Cast & Characters

Yasir Hussain as Shahzeb

Wants to take his ancestral darzi business Turpai and turn it into a brand

Amar Khan as Meeral

Bride to be, has different ideologies from those of her fiance

Saleem Mairaj

Meeral’s father, a government employee

Usman Hidayat as

Brand concious fiance

Shaheen Khan

Dadi

Dadi who talks to AI for everything

Recap

Shahzeb doesn’t want to work on family darzi business Turpai. Meeral doesn’t want to marry her brand-concious rich fiance. The two families don’t want to spend a ton of money on branded shadi ke jodey, so they both hire Turpai. It gives Shahzeb and Meeral a chance to meet each other a few times and get to know each other.

Review

Some jokes are too good, like water-comes-out-of-nostril funny.

Things I liked

• Yasir’s comic timing and some jokes, like Shahzeb to his side-kick.
  • “Tum ne Anda Aloo khaya hai? Kabhi haath bhi dho liye kar, ghaleez aadmi.”
  • “Dadi ne sunehre huroof mein farmaya hai…”
• the pun on “Kanta Laga” -> “Tanka Laga”. And the memories it brought back… Oh, the memoeries. Those who are old enough know what a craze the remix version of “Kanta Laga” was for every wedding function/baraat
• Another pun on “Gucci” -> Shahzeb wants to transform Turpai to a brand “Tucci”. Hehe, sometimes, I just love puns.
• Khaleefa Sajeeruddin talking in English. He usually plays ghareeb abba but in this one, he was quite the opposite and it was so refreshing to see that.
• The inclusion of “jamaat”. Shahzeb’s father is going for a 40-day jamaat. Jamaat is such an integral part of muslim community, especially middle class. We don’t show it often ever in dramas.

There were things I didn’t care for much.

• Amar Khan: Never care for her, always annoys me. And her characters was also very annoying, wannabe-simpleton.
• Shahzeb’s sudden interest in taking care of Turpai
• Lack of romantic foundation: Shahzeb didn’t give too hoots about Meeral when they met the first time, and then suddenly over tea, he tells his friend, “I like Meeral.” That’s a problem with short format, but they could have done better.
• Meeral’s bridal dress… it was supposed to be a testament to what a simple darzi shop can produce. It looks alright when we see it the first time, just the dress, but when Amar wore it, it looked like something else entirely. Ill fitted, boring, NOT GOOD.

The romance was bleh, so bleh. It had no foundation, no growth, just conclusion, but hey, it was not about romance in the first place. It was about comedy and comedy was there, in abundance.

And Yasir Hussain’s comic timing is what made me watch Missing Darling. Regular visitors of this blog know what an amazing find it has been.

Until next review, remember in prayers.

Shabana Mukhtar