“Jis tarha yeh suraj roz tulooh hota hai, is tarha sainkron kahaniyan roz janam leti hain; Shehron ki kahaniyan, logon ki kahaniyan, rishton ki kahaniyan, aur mohobbaton ki kahaniyan…mohobbaton ki kahaniyan jinhe hum chupa ke dil ke teh-khanon mein rakha karte hain. Jinhe, purane kaghazon ke saath, sookhe hue phoolon ke darmiyan, taalon mein qaid ker liya karte hain. In kahaniyon ke bare mein yeh bhool jaate hain ke taalon mein chupi hui mohobbatein aksar faaslon mein badal jaya karti hain. Rishte aur mohobbatein to nazuk bailon ki tarha hoti hain. Faaslon ki dhoop, ya faramoshi ka andhera, duniya ke asool aur waadon ke pathar, in bailon ko raas nahi aya karte hain. Mohobbatein, dostiyan, rishte aur pyar to amaanatein hain. Inhein un logon tak pohnchana behad zaroori hota hai jo muntazir hote hain ke jaane kab koi pagham ajaye, koi khushi ki khabar ajaye.”
I started my first review with the above monologue and felt that starting my last review with it would only be appropriate. So the journey of Tanhaiyan – Naye Silsile ends, and oh what a journey it was. Thirteen weeks of tears, smiles, anger, and laughter…Thirteen weeks of visiting a family that we weren’t part of, but it sure felt like they were part of ours. But as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end, and so TNS-2 ended tonight.
The episode starts out with Saaniya in Zain’s new office. Good to see King Kong and Pink Panther friends again. She meets Sophia and tells Zain ke he should be honest about her to Zeenia (ab konsi honesty baaqi reh gayee hai?). Per I agree with her line ke ‘jin baton pe shak hone ke khatre hon, unhe wazahaton se batana bohut zaroori hota hai.’ Saaniya also tells Zain that Zeenia has broken her engagement with Zarak and asks him how to handle this…I do think though that as a father, Zain should have been the first to know about this. As a side note, Saaniya’s outfit was really nice!
Speaking of Zeenia, she is back in her ‘angrez’ ke kapre and gets a phone call from Gul Jaan who is wondering if there is no way to stop all the killing and revenge. Why Zeenia hung up on her is beyond me. Zeenia still is completely out of her mind. I don’t think I’ve ever been this furious with a fictional character before in my life. When Aani comes to talk to her she has the nerve to say her engagement was forced. Everyone wants her to stop Zarak from leaving…even Apa Begum, who has informed Bibi from the ‘above’ and Bibi has started her infamous (and very effective) wazeefas. Waise jahan Bibi ne itni mehnat ki hai, wahan Zeenia ki dimaghi halat ke liye bhi eik wazeefa ker laiteen! Anyways, even Kishmish joins in on the plan to get Zeenia to stop Zarak. Serena gives a very convincing speech and finally Zeenia comes to her senses and with the chadar Gul Jan gave her, is off to stop Zarak. The entire family, including Bibi and Chandni (but minus Zain. Faraan Uncle, and Qabacha), get into 2 cars and go to Zarak’s house. Upon getting to the house they meet Kaka who is there to take Zarak back to Swat. Kaka doesn’t speak to women so Kishmish introduces himself and explain why they are there. Serena and Zeenia manage to get up to Zarak’s room and after again getting lectured by Serena ke ‘issue ko resolve karna hai’ goes into talk to Zarak. Unfortunately they end up fighting again and its Serena’s turn to talk to Zarak. She tells him the story of the rose her mother gave her father 27 years ago and she too is unable to convince him. Zain and Faraan Uncle too finally show up and after hearing it didn’t work they all leave disheartened. In between all of this we learn that Iftekhar and Farha have made up and are getting married in a week. Coincidentally enough Qabacha is the one to happily receive this news, along with the box of mithai :) .
Speaking of Qabacha, Kishmis goes to visit Saaniya and tells her he is making a film on her and her life and shows what I assume to be the letter Q wrote a couple episodes ago. Apparently it only has 2 words and Kismish is looking for that 3rd word to end his film. Saaniya very kindly tells him the 3rd word is dosti…she also tells him that she is aware of Q’s feelings and has been for 27 years. She says ‘mujhe aur Qutbutdeen ko aise he rehne do…kuch door door aur kuch paas paas. Though Kishmish understands and is relieved that at least she knows how his father feels, I’m not sure I agree with her statement though…hmm!
We now come to the final and my favorite scene in all of the 13 episodes. It’s Aani and Faraan Uncle’s wedding anniversary and everyone except for Mona and Arif are there. Even our off the charts talented writer, Ahmed Uncle…who by the kept the theme of the original Tanhaiyan till the last episode with the Zeenia and Zarak scene ending it like the Zain and Zara scene from the original’s last episode. This may have been AY and SM’s best performance yet and they even had chemistry in it. It actually looked real and was very reminiscent of the original scene performed by Shehnaz Sheikh and Asif Raza Mir. I think had Z&Z actually said those words to each other, the scene would not have been that effective. Not only that but the writer continues on with Aani asking “Faraan aisa nahi lagta ke yeh sab pehle bhi ho chukka hai?”
All in all TNS-2 was intelligently written, fantastically directed. It isn’t easy to write a sequal to one of Haseena Moin’s play, but Mohammed Ahmed did complete justice to the script. Written in a very simple manner, lessons that are easy to understand and a serial 3 generations can watch together without awkward moments. Marina’s direction was flawless. How she directed and acted, and that too so brilliantly is beyond me. The cast (mostly) was absolutely amazing!! There are absolutely no words to describe Marina Khan, Asif Raza Mir, Badar Khaleel, Qazi Qajid, Durdana Butt, and Behroz Sabwari’s acting. These guys are all institutions in themselves. The addition of Salma Hassan and Kaif Ghazanvi was not only a pleasant surprise, but both the ladies prove that even if they are on screen for 2-3 minutes they leave their mark uncontested. I really hope both of them are given meatier roles in the future because they give many actors a run for their money in my opinion. In the younger generation Syra Yousuf anf Shehroz Sabzwari were fantastic. Syra had consistently been the life of the serial and Shehroz completely complimented her. As to Alishba and Sheheryar, they are very good looking actors and performed fabulously in their last scene.
I’ll end the final review with Faraan Uncle’s answer (and my second favorite quote from the serial) to Aani’s question above about yeh pehla sab ho chukka hai. He says “Aur hamesha hota rahega. Tanhaiyan aur mohabbatein azal se jaari hain aur abar tak jaari rahengeen. Raaston mein andhere aate rahenge, magar chiragh bhi jalte rahenge :) .”
With that, thanks for reading everyone!
Written by Sheeba
