Tag: drama review

  • Is ‘Alif’ trending for the right reasons?

    Is ‘Alif’ trending for the right reasons?

    Every Saturday night, the hashtag Alif – a nod to Hamza Ali Abbasi and Sajal Aly’s drama – begins to trend on Twitter, intriguing everyone. But that probably has more to do with Hamza Ali Abbasi’s star power on Twitter because if you look at the views and compare them to the views of rival drama, Meray Paas Tum Ho, you get a completely different picture.

    While Alif in its essence is thought-provoking, layered and intense, the pace of the drama is killing interest and ultimately making it tiresome to watch.

    Read More: Meray Pass Tum Ho EP 13: Predictable or more to it?

    The sixth episode shows Momin get rid of his ladylove Neha, played by Sadaf Kanwal after she continuously pushes him to cast her ‘friend’ in his next film. The breakup isn’t very pleasant and the two vow to get their revenge from each other. While I do commend Sadaf for doing an above-average job as far as her acting is concerned, her performance doesn’t match that of Hamza, who is giving this character all of him. Sadaf’s dialogue delivery is monotonous and sounds as if uss nay ratta maara hai – it is completely devoid of emotion.

    Other than that, we are given another flashback to Momin’s childhood, when someone mentions Husn-e-Jahaan. To be very frank, I’m sick of watching these flashbacks because all Kubra does in them is cry, while the child Momin is borderline annoying.

    On the other hand, Momina (Sajal Aly) is struggling with the death of her brother Jahangir. The entire family is broken after his death and the emotions shown by the actors are brilliantly raw and invoke sympathy in you.

    While the rest of the episode was slow, it picked up in the last ten minutes with the interactions between Momin and Neha and Momina and her master (Saifee Hassan).

    Oh and one thing: a message for the producers/director – that cut jump in one of the scenes was abrupt and highlighted lazy production. Not cool guys, we expect better.

    Read More: ‘Alif’ is slow-paced but intense

    The teaser for the next episode is catchy with the return of a previous character and Momin heading to Turkey to visit his grandfather.

    Everyone on Twitter keeps praising Alif for its “great acting, storyline and powerful dialogues.” I do agree with the great acting and [somewhat] powerful dialogues bit, but I’m still waiting for a proper storyline to develop and become more engaging. Six episodes should be more than enough to get the ball rolling. No?

  • ‘Alif’ is slow-paced but intense

    ‘Alif’ is slow-paced but intense

    Hamza Ali Abbasi and Sajal Aly’s Alif hit screens early October amid a lot of hype and fanfare. This is their first pairing and fans were naturally excited to see two acting powerhouses come together. Not only that, the speculation that this might be Hamza’s last venture also added to the drama’s attraction.

    So far five episodes of Alif have aired and though the drama’s plotline is engrossing and interesting, it’s slow pace distracts you from it.

    Alif follows the life of two individuals Momin and Momina – oh the irony. The two belong to completely different worlds: Momin is a hotshot director who objectifies women and promotes vulgarity to sell his films, while Momina is a struggling actor, who is only in the profession to raise money for her sick brother. Their paths cross when Momina auditions for one of the Momin’s films and given their dissenting views, they clash.

    Till now, the drama largely focuses on Momin and his relationship with his grandfather with constant flashbacks to his childhood and Momina and her financial struggles.

    While the plotline and synopsis of the drama is captivating, the slow-pace makes your attention waiver. It is not gripping enough as yet but considering only five episodes have aired so far, we’re willing to let this go for now. The dialogues are also powerful.

    Both Hamza and Sajal have put up remarkable performances. Sajal as the struggling Momina is great – her expressions and the way she portrays the depth of her character is superb. Sadaf as Hamza’s love interest is also charming. We haven’t seen much of Kubra Khan but she does fit into the character of Husn-e-Jahan smoothly. The supporting cast is also commendable.

    Alif has been penned by Umera Ahmed and directed by Haseeb Hassan of Parwaaz Hai Junoon fame.

    The drama does appear to be promising watch given the teasers and cast but I do hope the pace doesn’t make it mundane and tiresome to watch.

  • Minal Khan’s ‘Qismat’ is a mindless entertainer

    Minal Khan’s ‘Qismat’ is a mindless entertainer

    Let’s be honest. No matter what we say, us Pakistanis love a little drama – whether in real life or in our dramas. Which is why Minal Khan’s latest drama Qismat, which airs on Hum Tv on Saturdays provides the perfect weekly dose of drama. It has all the masala and ingredients needed for an OTT dramatic experience and is without a doubt one of my weekend guilty pleasures.

    While the storyline and plot are predictable and irks you at some points, Qismat is like that mindless entertainment you need at the end of a long working week.

    Maham & Soha

    Qismat revolves around two cousins – Maham (Sharmeen Ali) and Soha (Minal Khan). Soha’s parents have passed away so she has been adopted by her Khala, Maham’s mom. The drama starts with Maham getting married into a rich family. Meanwhile, Soha is in love with her colleague Walid and the two of them want to get married except Walid’s mother and sister oppose the rishta.

    Rayyan and Soha

    Maham’s husband Adnan’s (played by Kamran Jilani) brother Rayyan (Faizan Khawaja) sees Soha when he comes from Australia for the wedding and falls in love with her. The two get married on Maham’s wedding with everyone’s blessings. Everyone is happy with this except Soha who still wants to get married to Walid. So she goes and tells Rayyan that she loves someone else and doesn’t want to marry him. This breaks Rayyan’s heart and after much contemplation, he finally tells his brother the truth and sends Soha the divorce papers. Adnan is very angry with this development and in turn, becomes cold towards his wife. In the midst of all this, Maham gets pregnant, which means that her marriage is no longer in trouble. Soon both families find out about what is happening following which drama ensues.

    I am loving the masala and twists because one: they are not entirely unbelievable and secondly because there are not too many. Qismat may be a mindless watch and its plot may have been done to death, but it is entertaining and keeps you interested. I have to add here that the pace of the drama is a little slow and there are a few scenes that could have been easily eliminated and made the drama crisper.

    The only annoying part of the drama is Walid and his sadistic family – his sister boils my blood.

    As far as the performances are concerned, all of the actors have done a good job. Minal has perfected the role of a crying heroine and this is exactly what she does in this drama as well.

    So far, seven episodes of the series have aired and each of them has received more than a million hits which means that I’m not the only one enjoying this. If you do plan on watching it, keep your sense and sensibility aside and watch the drama for some entertainment and masala.