Dulhan takes things to another level with 5 episodes seeming like 15!
OMAIR ALAVI UPDATED 29 OCT, 2020 02:16PM
In a drama industry where everything happens late, Dulhan is here to change the equation. So far, five episodes of the HUM TV drama have been aired but it seems that the audience has gone through at least fifteen. Kudos to the drama writer Adeel Razzaq and director Adeel Siddiqui for keeping the drama in the fast gear so that the audience stays connected, the characters look fresh and the story doesn’t go stale at any point.
The Plot
After he ditched Amal (Sumbul Iqbal) on their wedding night for his cousin Shahmeer’s car, Mikaal (Sami Khan) realizes that his fiancée Annie (Mashal Khan) is a control freak. His life turns upside down when his mother (Shaheen Khan) informs him that after his father’s death, she handed their business and their shares to her brother (Sheheryar Zaidi) so that he can run it until Mikaal was able to take over. Yes, the same guy who is Shahmeer’s father, and Mikaal’s to-be-father-in-law, who runs the business that lets the two homes operate smoothly.
The shattered Amal, on the other hand, accidentally meets Shahmeer (Faizan Khawaja) in her college where he continues to stalk her in his haunting ways, making her life so miserable that she contemplates suicide. Her stepmother (Nida Mumtaz) overhears her conversation with her friend (Sonia Nazir) in which she proposes the idea and decides to play the good mother because without Amal they will not have a source of income. The episode ends with Amal’s close encounter with Mikaal which she missed ‘by that much’, to keep the suspense alive.
The Good
Out of all the actors in the play, Sami Khan stands out because of the way he is conducting himself as Mikaal. He usually plays either mature roles or bad guys we all love to hate, but not a person who is rich, carefree, and expresses himself fully, even when it’s not needed. His expressions on finding out his place in the hierarchy of his uncle’s business, as well as the reason why his mother wants him to marry her niece were priceless. Faizan Khawaja comes second with his aloof expressions and his hunting personality be it in reality or in Amal’s nightmare. It would be worth mentioning here that it was Faizan Khawaja’s father Rashid Khawaja who introduced Sami Khan in films, and the reason these two share a near-perfect chemistry must have something to do with their actual friendship.
And then there are the girls; while Sumbul Iqbal carries the same shattered expression in every scene, Nida Mumtaz steals the show as the mother who wants the best for herself and her kids, even if it means scolding or pampering her stepdaughter, the house’s only source of income. One minute she is being super mean to Amal and the other she is super sweet making the audience suspicious of her motives. Mashal Khan as the dominating Ainee has been a revelation because she uses her persona to display the controlling effect, even if she doesn’t mean to be autocratic. However, Sonia Nazir as Amal’s friend impresses in the fifth episode as her guide, her friend, and even as her protector, especially in the scene where she confronts Shahmeer without realizing who he was. The writer and the director must be congratulated for inserting youthful, rich, and suspenseful elements in the screenplay, where actions speak louder than words. And thank God, the commode wasn’t shown on screen when Amal was hiding in the restroom from Shahmeer!
The Bad
If getting married was as easy as Mikaal’s marriage to Amal, then one must wonder why there are so many bachelors roaming around. At first, the courtship period seemed real but when you come to think of it after five episodes, the questions asked by the father was as shallow as they were in an earlier MD Production Yeh Dil Mera. The night guards in building complexes ask more questions when a person tries to enter the premises, and here the loving and caring fathers were handing over their beloved daughters to good-looking guys without suspecting their suspicious intentions.
Also, you can’t forget the blank acting of Amal’s youngest (step) siblings and Mikaal’s lady friend in the restaurant who seemed to have been picked randomly for their availability instead of their talent. Why was Mikaal even meeting a female friend and his fiancée at the same place, remains a million-dollar question, especially when he knew she doesn’t like him flirting with others. Finally, something about the scene where Amal nearly meets Mikaal on the road; it could have been filmed in a better manner and came across as bland. It was going well till Amal’s point of view was shown on the screen, afterwards, it was done as if the light was going away and the production team had no backup light to support them.
The Verdict – Thrillers like Dulhan should replace boring Saas-Bahu sagas
When you give a free hand to new blood, drama serials like Dulhan are created; it’s about time that people who are closer to international TV shows are given a chance to produce plays than those writers who think they are closer to reality. Reality sells but in limited quantity, not in bulk like our TV channels and production houses believe. Sometimes we need a dose of unexpected stories so that we can give our little grey cells a wander in a different direction. With Dulhan you can imagine anything, and be happy if at least once or twice what you are wondering happens in the drama. So far, everything that has taken place has been unexpected, shocking, and out of the blue, and that’s exactly what the doctor ordered.
