Tumhare Siwa - Episode 2

Episode 2 in a nutshell...

Samra's made up disease can only be operated on by foreign doctors. It is also expected to be ex-pen-sive. Way beyond the means of the flight attendent, Arsal. 

Oh, and she only has two months to live. 

Rania comes to Samra's house in bathroom chappals. 

These two have nothing to do but talk about but her bhai and bhabhi. *Yawn*

...uhh oh-kay....

The company representative starts to lay the foundation of the absurd direction this drama is about to head in...

Samra has an 'episode.' Since we don't know whats wrong with her, we can't poke any fun as to why she's being treated with an oxygen mask for a splitting headache...

Strike 2. Who CARES if Aazar can get a loan? I mean, bank walay abandon any semblance of sense and harp on and on about how Arsal isn't qualified for the loan but Aazar is. 

Strike 3. This company bigwig doesn't even bothering implying. He just outright says the only way you can get the money is if you marry her. #WTF

...over her dead nand's body...

The team could've made some effort to actualy make her look sick. 

Go ahead. Say it Rania. #DosariBiwiNonsense

This has to be the most ridiculous scenario the writer could've created. There is just so much wrong with this, but I will save it for the episode where everyone actually agrees to it. Because you know that's what's going to happen...

Paiwand - Episode 20 Update

Let's just start here: ARY Digital you suck. ...*Phew* Now that that's off my chest, we can begin. 

Paiwand started as a good old fashioned desi Cinderella story: poor pretty girl defies the laws of reality and gets married to Prince Charming. They fall in love, have a baby - it's all rainbows and unicorns. In comes the evil family members, her step sister (Maya) and her jilted wannabe suitor (Ayyaz) who plant a few seeds of doubt in the mind of Prince Charming and BAM, Prince Charming turns into a lame shukk machine and looses his BFF and wife. The BFF walks out. The wife he promptly divorces. *Sigh* To make matters worse, Hassam is forcing Samiya to stay with him by threatening to keep his daughter, who will die if she doesn't get breastfed (or some Pakistani-drama-medical-reason like that).  

I'm assuming the comment about our 'society values' left on the previous blog post of this drama is referring to Hassam keeping Samiya with him because they are divorced now. For the record, Samiya is waking around bleakly protesting about how it's haraam and how they can't live together. 

Now, as stupid as this recent turn of events makes me, when I put it into context of this drama, it actually becomes believable. Ahmed Ali has done a phenomenal job in portraying Hassam as this hot-headed, spontaneous, spoiled rich boy. Sure, he has a good heart, but he divorced Samiya as quick as he married her - with little thought to the actual consequences of his actions. 

For Samiya's part, she has told her mom who has a maintain-a-roof-over-my-head issue of her own. Tabassum Begum knows there is no way in heck that her husband will let Samiya move in with them, and barring that, there really isn't anywhere to go. So she's decided to play the, "My daughter has a hearing and/or comprehension problem" card in response to Samiya's confession. 

So, Hassam's parents finally return and decide to surprise their son by bumming a ride with Ali. Apparently, Hassam's mom is happy to be a grandma, but she still hates her daughter-in-law's guts.

Hassam shows Ali the pictures that caused him to think he's cheating on him behind his back and gets a setdown on trust and honesty between friends. But one more half-assed apology and Ali is all hugs and forgiveness. I mean, after all that ghussa, Ali didn't have to be such a pansy. Sheesh.

Baig Sahab knows something is up, but can't get anyone to spill the beans.

More evidence of how Hassam doesn't think things through: he spends a good chunk of time regretting his divorcing of Samiya and even tries to get Samiya to 'forget' he gave her a divorce and stay with him. #WhatTheWhat

Meanwhile, Maya is doing her level best to create chaos and antipathy towards Hassam and Samiya in her house. Hassam still hates her guts, so I'm assuming all she wants to achieve is to get her dad to divorce Tabassum Begum. 

Once more Malik Sahab leaves no insult un-uttered when dealing with his wife, who finds the guts to finally put her foot down and enlighten him about what a revenge thirsty monster his daughter has become. Doesn't do her much good because he just kicks her out and she goes into another room to basically remind herself she has nowhere else to go if he actually kicks her out of his house.

The episode ends on Mrs. Baig spilling the beans that Hassam has divorced Samiya - since they don't actually show her eavesdropping on Samiya and Hassam's conversation, how she finds this tibbit out, is anyones guess. 

I'm really hoping that Ali is going to end up stepping in to salvage this Samiya situation. Right now I'm so full of angst against Hassam, I'm praying he will get married to Maya. It sure will serve him right!

But, honestly, I'm not quite sure where this drama is headed now. As with all ARY Digital dramas, it started off good and now with 20 episodes gone, there's comeplete confusion as to where the story is going. I guess I'll just have to keep watching to find out...

Mohabbat Aag Si - Episode 13 Update

The entertainment value of this drama is just off the charts! Iffat Omer is phenomenal as Aapa Ji and she's, quite frankly, stealing everyone's lime light. Sarah Khan, after an unforgettable *cough cough* performance in Alvida, is back with her throaty-romance voice and her performance is also worth a mention. So let's go ahead and talk about what's going on until now...

With each episode we learn a little bit more about Aapa Ji who has more than just a few skeletons in her closet. In front of everyone but Sharifa (more on her in a second), she presents the front of a God fearing, humble, naik-namazi, head of the household. But here are just a few of the stunts she's pulled in the past few episodes:

1 - Religiously forcing Samia to drink the nakli 'dum' kia hua doodh. 

2 - Faked an assault by Saba's mom. 

3 - Made Samia cook 8kg of zarda out of spite. 

4 - Forced Samia to give all her gold to her so that she can get it exchanged for new jewelry for Saba (effectively not having to spend a single dime on her barri.)

5 - Installed cameras outside of Saba and Wajahat's room to make sure they don't consummate their marriage. 

Having said that, no matter how evil Aapa Ji is, from her flashbacks we know she used to be a happy-go-lucky young girl. 

Aapa Ji also has fits of depression and in those instances Iffat Omer shines because she takes this evil woman and makes her complex, sad, a victim of a yet to be reveled injustice in her past that robbed her of the right to live as she pleases. 

Also, whereas I started out thinking she was a heartless sister, in the latest episode she gives her jewelry to her brother to help him pay off his debts and to invest in his store. The same jewelry she refused to give to Saba, but instantly handed over to her brother. Maybe she did it to cover up her taking Samia's jewelry, but I think Aapa Ji is smart enough to have come up with an excuse if she wanted. Regardless of her cruel quest to keep her brothers childless, she possess a selfless love for them that makes me empathize with her. What could've happened to her to lead her to create this façade of a person?

If there is anyone who knows Aapa Ji's every secret, it's Sharifa. She's an easy character to dislike - cos she spends 99% of her time spying on other family members and tattling on them - but her devotion to Aapa Ji is unquestionable. From a flashback we learn that Sharifa has been with Aapa Ji since childhood, so she has basically spent her whole life as an accomplice to Aapa Ji. Her eagerness to meet the security camera boy is quite concerning...

Enter security camera boy. Played brilliantly by Imran Ashraf, he comes across as those creepy kaam walay jo khamakhaee free ho jatay hein. He shamelessly flirts with Aapa Ji, and she enjoys every second of it...but guess who has a crush on him? 

Yup. Shareefa. Something tells me this love triangle will not end well...

Not much is happening with these two: still no baby, still drinking the poisoned milk like clock-work, still lots of groveling and apologizing, over nothing, at Aapa Ji's feet. Samia is so seedhi it makes you want to hit your head against the wall. However, it looks like she might be getting smarter after a few recent events that have left her unsettled. 

Last, but not least, we have the newly weds. Aapa Ji has Saba figured out from day one. She spins a tale of having a dream where Saba and Wajahat can marry, but if they do it then one of them will die. I have just two questions here:

1 - If Saba isn't going to fall for the 'dum kia hua doodh' stunt, then how did she fall for this?

2 - Not only did Saba fall for it, she has also been convinced to share it with no one outside the family. Not her parents. Not her friends. 

So...this couple walks around frustrated and having one too many lingering glance scenes...

Since these two cant be alone together, Romeo comes up with a plan...

For real. These are actual dialogues...

Lucky for us, Saba is beauty and brains. At first she's all Aapa Ji is so awesome...but as time is passing she seems to be able to see right through Aapa and her manipulative ways. Of course when she tells her husband, he doesn't respond very favorably at all.

In spite of her little impromptu James Bond routine, Saba fails to catch Aapa Ji red handed and the husband is having a hissy fit over his wife calling his sister a liar...

And then finally, this awesome showdown occurs where the two heavy weights throw down the gauntlet. Saba knows Aapa Ji isn't what she claims to be and Aapa Ji knows that Saba knows.

Let the games begin...

Nazo - Urdu 1

So guess what I did today. Watched a drama. A new drama. That's right.

I stumbled upon this while browsing through YouTube. Got excited but didn't watch it straight away and promptly forgot it's name. So today I had went through three days worth of YouTube recommendations just to find this drama again. Yeah, that's how excited I am about this.

It stars Atiqa Odho, Zhalay Sarhadi,  and Sonia Hussain.

Only two episode have aired so far so there's not much catching up to do.[Disclaimer: (I started writing this review a few weeks back and then got sidetracked by life in general. Since then 6 episodes have aired and I've loved them all)] Atiqa odho plays Tabassum, a single working mother to Samra (zhalay sarhadi) and Naazo (played brilliantly by Sonia Hussain) who suffers from severe learning difficulties since birth. Samra is the older lover sister who takes care of her sibling with the love and attention usually shown by mothers. She also works but has to regularly run home due to the hired maid running into difficulties while handling Nazo. Tabassum is also loving mother but takes the tough love approach with Nazo. This is the reason for constant altercations between Samra and her.
Through flashbacks we find out that the father like typical desi men wanted a son and instead got a mentally challanged daughter. He insists that Tabassum put Nazo away in a mental institution but when she refuses he drives off in a huff and promptly dies in a car accident. 

instant karma bitch!

Samra has repressed memories of her childhood and blames her mother for her father's death.
  Tabassum wants Samra to get married and live a normal life, and she keeps arranging rishtas. These don't work out as Samra insists that Nazo will stay with her and prospective grooms and their families are scared off.

I won't go into details of what happens in the two episodes that I've watched. It mainly consists of a whole lot of back story and mother daughter fights. 

In episode two due to negligence of Nazo's caretaker, she ends up in hospital with pneumonia. Here our hero Habeel makes his knight in shining armour entry. I know this is a drama but I found the situation highly unbelievable. A distressed Samra gets knocked down by a passer by in the hospital. The guy who knocked her down just keeps on walking but aik meel duur se chalta huwa hero comes to help her.

Haseen ladki falling down and a dozen desi humdard not rushing to help her??? Hmmmmmm not buying it.

I haven't seen any dramas with Ahmed Ali as the hero Habeel, but I have seen his chusstice league youtube video with Osman Khalid Butt. So I have high hopes for his acting. Back to this drama. Habeel is in the hospital taking care of his sister who is in hospital for an appendix operation. One more flashback and we know she's divorced. From the concerned looks he keeps giving his sister and the extra tests the doctors keep doing it's obvious that it's not really the appendix. 

"kuch nahi hoga apko" in drama language means he's effectively signed her death certificate. Oh and the hero thinks Samra is Nazo's mom. Lol. 

Another potentially important character is the mom's friend/colleague, played by Sami sani. Considering he's only played shady side villains lately I have a feeling his entry is going to cause all sorts of problems for Samra and Nazo.

Shamsi isn't sure if our drama industry will do justice to a sensitive topic like this. I think we've done it before in ....(child marriages and marital rape)  And to a lesser extent in kankar (domestic violence). It is up to the writer and director to bring an important topic like this to our society in a manner that leaves an indelible mark on our collective conscious. We need stories like this to teach our society about the needs of special children and get rid of the stigma we associate with their families. Especially laying the blame of any problems with children entirely on the mother's shoulders. 

If you aren't already watching this drama...start now!!