This is a ramzan special drama. Written by awesome Saima Akram Chaudhary, and directed by Ahsun Talish. The drama was aired on HUM TV.
The main storyline is clichéd forced marriage (like millions of other dramas and books). And over a course of thirty episodes, and almost just as many days in the drama world, the lead characters fall in love. Cliché!
Yet, beautifully executed. It was a treat to watch Arsal and Jia fight, and still have a friendly relation. Bibijan Let’s go over the pros vis-a-vis characters, because this one has strong cast.
Character-wise break-down:
Samina Ahmad as Mumtaz Begum (Bi Jan): She’s flawless. Dressed in simple gharara suits and with a little bit of temper; she was the perfect dadi of the household.
Farhan Ali Agha as Jamshed Ali: Again, some overacting, overuse of hands.
Nadia Afgan as Shahana Batool/Shahana Jamshed Ali: She is the winner. Her acting is flawless. The drama rides a lot in her role.
Farhan Saeed as Arsalan Jamshed Ali (Arsal): He sings and he acts so well. What I like the best is how easily he can switch between Punjabi dialect and accent and back to Urdu. Amazing. The chemistry between Arsal and Jiya is sizzling, but in a good way. It does not burn. It leaves a spark that ignites for a long time.
In his other works, I’ve noticed he maintains a stiff posture and that makes him look like thrusting his chest. But that problem was gone after first few episodes, and back with 28th episode. Dunno what happened there. Something you need to work on, Farhan.
Sohail Sameer as Nazakat Ali: A hypochondriac and always looking for medicines. He is hilarious.
Farah Shah as Naeema Nazakat Ali
Iqra Aziz as Ajiya Nazakat Ali (Jiya): She nailed the munh-phat girl role, 99.9%. The remaining 0.1%, she was a little loud. But granted. From her dressing to her expressions, everything was detailed. Kudos to this girl.
Sami Khan as Daniyal Nazakat Ali (DJ): My favorite character. He is the spy of the house. He causes stir in otherwise quite environment. Then he also goes out of his way to settle things. The kid is simply adorable.
Tara Mahmood as Masooma Jalal Khan: The woman who got married to a boasting Pathan.
Adnan Shah Tipu as Jalal Khan
Mashal Khan as Kinza Jalal Khan: She is Arsal and Jia’s cousin. She has a crush on Arsal. Her mother Masooma’s constant talk about getting the two of them hitched, makes her become a little mean towards Jia.
Syed Mohammad Ahmed as Shah Jahan (Agha Jan): I have seen him in other dramas, playing the good father or elderly figure. He plays the role smoothly. And in this particular drama, the scenes between him and bibijan are adorable and cute.
Nabeel Zuberi as Shehriyar (Sherry): This is the new guy on the block. He looks good. He is slim. He has a nice voice. Only a little problem is that he acts too much with his hands. Need to control the movements. Good otherwise.
Mizna Waqas as Arbela (Billo): Arbela is Bijan’s neice, who is still unmarried. She was engaged to Jamshed. After Jamshed fell in love with Shahana and broke the engagement, she didn’t show interest in anybody else. Billo is the happy go lucky girl, who likes teasing men – almost always innocently. She talks sweetly with Jamshed and Jalal, making Shahana and Masooma constantly talking ill about her, and constantly keeping an eye on their respective husbands. Her drama is one of the subplots.
She overacts in just the right amount, and just what was needed from her character. Specially her signature laughter.
One of my favourite scenes is when Jamshed Ali is hospitalized and she recites Yaseen. I’ve been watching Pakistani dramas for over three years now and I have never ever seen this – so true and realistic. A good 5-6 verses. It was like listening to my sister recite it, very real. Her voice, the tempo, the modulation was simply perfect. It is one of my favourite scenes from the series
No, it was the best scene.
Ali Safina as Jawad (Joji): Ali Safina has a small role. His entry is when the Ramdan’s are nearing its end (so is the drama); the invites for the marriage and reception are sent. He is one of the relatives. His entry is hilarious. And the first ‘taakra’ itself is with Billo and DJ. Billo and Jawad become an item instantly. It hints that Billo is a nice person and she cannot break the house of Shahana or Masooma by going after Jamshed and Jalal.
Anamta Qureshi as Huma (Jia’s friend):
Plot:
The drama started with Arsal and Jia taking every measure to upset the other one. There are several subplots, through which the story is carried forward.
- Bibijan doesn’t like Agha Ji very much. Agha Ji, despite liking her, had gotten her married to her brother instead. Bibijan has never forgotten him. The banter between them is just adorable.
- Billo flirting with the men.
Some problems I noticed:
Continuity problem: the characters changed dresses in a blink. Green dress inside the room, orange outside then back to green in another room.
Talk about the Khandaan, way too much.
Initially hilarious but later on the interaction between Billo and Jalal Khan seemed dull and forced.
Loved it. 4.5/5
P.S. Drafted last week, forgot to post. So many things going on in my life right now. Phew!
P.S. This is my 100th post.
P.S. You can read more details here.
Updated 23 January, 2019: There are news for the sequel of the drama, again to be aired during Ramdan. I am looking forward to it. Are you?
Shabana Mukhtar
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