Drama Update - February 2016

Even though our blog posts have dwindled to few and far between, we continue to watch dramas off-the-blog like a student studies for O' Level exams. (Thank you YouTube, thank you wifi, and thank you smartphone.) So, we decided to do this post just to give you a snap shot of what to watch or what not to watch as far as the dramas that we are watching go. For simplicity's sake, the dramas are in alphabetical order. But you'll know the duds - cos pointing those out is kind of our speciality. *smirk*

100 Din Ki Kahani

This drama is an easy watch with an interesting enough story to keep you coming back. Sanam Chaudhry and Furqan Quraishi look good together and the side stories are also entertaining and not just fillers. Due to some unknown reason (to me), this drama has stopped airing. I feel pretty cheated because I looked forward to this every weekend. #SoSad

Highlight: The churail nand's husband is planning to dethrone her the same way she is ousting her own sister-in-law and I can't WAIT for karma to come bite her in the butt. 

Abro

OMG. This drama - I am head over heels in love with it, and for the life of me, I AM NOT SURE WHY. LOL. Eight episodes in and this appears to be the classic Akbari-Asghari type drama of acha beta vs burra beta and achi bahu vs burri bahu. The drama is moving at a steady pace and, quite frankly, I managed to happily (understatement here) binge watch the episodes because it keeps you engaged. 

Highlight: Some ah-may-zing performances that will leave your heart bleeding like the characters'...

Low light: The actress playing Abro is a bit (read: humongous) of an eye and ear sore - she's loud and has an annoyingly monotone dialogue delivery.

Aitraz

Holy crap. Where do we start? You have this plethora of big names - Sania Saeed, Imran Abbas, Sana Javed, Gohar Rasheed - and this completely brainless story that continues on repeat and makes you want to question your sanity for bothering to tune in week after week. Seriously, thank your lucky stars if you managed to not watch this disaster.

Highlight: Nothing. Nada. 

Lowlight: EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS DRAMA. 

Bay Qasoor

If there was an award for most Depressing Drama, this would be the perfect contender. I started to watch this for Samina Peerzada, but now I'm just left wondering why she agreed to do this drama in the first place. Luckily (or unluckily?) the pace of this drama keeps me coming back just to see how things could possibly go even more wrong for the poor ma and beti. 

Highlight: Sajid Hassan's character's round about turn has been perticularly engrossing. He just randomly goes from absent-father to father-of-the-year and, in my humble opinion, only an actor that is so well seasoned can pull off that kind of a change and leave us convinced. Bravo. 

Lowlight: Hira makes me want to slap someone. And the phuppi ka spoiled brat beta is bad enough being a spoiled brat, but he can't act either. Annoying times infinite. 

Gul E Rana

Since we already have a detailed post on this drama and why it should be dumped, I won't write more here. (I typed this before I typed the Lowlights. Grrr. This drama...Grrrrr) 

Highlight: Zafri was the only highlight for me because atleast he was amusing.

Lowlight: Adeel. Feroze Khan playing Adeel. Adeel's wardrobe. Rana. Rana and her being a prude. Rana being a doormat. Asher and his questionable motives. Taya. Rana's mom that only appears once every two episodes. The lack of story. The lack of intelligent conversation between Rana and Adeel. The lack of intelligence period. 

Mana Ka Gharana

Hmmm. I have mixed feelings about this drama. It has a story, it has well sketched characters, it's moving along nicely...overall it has no issues. Yet, when I watch it, I keep wanting a key storyline - the big POINT of the whole drama. Is it about good guys finish last? Is it about how money is the root of all evil? Is it about true love always wins in the end? What is that big wow that makes this drama special? I'm not sure yet. However, it's an easy watch and I really need to watch something that will help me renew my loyalty to Sana Javed after Aitraz and Paiwand.

Highlight: Shehroz Sabzwari wows as Khizer aka the most perfect guy on this planet. You can't wait for Mana to come crawling back to Khizer after all the zulm her fiancé is heaping on him.

Lowlight: Barring the big wow, nothing to report.  

Man Mayal

Hamza Ali Abbasi returns to our screens to play the poor, hardworking, in love with a girl way out of his income bracket, chotay sheher ka lardka, dreaming along the lines of papa kehtay hein bara naam karayga...*picture me raising an eyebrow* I want to be enthusiastic, really, I do, but didn't he just play this character in Pyaray Afzal?
Highlight: Great visuals. The OST sounds like something from Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas soundtrack (and I loved the music and Madhuri in that movie, so in my book, that's a win). Aiman Khan - even though she's just playing the little sister - deserves honorable mention.
Lowlight: Ayesha Khan is in it. I repeat, AYESHA KHAN IS IN IT. Lord help us all...

Mein Kaise Kahoon

An evil Bhabi, a sister-like best friend, a dur ka rishtaydaar eligible bachelor...all these components make this a cute drama to watch as a relief from the other hardcore stories on air these days. 

Highlight: Maria's love for Samar and sitaron ka haal are endearing. 

Lowlight: Episode 6 promises to be heartbreaking. Bummer. 

Naraaz

Faisal Quraishi redeems himself (after flops like Mein Bushra and Mol) and gives us Naraaz. Naraaz has a solid story and I love watching how seamlessly the director has managed to capture subtleties of relationships. Honorable mention for Asad being an amazing friend, and the voice of reason, to our boy Azlan through his trials.

Highlights: Faisal Qureshi and Sarah Khan share an electric chemistry onscreen. Aazar is cute as a button, and his one-on-ones with Nana Abu are absolutely adorable. 

Lowlights: Azlan's ex-colleague, Aisha - it's just unappealing how desperately obvious it is that she has the hots for Azlan. 

Preet Na Kariyo

Thank god Hum TV decided to apologize for airing crap like Gul E Rana and Sangat by airing gems like these. Wonderful characters, wonderful dialogues, wonderful acting. Applause for all the actors. Ahsan Khan reminds us why we love him.

Highlight: I am officially a Hira Salman fan. She has managed to paint a flawless picture of Shagufta, and create a character who you will hate but love, disapprove of but admire.

Lowlight: The casting of Shagufta's younger brother grown up. Kaheen se Bhai nahi lagta woh uska. #CastingFail

Sangat

Saba Qamar takes on the topic of rape, but the plot got lost within the first few episodes and never recovered. It was less about her and her story and more about Shahvez and his quest for forgiveness for an unforgivable act. I'm sorry, were we supposed to sympathize with that animal? 

Highlight: It's over. 

Lowlight: Let's just do everyone a favor and not discuss this hideous drama, its hideous story, and its hideous message.

Sehra Mein Safar

Another time pass that I'm tuning into weekly just to see where the drama will go. I like how they have shown a very natural progression of how Iqra's life has changed and how these changes are effecting her as a person.

Highlight: Ali Kazmi returns to our screens and if he was irresistible in his tanks, he's even cuter as the nerdy glasses wearing Ayaz.

Lowlight: Iqra and her prudish ways. Seriously, you can maintain a distance from men and not be confrontational or rude. Gees. 

Tere Mere Beech

This drama doesn't bring anything new to the table or any mind blowing performances, except Sanam Chaudhry who has done a phenomenal job portraying the conflicted and proud Hareem, which is why I keep watching. 

Highlight: looking forward to how Agha Ali's character is going to react when he finds out his heiress isn't an heiress. #Woops

Lowlight: Saba Faisal as Nighat. Her treatment of Hareem is abominable and her character is borderline crazy because she can't decide whether to be nice to Hareem or yell at her (sometimes for no reason).

And there you have it friends - a nice, long, round up for this month of some hits and some misses that we are watching. Of course, even while we complete this there are some new dramas starting that we're looking forward to (Mera Yaar Miladay and Pakeeza to begin with), so go ahead and leave us a line in the comments if you enjoyed the post and would like to see something similar next month!

Until then, happy watching!

Bay Qasoor - Episode 7 Update

Wow! I'm on a roll with these episode 7 updates! Today, we're talking about Bay Qasoor, starring Samina Peerzada. 

Bay Qasoor is the story of Sadaf, a naik single mom that remarries to help provide her and her infant daughter with a roof over their heads. Waseem, her second husband, literally provides little more than that roof. He has a daughter from a previous marriage, Sehr, who he has spoiled rotten and she has grand dreams of marrying into money, i.e. Sadaf's daughter is the good daughter and Waseem's daughter is the bad daughter. 

Sehr marries Shreyar, a man three times her age to achieve the monetary luxuries she has always dreamt of. Daddy dearest suffers a massive heart attack due to his daughter's foolish actions. To add injury to insult, Shehreyar is Sadaf's ex-husband and Hira's dad. 

Now you know why I'm so inexplicably absorbed by this drama. Because it's gross in a train wreck you can't look away kind of way. 

Let's explore what happened this week In the most current episode...

Hira confronts her slimy dad, who promptly calls his ex-wife an adulteress and she slams out of his office to run home and confront her mom. What follows is the most uncomfortable scene of screeching and crying that I've witnessed in a long time. 

The only saving grace of the meltdown scene is this miss: Waseem's talak yaafta behn that lives with them, who overheard the commotion. This is the second drama where we see a sister from hell, being played phenomenally well by Javeria Abassi. She's lazy and greedy and she's raising her boy to be a future ghunda. She's happiest that Sehr has married Shreyar because she gets to mooch off her brother and his daughter  (Sidenote: Her ex-husband was played by Aijaz Aslam. I'm still scratching my head trying to figure out why he would play such a nonexistent role...Answers, anyone?)

Sehr is living the life. And nothing anyone can say is going to bring her down. I think Aiman Khan has done a good job portraying Sehr. She's very beleiveable and her character is well developed. She knows what she wants and she's not afraid to do what she must to get it. 

I'm sorry...I'm innocent...blah blah blah... 

Hira vows to avenge her mother and then storms into Shreyar's office to scream at him i.e. The quiet and suljhee hui Hira looses her mind. Maybe it's because we haven't seen her co-worker beau in this episode...?

Shreyar isn't about to let his ex-wife or estranged daughter mess up his life - he promptly storms to Sadaf's house and enlightens everyone of their previous relationship, the one secret Sadaf was trying so vainly to keep.  

Speak of the devil (or angel in this case)... Meet Hira's Mr. Wonderful. He is - duh - perfect. Of course Hira's stupid stepdad can't see that, and he has all but rejected Babar's marriage proposal for Hira. #Jerkface

Ok. Maybe Sadaf didn't think that. Maybe it was just me. But it's worth repeating: Stepdad has lost his mind.

And with this, all the cards are now on the table. How will Sehr react? Aiman (and Javeria, who I suspect will help Aiman's character plot her next move) has done such a great job playing this spoiled - yet naive - brat, that I'm excited to see what will happen next. 

On the down side, I'm disappointed Samina Peerzada is playing such a wishy-washy role when she is capable of so much more...and the fact that Sajid Hasan and Waseem Abbas are playing the same old same old is just that - same old, same old. #Snooze

At any rate, Bay Qasoor remains my favorite guilty pleasure at the moment. And if anyone else is enjoying this drama too, don't worry - this is a judgement-free zone! *smirk smirk*

Happy watching!

100 Din Ki Kahani - Episode 1 to 2

It never fails to amaze me how a little grooming can take an actress a long way. Please see exhibit A:

Yep. You can barely beleive it's the same person. Did you guys see her in Aasmano Pe Likha? I can still hear her screeching AAAALLLIIIIYAAAANNNN!!!! *ouch*. But since then, she has not only worked on the outside, she's doing a pretty good job at the acting bit too. Which brings me to why I decided to watch this drama: she's in it. (Like, duh. That was too easy.)

Ok. Here's the deal: our hero, Zeeshan, is the perfect husband, son, brother and employee. And here is a screen shot of the people in his life...

Sanam aka wife: She ran away from her super rich daddy to marry Zeeshan. She's also expecting their child. 

Anwar Sahab aka Boss: I've never seen a boss lend his employee money for an anniversary, ride on a bike with his employee, or rush his employee to the hospital (more on that in a second). Best. Boss. Ever. 

Evil Mom: She's like the mom that makes you really WORK for that jannat beneath her feet. She hates Sanam and is very vocal about it. She wants her son to marry her daughter's nand. At any cost. 

Safia aka Evil Sister: She hates Sanam too - probably because her mother-in-law kicked her out when Zeeshan married Sanam and not Afshan (the nand) - and she's equally vocal with the hatred spewing. Her spineless husband can't stand up to his mom to bring her home, but is disgustingly sneaking around with her. 

Zeeshan also has another younger sister, Sania, who is amazingly sweet and she genuinely loves her brother and Bhabi. She's so sweet, y'all should have a screenshot of her too...

Uhhh...ok. Maybe that's not a good screen shot OF her, but she's definitely on the nice list. Moving on....

The beginning establishes how awful the mother-in-law and sister-in-law are, how Sanam is taking it like a trooper, and how Zeeshan is fully aware of - and appreciative of - what Sanam has sacrificed to be with him. They share a genuine affection. There's also absolutely no stopping the pure hostility coming from his mom and elder sister. The lengths they go to to make sure the love birds are unable to celebrate their first anniversary will leave you with a horrible taste in your mouth. 

Zeeshan is rushed to the hospital by his boss when he feels dizzy in the market (where he is buying his mom and sister made up "necessities" instead of his wife a present), and we find out why this drama is called 100 din ki kahani: 100 days until their (much loved and anticipated) baby is born and 100 days is the time the clairvoyant doctors have declared Zeeshan has to live. 

Of course, Zeeshan has told no one about his beemari, cos, as we all know, sharing is for WIMPS. 

Safia is resorting to jadoo thoona to get rid of the Bhabi and her child. Mom looks a bit uneasy about it, but doesn't put a stop to it. #Disgusting

Regardless of the miserable treatment these two are receiving, it's refreshing to see Zeeshan and his wife showing respect to his family. No yelling back or name calling, no matter what they receive. 

Of course, whereas Sanam is happily counting down days to her due date, only we as an audience get to share with Zeeshan's angst that this is also a count down of his final days. (It's like the second the clock strikes midnight on the 100th day, he's going to fall face forward in his biryani...)

Cons: There seems to be some confusion around names. The wife is Sanam (as per story synopsis on the website) - or she's Mariam (as per her dad). Also, I thought the boss' name was Anwar, but a few scenes later he becomes Baig. Also, how come The doctor declares Zeeshan has cancer, but there's no mention of treatments? I guess it's all for the better, becaue how would Zeeshan afford those treatments anyway?

At any rate, I like this drama. The inlaws are evil, and Sanam Chaudhry and Furqan Quraishi are cute as a couple. I loved Furqan in Jab We Wed (with Aiza Khan), and he wasn't too shabby in Muqaddas either, so I'm not afraid to call myself a fan. He's refreshing after an overdose of Noor Hassan and Zahid Ahmed. There's also another half a dozen people, yet to be introduced, in the (melodious and catchy) OST, so I'm anticipating some good developments as the drama progresses. 

The drama airs twice a week,which is always a win if you ask me. And it airs on Hum Sitaray on weekends...

Do give it a go and let me think what you think!

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!!

Tumhare Siwa - Episode 1

Like a good boy, Hum TV has provided yet another winner *cough cough*.

Let's just go ahead and judge this book by its cover, because with this cover you know some awesome-sauce blogging opportunity has presented itself on a silver platter to us. Two names people: Ayesha Khan and Ahsan Khan. Let the (blog) good times begin...

Check out the brooooo-mance. Woot woot! The second I saw these opening scenes, in my mind this started playing *insert the extremely addictive Party All Night (by Yo Yo Honey Singh) chorus and an image of me doing a touch down dance*. I mean, just look at these stills - those red glasses, jogging in designer polo shirts...#BloggerHeaven

Oh Mansha. I had put you on my 'like' list after your awesomeness in Mera Naam Hai Yousuf and then you decided to do this. Really. It's a shame (for you, Mansha) because this drama is obviously going to be a blogfest of screenshots and memes. 

Uffffo - overacting ki overacting. RIP any dreams Ayesha Khan might've had of being an actress in Bollywood. 

Here are the two happy couples: Aazar married to Rania and Arsal married to Samra. Aazar and Rania have a son Dani and Arsal and Samra have a daughter Neni. 

This is Tania, Aazar's sister that looks ten years older than him but calls him bhaiyya, her husband Babar, who hates being treated like second class citizens by his brother-in-law and his wife, and their son, aka Numair, aka spawn of the devil. 

Aazar has a birthday 'party' with these two lovely couples. Hum TV must have no faith in the intelligence of its viewers because this whole situation is created where a fight between the kids turns into a show down between the adults. Aazar's sister and family doesn't get along with his wife and hates his best friends. We got it. No need to spell it out. 

The scene where it becomes obvious that Rania wears the pants in this relationship. 

The scene where you realize Noor Hasan is too young to play a dad. #CastingIssue

...ummmm ok. Aisa lag ra hei poori zindagi yeh drama chalayga for this madam to get her inteqaam. God forbid. 

Some concerns raised in Episode 1:

Sharing information with someone who claims, "Mein behnoon jaisi hoon?" Really? How does that seem leggit at all?

Wow. Fire that hired help pronto. 

Samra must be the seedhi saadhi one. Rania is obviously the taiz and modern one - the no-dupatta is like the biggest give away. But, if Arsal and Aazar are chuddi buddies and both are pilots...wait. Hold that thought. Maybe Aazar is a pilot and Arsal is cabin crew...?

Subha janay say pehlay tu bari pictures li ja rahi theen is bujhi bujhi shakal ki...

#TrueStory

Oh! Oh! Pick me! Pick me! I know the answer!! It's because her best friend is dying of a unnamed, incurable, terminal disease!! Do I get a Scooby snack?

Honestly - you want to feel for Samra who is about to die of god knows what, but all I could think about was that after women crying incessantly in dramas of susraali zulm, we now have women crying  incessantly of terminal illness. And N thinks we have no more originality left. Pffft. 

I enjoyed this drama SO much it only took me two weeks to watch the first episode. Ha! My spidey-sense is all tingly and I can tell this will be a complete waste of my time - but I feel Ahsen Khan deficient, so I'll stick to it like a bitter pill. Plus, it's like Hum TV gave me a personal challenge about mocking dramas and their medical inaccuracies. They gave Samra an unnamed disease - which I'm assuming is to give them license to give her whatever symptoms they please. 

Challenge accepted, Hum TV. Challenge accepted.