In a recent interview with Something Haute actor Affan Waheed revealed that he refused a character in a Hollywood project which could have landed him a role opposite Nicole Kidman.
Affan shared he could not accept the role because he had commitments with his project MASTANI, and the role demanded a lot of effort and time which he could not commit to adding that his family and friends were disappointed due to his decision.
The actor further revealed that he had received an offer on Facebook by Rajkumar Hirani but he had gotten to know about it after 2-3 years.
On the work front the Galati actor can be currently seen in ARY’s Shadi MubarakHo.
When ARY’s drama‘Ghalti’ started, it seemed like a huge mistake. Typical saas bahu, beychari bahu and crazy saas. Husband is a complete disaster, giving talaaq after talaaq, which is so typical of Pakistani dramas.
But after this week’s episode, we are happy to issue an apology and say, WOW, what happened? It’s turning out to be one of the best running dramas on ARY.
Hina Mani delivers a stellar performance
That being said, it’s not like it has much competition. The drama ‘Jhooti ‘ is probably Iqra Aziz’s biggest mistake and the high that Ayeza Khan got from ‘Meray Paas Tum Ho’ crashes in ‘Thora Sa Haq’.
In this week’s episode, three massive twists made ‘Ghalti’ a fantastic watch. Zaira (Hira Mani) is married to her cousin Saad (Affan Waheed) and Saad’s mother Zaitoon (Saba Hamid) has it out for them. She tries her best to destroy their marriage and finally succeeds.
The best part about this latest episode was Zaira. Hira Mani delivers a stellar performance, one in which you shockingly and immediately feel her pain. She acts perfectly. So perfect that you immediately are drawn to her. There is no overacting when her husband delivers the final blow and when she tells her mother. This is so realistic that you can imagine it happening in real life. And that is where the drama takes a turn.
You can only be team Zaira then.
At such important moments in this episode Hira Mani hits constant sixers.
You feel her pain and she so elegantly takes on what what Zaitoon has handed her and the drama no longer becomes about divorce but actually becomes about a woman’s strength.
Zaitoon is also not to be messed with and Saba Hamid does her total justice. She is perfect in her narcissism and her selfishness and Saba’s every expression reflects what Zaitoon is.
Saba Hamid is full of expression and elegance, making a stellar villain
The voice of reason is Shanzay (Mehr Bano). She is a strong, independent, working woman married to Saad’s brother. When her character was first introduced, you wondered: Ugh, here is another drama demonising the working woman. But wait. It didn’t.
What’s going on? How is this drama getting so good?
Shanzay tells off Zaitoon, Saad, the sisters, so well that you feel like clapping and feeling like wow, how is this possible that her husband is taking HER side? This isn’t typical at all. And it’s done so normally, matter of factly, simply. No dramatic angles, dialogues, music.
Mehr Bano delivers a performance that rivals that of Saba Hamid
The teaser for the next episode promises to be even better, filled with confrontation and dare we hope, a not dragged out end. We have our theories on what might happen but it isnt the time to speculate just yet. It’s almost the beginning of the week and we are already waiting for the next episode.
So we take it back and apologise because this is one drama we wait for every Thursday and hope you guys have the time to catch up. This is the one to wait drama to look forward to during the lockdown.
Ghalti will make you cringe and even feel a little angry. Typical, typical, typical Pakistani drama re-enforcing the stereotypes we are trying to change in our society push through in the first five episodes of ARY Digital’s Ghalti.
The drama is full of the more than typical saas-bahu drama, the word talaaq thrown in for good affect and the jealous nunday, Ghalti left nothing behind. All that’s left now is someone planning kaala jadu and all the ills of our society will be complete. What’s more shocking is that someone as brilliant an actress as Saba Hamid is acting and directing this incredibly regressive drama. Even if the moral of the story is for the good, the fact that the drama indulges in such barbaric stereotypes is disturbing in itself.
Brilliantly regressive acting by the incredibly progressive Saba Hamid
The story revolves around Zaira (Hira Mani), a happy, single daughter belonging to a wealthy family and nikkahed to her cousin Saad (Affan Waheed). Saad’s family, including his widowed mother Zaitoon (Saba Hamid) and sisters live in a house provided by Zaira’s father. Zaira’s father faces some financial issues and asks Zaitoon to vacate the house that belongs to him so he can pay off his debts. Zaitoon is enraged that she now has to return to her small little house (which is not in Defence) and plots revenge. Revenge plotting includes trying to break off Zaira’s marriage to her son, accepting the marriage and hoping that once Zaira is ruksatied her father will give them another house and when that doesn’t happen, plotting and scheming to make Zaira’s life miserable.
This is how Hira Mani looks in almost every scene of the drama
Only someone who has as blank an expression as Hira Mani could play the helpless, sad, little Zaira. So helpless that the viewer doesn’t get angry at Zaitoon for treating her daughter-in-law like trash, but more at this Zaira; an educated girl who should be able to stand up for herself but oh ho, her love for her incredibly mediocre husband Saad drives her to cook, clean, be treated like trash by her in laws because she must live with what’s been handed to her and suffer because she loves her husband.
Cleaning when her cool mother walks in to find her daughter suffering and blubbering
Woh bhi choro, Saad’s big ghalti is that he divorces Zaira once in a fit of anger and it’s like the worst thing that could happen, right? Wrong. Zaira is perfectly fine with Saad once he gets her imported flowers and they get on with their happy lives.
Listen up ladies, if you get divorced, Ghalti says these flowers and a card should make it all okay
People need to be educated that this concept of uttering talaaq once and the process that has to be followed by law is completely different than what is shown in our dramas. Talaaq at three different times, with proper methods to reconcile, are done to protect the woman and the couple and the way they are thrown around in our dramas, especially this one, is irresponsible and criminal.
Hira Mani looking the same at the moment she is divorced
What’s worse is the way the word talaaq is treated like a joke and reason to gossip. The defence of this drama would be that aisa tou hota hai and women can relate to their lives being as terrible as Zaira’s but really? Is that what we want people to watch and feel? That this happens to everyone, so it’s perfectly fine if it’s happening to them? Why do we constantly push this terrible narrative of saas bahu dramasto gain ratings?
Because it gets ratings. The five episodes on YouTube have more than a million views each so we can keep expecting that such dramas will be created and actors like Hira Mani and Affan Waheed and director Saba Hamid will keep doing such roles.
