Hum Tum Episode 1 Written Update & Review

The first episode of Hum Tum was all about exposition, and it’s done alright.

Plot Summary

This episode introduces us to all the main players and that the two families have a perpetual tiff between them.

Maha, Neha, and Sasha, the three sisters live with their strict father, annoyed mother, and jolly grandfather. The Qutbuddin sisters are studious, thanks to their strict father Qutbuddin. Ulfat, Qutbuddin’s wife is often irritated over one thing or the other. And the patriarch of the family, dada ji is a lovely old man who is on tik tok.

~

Adam and Sarmad live with their good-for-nothing father, sweet mother, a younger sister and their grandmother who has online matchmaking business. 

We learn that the Sultan family is near-perfection when it comes to cooking and cleaning etc. Sarmad, the older brother runs an eatery “Sarmad Ke Chatkhare”. Adam occasionally helps his older brother while Sultan does nothing except betting with people on cricket matches. He’s apparently qualified and educated, but what’s the use if that education isn’t put to use? Sultan’s little daughter talks like boys (thanks to two older brothers). That scene where she talked like a boy and her mother scolded her, it reminded me of Reeba from Tair-e-Lahoti. For the uninitiated, Tair-e-Lahoti is an Urdu novel written by Rifat Siraj. You can find my review somewhere on my blog.

The two families are neighbours and rivals, just the right ingredients for a hate-to-love story.

Review

There are a few things that did not impress me much, and it would be unfair to not include them in my review.

1. I didn’t like how every character is introduced. I don’t like it when dramas or movies break the fourth wall. Understandably, we see dada jaan introducing his family to his tik tok fans, but I couldn’t shake off the nagging feeling of “info dump”. A voice in my head screamed loudly “info dump, info dump, info dump”.
2. I hate when the episode or a new drama starts with alarm. If you listen to writing advice / podcasts, everyone discourages the author to start the story when the main character is getting up. It isn’t the best and most engaging openings. And let’s face it, the irritating noise of alarm is just too much to handle. In this drama, there were three. Maha, Neha and Sasha get up at once. 
3. I don’t know why, but I felt that Munazza Arif was a bit too made up.

Performances

This is only the first episode, and it would be too quick to pass a judgement, but Ramsha Khan might be not as annoying as her previous roles. Arjumand Raheem is lovely as ever. Adnan Jaffer, Farhan Agha, Mohammad Ahmad and Munazza Arif, they all do the job that is expected of them. The younger lot, I felt, was overdoing it a little bit. Just my feelings, no offence to anyone.

Overall, an underwhelming first episode. 

~

Until we meet again, check out my books on Amazon. You can subscribe for Kindle Unlimited for free for the first month. You better hurry and read all my books for free 🙂

Shabana Mukhtar