Drama Update -- August 2016

Good lord - how did we manage to neglect the blog so bad? My heartfelt apologies to everyone who has been so patient with us! Thank you for STILL stopping by - I promise there will be (by hook or by crook) a new post up this week! But for now, let me go ahead and post an incomplete-but-now-complete post that I started in June. (I know, I know - beghairti ki inteha. Tauba!) Of course since I did it in June, I had to do over any reviews I had changed since then...so the opinions are totally up to date.

Honestly, I didn't watch any dramas for a month (month and a half? Two months?) and then spent a week, right before Ramadan and well into Ramadan, binge watching them. And then I got caught up with summer vacations and travelling and spent the last week catching up, so I haven't completely caught up with some dramas that were on my to watch list. (Which is good because I just promised yall another post within the week so...)

A lot of the dramas I was watching came to an end -- Naraaz, Sehra Mein Safar, Abro, Tere Mere Beech, Bay Qasoor. The last four of those were all the good vs. evil type but for some reason while the dramas managed to deliver on the evil, they didn't manage to satisfy on evil getting a taste of their own medicine. So that was kind of a bummer. 

At any rate, here's the rest of what I missed and caught up on...

Aap Ke Liye

I kinda like this, so far. It's another one of those poor girl marries rich guy stories (which I'm a sucker for) and if you don't watch the OST, you can convince yourself that the drama will play out like an epic Barbara Sharif Bollywood movie - you know, where she gets married to the guy and then evil saas aur nandoon ki akal thikanay karti hei in the most hilarious way possible.
Highlight - The fact that the hero and heroine are years apart is a part of the story, so it doesn't gross you out as much as it should. Arij Fatima plays the smart mouthed/borderline annoying Washma effortlessly. It's a breath of fresh air to see Waseem Abbass playing a slimey old lech instead of the evil/worthless ghareeb lardkion ka baap.
Lowlight - The actress playing the younger sister, whose storyline no one (i.e. me) gives two cents about.

Dil Lagi

I know I said I wasn't too thrilled with this drama in the beginning, but it finally won me over (matlab, with only two episodes, one would hope so!). Anmol is blinded by misunderstandings and anger and she's gonna regret her hurtful actions. Mohid couldn't be more of a picture perfect Prince Charming if he tried, but Anmol manages to (kind of) bring him to a breaking point. Shit hits the fan, ladies and gentlemen, but luckily gets resolved instantaneously (speaking when you compare it in in drama time). I love how Anmol's mom, sister, mother-in-law and nand are all actually trying to help her and not appearing and disappearing from the screen as a bunch of the writer's after-thoughts. 

Highlight - Imran Ashraf is hilarious as Mohid's sidekick and the comic relief and his love story with Anmol's sister is sweet and cute. He's an absolute treat to watch.

Lowlight - Can. Not. Stand. Mehwish. Hayat. Ufffff... And quite frankly, I don't care how good of a reason Mohid had to slap Anmol, it's still abuse and it's still unacceptable. "I slapped her for her own good." Wow. *taalian*

Main Sitara 

This 60s based drama effortlessly took us to a time and place when Bollywood produced classics we still love today. It's easy to imagine the characters as a part of that era. Saba Qamar makes you fall in love with Surraya, and root for her when she grapples with becoming Sitara and staying loyal to the woman who helped her get there.
Highlights - Everyone in their role shines. The casting in this drama -- wah. Dil khush hogaya!

Lowlights - ....and then there's Meera Ji, which is the only weak link. Her stilted - and unconvincing - dialogue delivery are an epicfail.

Note: Season Two is currently airing, but I haven't watched any episodes yet :(

Man Mayal

Well guys, Ayesha Khan finally made her appearance and it gives me immense joy to say, "I told you so." The drama has officially derailed and left us wanting to ask a million questions - why has the evil naukar become the most loyal naukar? Why is Salauddin so blind to Jeena and her maneuvers? Why is she living in his house?! Why is Manu such a door mat? The only character that makes sense is Mikael who has, at least, stayed true to his character. 

Highlight - Nothing. (Personal highlight: I managed to abandon ship like 10 episodes ago...really, I feel for everyone still watching this crap.)

Lowlight - Jeena calling Salauddin her "cutie patootie." My ears, they burn. Ayesha Khan is horribly miscast as Jeena. And Hamza Ali Abbassi's affected deep voice - I guess he's trying to portray how solemn/deep/sangeedah Salauddin is - is distracting and dumb. 

Mein Kaisay Kahoon

Honestly, I didn't bother to keep up with this. It started out cute enough, but it dragged on and on and on and I didn't feel like wasting my life to catch up. But I heard it ended well...so...if you watched it, picture me giving you a high five ;)

Mera Yaar Mila De

This drama - regardless of its many many plot holes, is my favorite mistake. It's filmy, it's fun, it's easy to watch. It also reminds me more and more of Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai's Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam, except the heroine and Ajay Devgan actually had the decency to get married before he dragged her to Europe to find her one true love. I was all in for Mushq giving Fahad the "tum nei mujhe pyar kar na sikhaya, laykin Dabboo nei mujhe pyar nibhana sikhaya" speech, which didn't happen #Sad. But still, this drama was fun and filmy and I loved it....Hmm...I feel like I repeated myself there....

Highlight - Towards the end Striker gets limited screen time, but Sundus Tariq makes up for it as the talkative and bubbly Iqra. 

Downside - The younger sister's evil sister-in-law and her husband who can't stand up for her. I don't know why they needed this side story at all. Why didn't Zeba just get her happy ending?

Tum Koun Piya

I love Ayeza Khan, I like Imran Abbas, and I'm into cliched dramas about evil mother-in-laws, so this drama ranks pretty high on my watch list. The story flows effortlessly and even though it's predictable, I find myself won over and looking forward to each episode.
Highlight - Hina Bayat is off-the-charts convincing as the evil mil with double standards. Yasir Shoro is also killing it as the baighairat and gold-digging brother-in-law.

Lowlight - Sumbul and Ramish's relationship is a bit of a weak link, if you ask me. Sumbul seems too much of a strong and smart girl to let Ramish get away with the stuff that he does. (I'm glad she left.) Ramish's mom's wardrobe continues to distract.

Udaari 

Let's just cut to the chase - if you can only watch ONE drama airing right now, make it this one. The story, the lessons, the casting (for the most part), the acting, there is not a single thing that detracts from the awesomeness this drama brings to our screens every week. Ahsan Khan is easily the man of the hour - he should win every award possible for his amazing portrayal of the snake Imtiaz.

Highlight: To take such a sensitive topic and present it so flawlessly...I'm impressed beyond words. Bravo Team Udaari!

Lowlight: Farhan Saeed, as the arrogant band vocalist turned lawyer, is probably the weakest link amongst the players of the drama. 

Zindagi Tujh Ko Jiya (aka 100 Din Ki Kahani)

I haven't caught up with this either. I probably will though...eventually. I do know that it ran for a total of 60 episodes...#OneDay

So there you have it folks, dramas I watched, dramas I enjoyed, dramas I am rooting for, and dramas that I dropped. On my list now are Besharam, Saya E Dewar Bhi Nahi, BeAib, and maybe Intezaar and Dhaani (which airs on Geo and I haven't watched a single drama from Geo that wasn't totally blog worthy). I keep going back and forth on Zara Yaad Kar, but I think maybe it's just too far in to catch up with now, so it might just continue to be a miss as far as I'm concerned.

Thanks again for all your support and the kind words you've left while we were on our short hiatus! Hopefully, we'll continue to post more regularly now.

Happy watching!

Drama Update -- April 2016

Welcome to the April update on what we're loving and what we aren't loving! Thanks to some dramas finally ending off (I'm looking at you Gul E Rana and Mana Ka Gharana), our plate was emptied out to make room for a few new dramas. 

So, how did the dramas fare this month? Well, let's take a look!

Abro

Still watching this drama and still loving every single second of it. What a great story of how two GOOD people made ONE bad decision and how that shaped their entire lives.

Highlight - Love love love what a beautiful relationship Ali and Abro share. They've stuck by each other through thick and thin. They've been each other's support and sounding board. I can't say enough good things about their relationship. #RelationshipGoals

Lowlight - Everyone's aging is a bit weird (and Fauzia hasn't aged a bit). Abro is still wearing the same lawn joras she wore 20 something years ago. 

Bay Qasoor

Insanity continues in this never-ending saga. Hira and Sadaf are living with Ameen and his terminally (?) ill wife as one big happy family. And Waseem is running around making bandobast for Bushra's ilaaj. What? Yes. Who knows what the heck is going on anymore. Even if you watch the episodes back to back, it's difficult to peice together what in the world is going on and why in the world it's happening. 

Highlight - I'm blown away by how absolutely nuts this storyline is...and the Hunger Games background music that keeps playing. #wtf 

Lowlight - The dying Bushra who wants Hira to stay married to her grandpa like husband. Quite frankly, with every move Hira makes being dictated by someone's sob story, I won't be surprised if she stays married to Ameen and has a cricket team of kids. Humph. 

Dil Lagi

Anmol's antics know no end and she runs around town leading Mohid on a merry chase. Mohid, for his part, seems to have nothing better to do but stalk Anmol or lock himself up in his room to sulk. The mothers of both of these two are helpless and powerless to stop anything or make their children see reason. It's ridiculous - but totally addictive. 

Highlight - Watching Mehwish Hayat and Humayun Saeed on tv after ages is like a breath of fresh air after watching the same faces in every drama on air. 

Lowlight - I'm still unable to buy into Anmol's headstrong (aka extreme) behavior. What's she got against Mohid? Shakal hei, body hei, paisa hei, power hei..if he'd stalk me, I'd totally make myself available. #KiddingNotKidding

Main Sitara

This drama transports you to the 60s and keeps you hooked on the story of Surraya, the daughter of the household help that gets left behind by the family. She is then raised by a Noor Jahan like figure, Jharna. Be prepared to be so engrossed in the drama that it takes your family a couple of tries to bring you back to reality.

Highlights - Aisha Gul is phenomenal as Jharna. She's a strong woman who gave her career the backseat to bring up her kids and support her husband as he ventures from TV to film.

Lowlights - Aisha probably should've gotten a real singer to lip sync to because her singing scenes are pretty painful to watch...err...hear. Also, I don't know if it's personal bias, but Meera is unconvincing and doesn't even TRY to act like she's from the 60s. 

Man Mayal

I'm having the toughest time loving this drama because it hasn't managed to captivate me at all. I can't relate to any of the characters and I find goody-two-shoes Salauddin to be a wishy-washy character that doesn't know what he wants. At least Mannu is dheet enough to stick to her guns and stay in the marriage she's gotten herself stuck in. I was releived when she didn't go back to Salauddin when he snapped his fingers at her - again. 

Highlight - I like how Mikael's dad is smart enough to know what an ass his son is. And Talat Hussain, in his limited appearance, was brilliant.

Lowlight - Salauddin is annoying with his whining and moping between Ifty's place and his parent's place. Grow a pair, stop asking your sister to play the go-between, and move on with your life. Gees. 

Mein Kaisay Kahoon

This drama has 15 aired episodes - but it feels like 25. The characters are all over the place and it's impossible to guess who's genuine and who's not. I wish they'd figure out the custody of this kid soon so Samar and Rohail can get their happy ending too already. 

Highlight - Ummm....

Lowlight - It seems to go on and on and on and on...

Mera Yaar Mila De

My inexplicable love for this drama continues - even though as it stands, everyone's lives are in total chaos and nothing is going anyone's way (except maybe Aslam Bhai). I think that's why it's so fun - there's an element of you don't know what's going to happen next and how things are going to fall into place.

Highlight - Striker. Just watch it for Striker.

Downside - Master Sahab seems determined to hitch Mushq off to ANYONE but Fahad. Fahad needs to grow a pair, stop being a leech on Dubbo (Dabo? Dabboo?) Bhai, and figure his shit out.

Naraaz

This drama was pretty much abandoned by me - for the past three episodes all I did was just watch the promo for the upcoming episode. Then I read 'second last' episode, so I decided to watch the whole episode this week (next week is supposedly the last). It's no surprise that Azlan has come back (kind of) to his senses and wants his child back. His best friend refuses to return the child because his psycho wife will probably lose her mind if she has to give up the child that is not actually her child. Ugh. To make you hate the child usurping couple even more, his best friend has based his case on Azlan wanting money in exchange for his child and his wife is telling Aazar to lie on the stand. Absolutely disgusting. 

Highlight - Aisha seems to be moving on to a new beau.

Lowlight - Bummer how a great story turned into a senseless nightmare.  

Sehra Mein Safar

Still holding on to this one - it's not as winning as Aabro, but it definitely beats out Man Mayal or Naraaz. I like how the story continually moves forward and has not grown stagnant.

Highlight - Iqra, with the help of Ayaaz, gets proof of Shehreyar cheating on her and she delivers an awesome soliloquy putting the cheaters in place...BUT the real highlight is how her amazing parents stand by her like a rock.

Lowlight - I'm still trying to figure out why Shehreyar decided to scam two middle class nobodies. With his lofty aspirations, you'd think he would've picked someone who actually had riches for him to do ayaashee with. 

Tere Mere Beech

I feel like this drama is nearing the end, so I'm sticking with it. Even though my disgust with Nadia, Sadia and Phuppo grows with each episode. First they were complete churails to Hareem and now Nadia wants to celebrate her "dead" sister's birthday by cutting a cheap bakery cake. Give me a break. Lucky for us, Fahad is back and I can't wait to see if Hareem will finally avenge herself or if the drama makers will leave us pulling our hair out. 

Highlight - Hina Bayat is convincing as Hareem's mentor. I love the spunky Aapa who wasn't afraid to give Hareem a reality check.

Lowlight - Phuppo. Nadia. Sadia. Nadia and Ali. Sadia and Nadia's devar and their romance. #NobodyCares

Tum Koun Piya

This drama is full of cliches but it plays out beautifully, at an acceptable pace, and Ayeza Khan's come back makes it worth watching. I find it ironic that after Pyaray Afzal she stated she won't do the rhoti-dhoti aurath, but if any of you have heard of the novel the drama is based on, she's about to do just that. 

Highlight - Hina Bayat is stealing the show in this drama too and it's her spunk that makes sure the drama doesn't fall flat. I'm sure it's just a preview of the terror she's going to unleash when she actually brings home the bahu.

Lowlight - Ramish's mom's wardrobe. In an era of blow dried hair, and kitty-party aunties that refuse to age, she walks around in lehngas and shirts with a belt on it. #FashionPolice come quick!!

Zindagi Tujh Ko Jiya (aka 100 Din Ki Kahani)

Still waiting for unaired episodes to begin. Did they turn an hour drama into a half hour drama? #Booo

Highlights: It airs four days a week.

Lowlights: It airs four days a week and has been cut into half. Lord knows how many episodes it'll have...60? 90? 120?

I glanced over a few reviews and comments for Pakeeza and Zara Yaad Kar, two dramas I was considering watching, and didn't read anything convincing. I have been meaning to begin Udaari, so there's definitely going to be a review or an update on that coming up soon :)

Please do comment below on how you feel about what's on air these days! It's always fun to see if you agree or disagree!