THE TUBE

Barzakh | Zee Zindagi, Concluded

Underneath the layers of symbolism and fantasy, Barzakh is a story of broken relationships and generational loss. Jabbar (Sajid Hasan) is saving his meagre earnings to travel, but older brother Jaffar (Khushhal Khan) steals his money and heads to the big city to buy his love, Mehtab, a gold necklace, and become a big man. Bitter and deeply resentful, Jabbar leads the village elders to the pregnant Mehtab, and her death.
So begins an unresolved spiral of revenge and dysfunction for generations. A wealthy Jaffar returns and imprisons the ghosts of the elders, young girls go missing and a pall of despair falls on the village. Strong, beautifully nuanced performances from Salman Shahid, M. Fawad Khan, Fawad Afzal Khan, Sanam Saeed and Sajid Hassan have made this captivating viewing.
With controversial themes, and a lack of easy answers, this show was not made to attract the masses or give reassuring homilies for the audience to digest. Some aspects of the script, such as Saif’s (Fawad Khan) sexuality, have led to a withdrawal of the series from Pakistani YouTube. This could have been avoided if director Asim Abbasi had used a subtler hand.
Kaffara | Geo TV, Saturdays 9.00pm

After her blockbuster hit Rang Mahal, writer Shafia Khan uses a similar formula for her new serial Kaffara. Free spirit Salaar (Ali Ansari) is on the run from his wealthy parent’s choice of bride. He hides out at a friend’s house during a family wedding, where he allows himself to be mistaken for a photographer. There he meets the bubbly and surprisingly naïve Sitara (Laiba Khan).
Despite being an orphan, Sitara is a happy person. For no rhyme or reason, other than weak writing skills, two of her cousins are burnt up with jealousy and decide to dishonour her in public by trapping her with Salaar. Apart from the unfortunate heroine who is consistently slut-shamed to make her victim status clear, every single female character is cruel and nasty.
The middle class ones are particularly conniving while the elite class ones spout tired dialogues about middle class girls being gold-diggers. Salaar is manipulated into insulting Sitara, but realises he has done her an injustice. Despite the two-dimensional character sketches and improbable plot twists, the formula is doing well in the ratings.
Radd | ARY, Wednesdays 8.00pm

This entertaining serial is winding up with a tense finale. Eman (Hiba Bukhari) left Zain (Arsalan Nasir) on the brink of their wedding and married Salaar (Shehryar Munawar) in an equally impulsive decision. Zain slowly unravels the reasons for Eman’s choices but his feelings for her are as strong as ever.
Salaar has been a kind, supportive husband and matured into a confident person with the help of Eman’s encouragement and therapy. However, the terrible strain of Salaar’s past has affected his brain chemistry, and his psychiatrist warns Eman that her husband has been imagining a sister called Anaya to comfort himself. Is Salaar mentally ill? Can Eman help bring him back to reason and reality or will this story end in tragedy?
Shehryar Munawar has played this role beautifully, making his character’s journey and his challenges very believable, without relying on melodrama. Yamina Peerzada has been another highlight, from an appeasing, fearful victim to a strong woman able to defend herself from a violent domineering husband. Full credit goes to director Ahmed Bhatti and writer Sanam Mehdi for giving us a well-constructed serial that has not lost steam yet.
Ishq Hua | Geo TV, Coming soon

Haroon Kadwani, Komal Meer and Sohail Samir star in this film-style serial, penned by Nooran Makhdoom of Tere Bin fame.
Published in Dawn, ICON, August 18th, 2024