seem to be communicating, no one is really listening to one another.
Sania seems to be softening up too (save for curt car conversation) and making an effort to reciprocate ‘Sham’s apology. Even the scenes with Ali were well done as were those with him and my resident cutie pie Rumi. Though to be fair, he could have been rewarded with a few more band-aids. Even the trouble makers Atif and Mahum were hitting the right notes and looks like they are on to more politicking.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom though. Rumi’s five-year old logic on the importance of female nurses and the phone conversation between ‘Sham and his Ammi provided a breather to all those suspicion laden dialogues.
The star of this show was Samira Fazal’s writing. There was a natural flow to how the events unfolded, nothing overly dramatic or blown out of proportion and you could sympathize with each characters reactions – even if you don’t agree with their actions, their motivations are clearly spelled out. Kudos to Yasir Nawaz too for stellar direction minus melodramatic touches that allowed for nuanced performances to shine through and crisp editing which made for seamless viewing.
In a season of loud performances, vacuous whisperings and/or absent story lines Shukk is delivering a show of substance. Excellent work team Shukk. Breath Bated.
MM (aka A musing Muslim)
