It’s drama time!

Catch up with some of your favourite television series.

ISLAMABAD:

Shehr-e-Zaat

Fridays on Hum Network

Episode 3 (July 13), Episode 4 (July 20)

Falak wonders whether her many run-ins with Salman are coincidence or fate. She is always talking or thinking about him and all that makes one wonder if there’s an idol worship allegory here. In a previous episode, Nani had reprimanded her about making sculptures, likening them to stone idols. Nani keeps reproaching her daughter Mehrun Nisa and granddaughter Falak about something or the other: wastage of food, what they wear, staying out late, Falak’s upbringing and how much freedom she’s been given. When Falak returns from a friend’s mehndi at the time her grandmother is up to pray tahajjud, she disapproves of the fact that Falak returned home so late with the driver. Furthermore, Falak is frustrated that Salman doesn’t remember her name or recognise her because she’s never come across a man so disinterested in her. Hamza tries to tell Falak that Salman is ignoring her on purpose and just messing with her, but she won’t hear it. Hamza abruptly asks Falak to marry him, taking her by surprise. She refuses and tells him that they’re friends; Hamza thinks it’s because of Salman, but she says she couldn’t marry him even if there was no Salman. Salman is still such a vague character, and not in a charmingly mysterious way; there’s just no depth or breadth to him yet. But maybe he’s not supposed to have any depth, the whole point being that it doesn’t matter to Falak, who is blinded by her obsession with him.

Emaan

Wednesdays on Express Entertainment

Episode 9 (July 11), Episode 10 (July 18)

Aazi’s father’s blatant favouritism for Kathy is getting annoying. During a shopping trip, Kathy keeps asking his opinion on clothes and jewelry like he’s the ultimate authority on women’s fashion and everyone at home is quite surprised at his interest in the matter. Later, Abba makes a stop at the mosque to pray, but news of a bomb blast in the mosque leaves everyone at home terrified that he may have been killed. Aazi’s brother-in-law and then Aazi himself, turn against Kathy, blaming the bombing on ‘the Americans’. “Hum musalmaano ka kaam nahin hai aik doosre ko marna,” says Aazi, reflecting a common view that all our problems are caused by America. However, Abba jee soon walks in, unharmed. He recounts what happened at the mosque and how he saw a young boy get hit and die in front of him. Afterwards, Kathy forgives Aazi for what he had said; saying that it showed his love for his father but her distress over the mosque incident causes her to postpone the wedding. It’s interesting to see that it barely affects everybody else in the house as they have become desensitised to incidents of terrorism. Kathy, however, experienced this kind of proximity to terror for the first time. Aazi insists these things happen all the time, bombings, protests, etc, so how long can they keep postponing the wedding? Kathy then confesses to Aazi that people in the West don’t care about others and are very self-absorbed, and she came to Pakistan to escape the loneliness that comes with that.

Thakan

Thursdays on ARY

Episode 10 (July 12), Episode 11 (July 19)

Sadaf’s boss, Mrs Azmat tells her that the solution to all her problems is to marry well and she should reconsider a previously mentioned proposal. What Sadaf doesn’t know is that the man her boss has in mind is her inconsiderate, neglectful, self-absorbed son, Kashan. Meanwhile Sadaf’s mother Zubeida now has to care for Deeba’s four children, and her husband Khursheed suggests that he marry Sadaf, only because the children need a mother. However, Sadaf flatly refuses and Khursheed is mortally offended when he learns that Sadaf doesn’t want to marry him. As payback for rejection, Khursheed tells Sadaf about how her mother has been turning away proposals for Sadaf to keep her from leaving home. Sadaf confronts her mother and is devastated when Zubeida doesn’t deny it. Sadaf says her mother should have trusted her enough, that she would have turned the proposals down herself and would have never abandoned her family. Zubeida asks Sadaf to give her a chance to explain but Sadaf won’t speak or even look at her mother. Jawad also reveals that his proposal to Sadaf was a practical decision, not an emotional one. He thought that Sadaf would become a second earner for his a family and help him out financially. Even though he hasn’t said it, that’s probably why Khursheed wants to marry her too. Feeling hurt and betrayed, Sadaf calls her boss to accept the proposal. Though, Sadaf has agreed to marry the man her boss has chosen for her but she has no idea what she’s getting in to. She will no longer have to worry about money and being financially responsible for her household, but she will have to take on the responsibility of a mentally handicapped woman, two children who probably won’t take kindly to a new step-mother and will have to keep house for a man who has made it clear that he wants nothing to do with her.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2012.