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...

Paiwand: Episode 11 - Update and Review

Since the two dramas I was watching (and I am ashamed to admit, I am secretly STILL watching...ie Khuda Dekh Raha Hai and Ishq Parast -- kia karoon oh ladies mein hoon aadat se majboor) turned out to be such disappointments, I decided to start watching Paiwand. 

For the record, I have a very easy way of picking what dramas to watch. They must fulfill one or both of these requirements:

1 - Have an engaging/interesting promo

2 - Star one of the actors I have decided I like

AND they must not smell of dosari biwi crap (though I have been tricked into those too). 

Paiwand delivers on point 2: it stars Sana Javed (she's so cute. Too bad she only does mazloom, rooti dhooti aurat roles. But at least she's predictable...so there's that) and Gohar Rasheed who left an unforgettable impression on me from Goya when he tries to hit on Mrs. Mirza and plays this badass rich boy. 

Getting to the premise of Paiwand - There are two families involved: Malik Sahab and Baig Sahab. They are best friends since birth and business partners.   Baig Sahab's son, Hasaam, is engaged to Malik Sahab's daughter, Maya. However is kahani mein kaafi twists hein (like - obviously).

Twist one: Malik Sahab is married to his second wife, Tabassum. He has forbidden her to keep her daughter from her previous marriage with her. Her job is to raise Maya as her own. 

Twist two: Maya hates her step-mom. She also hates her fiancé. She is in love with Samar. On her wedding day, she runs away and marries him. Malik Sahab blames Tabassum for not raising his daughter right. 

Twist three: Samiya has been raised by her mamu since mom couldn't keep her. Her mamu is sweet but weak. Her mami is a complete dieyan who wants to marry her off to her younger, nikamma brother, Ayaaz. Mami receives money each month to take care of Samiya and she knows her brother and she can leach off of Tabassum's money for the rest of their life if he marries Samiya. 

Long story short: Mamu overhears mami and brother planning to force Samiya into a nikah with Ayaaz when he is out of town. Mamu plans with bhanjhi to sneak her to her mom's in the middle of the night. Nephew overhears and plans to rape Samiya. Samiya foils his plan and runs to mom's. Mom takes her in grudgingly. 

Meanwhile, Maya is pretending to be involved in wedding plans while secretly planning to elope with Samar. Samar, predictably, is only interested in her money. Anyway, on her wedding day, she sneaks out and marries him, leaving Samiya in her bridal dress and jewelry. Chaos - expectedly - ensues. 

Baig Sahab's wife suggests her son be married to Samiya to save face. Her real plan? Save face, then dump the girl back in her mehka. She hates Samiya's guts and there is NO WAY she will accept her as her bahu. 

Luckily, Hasaam is of a good sort and his dad is decent too. They aren't taking the forced nikah lightly. Gohar Rasheed, who plays Hasaam's competent and talented employee and best friend, tries to  convince him to give his 'wife' a chance. Hasaam, for his part is a bit conflicted: He is charmed by Samiya's innocence and determined to show Maya that he is glad he didn't marry her, however, his mom's absolute refusal to put up with Samiya is weighing heavy on his conscience. 

In the latest episode we see more tantrums by Mrs. Baig demanding Samiya be sent home. The episode starts with Hasaam smuggling Samiya in the house and then this pehli nazar mein kaisa jadoo kar deea moment...

Eventually, Mrs. Baig calls Tabassum over and demands she take Samiya home. Baig Sahab forbids Hasaam from divorcing Samiya and suffers a heart attack. 

Everyone rushes to the hospital and poor Samiya is left to her own devices... She's at home praying for Baig Sahab's sehat. Duh. 

I haven't quite figured out what Gohar Rasheed's role is. After his stellar performances in both Goya and Digest Writer, it seems weird he would do this minor role of personal sounding board to Hasaam. Of course, watching the OST I have a few ideas of how this drama will play out....

Overall this is a warped Cinderella-like story which is easy to watch and I look forward to it every week. The story is a bit slow (and predictable) but hey - we all can't be show stoppers like Alvida and Chup Raho *snort*

Do leave me your opinion of the drama if you tune in!