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!!

Alvida - Episode 9

Ok. So let's just make a blanket statement here and say that no episode that starts with this maa-beta duo ever comes to any sense.

Of course Fareesa going through her dead sootan's clothes and jewelry on her wedding night is absolutely normal behavior. 

Do the math with me: Haya flies to Karachi in time for the barath to be coming back. Waise tu Karachi mein shadi ke mehmaan 11 bajay se pehlay nahi aatay, but for heck's sake, let's say the people came and left early...So it still has to be at least 1am before Ramiz decides to call Haya. 

All these golden product placement opportunities Pakistani dramas miss. Think of all the revenue they could generate this way.

Well atleast one thing was clarified...

phew!

So Fareesa apparently got married and brought no clothes with herself. Except for the wedding dress. Really? REALLY! This obviously warrants a shopping trip, with Maami's credit card.

For all her Sadi-ing, I havent seen Fareesa taking care of Sadi even once. She's always wandering around the house or lying through her teeth to her aunt.

This is the welcome Haya gets when she goes to her dad's place. #WhattaWarmWelcome

 Haya and Hadi have a showdown in front of her dad - and this is treated as more normal behavior.

Aba does more Mehrami. (Please see previous post for definition).

Fareesa maxes out Maami's credit card. Look at her go...Didn't her dad make this big claim about how "hum bhi khatay peetay ghar ke hein..."? Beti ko aik shadi ke joray mein rukhsat kar deea..?

Episode 8 flashback

  correct...aap iss se bhi zyada gaye guzray hain. Dude you're worse than mehram dad

Yup - Fareesa puts on a pair of sunglasses - inside the restaurant - to hide from Saim...who was supposed to be leaving the country or something? Apparently, aik aur round beziti ka face kar ke bichardna kismat mein likha tha in dono kay.

ooh saim...king of comebacks...you are not!

Maybe it's the encounter with Saim, or maybe Fareesa is aqalmand enough to know that if she wants to stay in this mansion as Hadi's wife she needs to keep up her "I love saadi" charade.

In this episode Badey Doctor sahab takes over the job of looking disgustedly at Fareesa.

Fareesa decides Haya can't even kiss the baby (that she never takes care of). Lots of other accusations fly from all parties involved.

How come no one points out that Haya being the baby's saggi khala has every freaking right to kiss the baby if she wants, and Fareesa can't do anything about that.

Last episode when Hadi was desperately searching for Haya, his mother asks him if he wants to marry her. If only he had said yes. Sigh!

See? No baby Sadi. Who is a boy. Can you imagine being a boy named Sadi? Talk about scarred for life...

 In case you missed it - check out Ramiz's reading material...

So did this line come straight out of that book???

also...moron...you're skyping with her, why are you still talking into your phone???Paindoooo!

My reaction

Haya's reaction

People on youtube need to stop gushing about how Haya and Ramiz have such great chemistry...it's creepy not chemistry.

More vampy-ness from Fareesa and wet doe-eyed-ness from Haya.
Just as the cogs start to whir in Haya's brain and she states talking about how she has spoken to Fareesa a few days ago and she was fine then... fareesa steps in and accuses Haya of lying and trying to break up her marriage to Hadi 
Really - is it going to take everyone 10 more episodes to figure out that Fareesa "itni achi lardki" nahi hei??

I'm thinking they're all getting there soon. We have Hadi glaring disgustedly at fareesa in every episode, and in this we get both doctor dad and spacey mom give her this look. 

So by the brain scan that doctor dad has permanently on display in his office I'm assuming he's some kind of brain doctor... I'm not even going to dignify him with the title of neurologist, because of this dialogue...
Doctor Dad: mai prescription likh k de raha hun, pharmacy se le lijiyega. Aur parhaez karein, Insha'Allah juld Theek hojayenge. 

Exuseme?😕 what brain related beemari gets cured by parheaz?

He also imparts such pearls of wisdom

It feels like you've never met any women in your life. 

Ugh! Why doctor Dad why? Are you hell bent on turning this iqra-humza type shadi into a maya-humza type shadi. 

Also Dear Hadi, 
You searched high and low for her, You won't let Haya stay with her father, you fight with your wife to support Haya, you know how many pairs of same shoes Haya accidentally bought and you balk at the idea of Her calling you "Hadi bhai"...

Alvida - Episode 8

This episode can also be titled as... Lies Fareesa tells to get hitched to Hadi or the episode where Mommy Dearest Loses her Mind.

Let's begin,

Hadi surprises mom Ji with the good news that he's going back to work. 

Considering how much grief both parents have been giving Hadi over his apathy, mom should've looked a little less shocked and a little more supportive.

Somehow Fareesa highjacked the moment and claimed it was all her good influence on Hadi.

 Jhooti amma nahi sirf jhooti bolta Hoga.

Mom immediately starts planning Hadi's second marriage to Fareesa. 

Yeah i'm sure everyone watching made same face. 

Mom's expressions are off during the whole episode. She makes these unapproving faces at Fareesa and then goes around convincing her husband how awesome Fareesa is. I was really weirded out by her. Like this scene - look at her face (the mom's). And then two minutes later she calls her husband and tells him Fareesa is awesome and I want to make her my bahu. What?!

In pindi Haya throws caution to the wind and becomes friends with Ramiz. Ramiz ki missal aisi hai Jaise ungli pakdayi toh poora haath pakad liya. He keeps flirting and I keep hating. Blekh! We also get a glimpse of the Pakistani psycho inside Ramiz just waiting to be let loose.

Yeah - did anyone else notice the horror movie background music before Ramiz confronts Haya about loving someone else?

Fareesa Hadi lunch.

So at this point, I read the comment by vee on previous episode review. Grrr. Is this drama based on a novel? If yes, has anyone read it? And are you willing to tell me the ending. Wink in the comments below, so I don't have to go through 20 something episodes of Farisa as the main character.

Somehow everyone has lost their mental faculties. For the record - this guy never had any to begin with. Inki harkatein have been Mehrami from the start. (Yup: new adjective "Mehrami". It means to have no have rhyme or reason except to make everyone stupid in the drama and flabbergast the viewers.)

 

 The only one who's brain is working, is Fareesa, and she's using all her grey cells to trap Hadi into marrying her. Wait - and the Dad who keeps being astounded, but still isn't telling his wife to stop forcing Hadi to marry Fareesa.

Really mom? You need it spelled out?

 Fareesa employs some serious and some downright dubious manipulations

seriously doctor dad, button up yo shirt, nobody wants a eyeful of that

I can't wait for this little chipkali of a domestic help to be instrumental in Fareea's downfall.

More creepy flirting between Ramiz and Haya. I was actually proud of Haya in this scene. She was 100% crystal clear: I do not want to be anything but your friend Ramiz. #BackOff

Kaukab ki reentry. The way these two talk about Creepy McToucherson, it seems like he's dead rather than just divorced/separated from kaukab. Finally thanks to Kaukab Haya knows that Aroosa is dead and a broken hearted Hadi is searching high and low for her. I'm still trying to understand the part about Hadi convincing Kaukab that Haya was innocent. Was he there? How does he know? Why is Kaukab convinced by Hadi that her husband was the jerk? Whaaa...?

Haya arrives back in Karachi only to find out that Hadi is getting married once again. Damn you domestic airlines and your crappy flight schedule. 

Seriously - I get Hadi doesn't want to marry Fareesa, but why is he dressed like a backup qawalli singer? I guess it's true: Money can't buy taste...
Note: PHENOMENAL use of the OST in this drama. I don't enjoy listening to the OST as much as I enjoy it when they situationally plug it in the drama. And when Sanam Jung looks at Imran Abbass with her doe eyes and it plays in the background...*taalian*

Hadi accuses his bride of only a few hours of housing Haya's whereabouts from him. But all it takes are a few fake tears and he backs off. Luckily - we still get to be treated with this look Hadi makes atleast once in every scene he has with Fareesa: 

Oh good lord how are we going to bear Fareesa and her breathless voice, as Hadi's wife, for the next twenty or so episodes. More importantly, how are we going to bear her wordrobe choices?? (Waise, now that she's married to Hadi, she has no reason to be all "nice". I don't think it'll take long for her to turn all vampy.)

I don't really want Haya to end up with Ramiz in the end, but I also don't want her to become Hadi's third wife in end. I think you should be grateful he's married to only one girl at a time. I mean, who wants to watch yet ANOTHER dosari biwi saga?! This was supposed to be one if the good dramas and yet somehow I find myself hating it. Hmmm...I don't really hate it, but as discussed before, it's such a sloppily put together narrative that it gets annoying to watch. Too many holes, too many overlooks, too many unexplained phenomenons - this drama is a mess. It's like writing an essay and not proof reading it.