Ek Villain

Directed by: Mohit Suri

Starring: Siddhart Malhotra, Shraddha Kapoor, Riteish Deshmukh

Released: 2014

My rating: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - good – great – amazing

Unlike others I was not smitten with Mohit Suri´s “Aashiqui 2”, mostly because the lead characters were dumbasses. And while the level of dumbassness is not reached, Ek Villain still makes you raise your eyebrows quite a few times. (Unofficial) remake of a Korean movie I Saw the Devil (which Mohit Suri with a “How to Bollywood” handbook in hand switfly denied), that has received much praise from all sides, either did not stay true to the original, or the original itself needed an improvement on logic. Still, there was something about the story, which in spite of all, made it work.

The premise is rather simple: once upon a time a cold-blooded murderer himself, Guru fell in love and married the spunky Aisha and they were happy. But then Aisha is brutally murdered and Guru sets his mind on revenge. But who is the killer? Why did he do it? Was it a contract, a vengeance from the past? Or was Aisha simply on the wrong place in the wrong time that day? There is no mystery at all to the film, which took me by surprise as I had expected lots of twists and turns, while in fact everything is neatly lined up from the very beginning. The responsibility of a task to engage the viewer thus lies with the storytelling, which is done by numerous use of flashbacks. The screentime is quite evenly distributed among “then” and “now”, but it is never difficult to understand in which time period we are at a given moment.

The problematic bits of the film are the ones that make little to no sense. For example why in the world would a girl want to hire a man she knows nothing about (and who makes quite clear he is a ruthless killer) for one of her funny plots (why does she need to hire anyone for that matter since there seems to be no job actually)? Why does the police not arrest a man who they know is a murderer, and instead let him kill innocent women (WTF)? Why is not the police officer who risks the lives of civilians to pursue a stupid personal agenda still employed? What in the world is Aisha´s illness and how the heck does she get completely healthy after the doctors have given up on her?I could go on and on.

The reason why I liked the film in spite of all the stuff mentioned right above, is because it manages to set the mood well. Unlike most of Bollywood horrors, Ek Villain has considerable unsettling quotient, perhaps because the murderer kills with terrifying ease and clarity. The explanation for his behaviour is simple and effective. Riteish Deshmukh shines in this role like never before. His usually twinkling eyes and dorky cuteness made way to a dead gaze and expression which strangely mixes frustration and inner turmoil, even pain at times. The film belongs to him.

Siddhart Malhotra is presented in an image quite different from his previous two films, and much like in Hasee Toh Phasee he shows much promise. Sure, his face is so impossibly beautiful that it never bruises even after serious blows to it, neither it manages to be completely in agreement with his voice and situation, but the potential is slowly conquering the walls of inexperience. His character of Guru is not properly developed – a glimpse into his childhood may have been enough, but more of his criminal past should have been shown, the danger he represents more enhanced. After all, this is advertised as “a love story of a villain”, but Guru remains a conventional hero who had been wronged so let´s forgive him every crime he had commited. 

Shraddha Kapoor, a girl who is also as beautiful as a summer dream, got on my nerves for good 40 minutes. Why does Bollywood believe that a spunky, free thinking girl always needs to do silly things, talk loud and jump like a monkey all around? As the film progresses Aisha becomes bearable (and she is definitely better than what Shraddha did last year in Aashiqui 2). She is the weakest performance in the movie – even surpassed by Kamaal R. Khan in his (thank God) small role. Then again he plays a complete asshole so I guess he just slipped into his own routine.

Just long enough, moving in parts, silly in others, still more thrilling than majority of Bollywood thrillers, Ek Villain may be a less worthy (and less violent, which is actually a plus) copy of a Korean film, but among the 2014 films it stands reasonably strong.

Mehram Episode 6: Unexpected Twist!

On the night that episode 7 is airing, yes, I'm writing about episode 6.  Haha.  As always, delayed, but inspired.

Up until now, I've been rather on the fence about Mehram.  While shot beautifully and under the care of a director who generally churns out beautiful love stories, Siraj Ul Haq always manages to miscast, ruining those stories.  Haha.  Up until episode 5, Mehram didn't rank very high on my list of favorite dramas........

And then episode 6 happened.

In episode 6, we learn that Zubair's plane met with a severe accident.  The treatment of this scene deserves recognition - it's because of the way it's been shot that we are catapulted into Iqra, Hamzah and Hamah's mother's grief.  Instantly after hearing the news, Hamzah's mother falls into a coma due to the shock.  This leaves our childish Hamzah left to not only deal with the grief of his mother's illness and brother's death, but also to care for his now-silent-from-shock Bhabi.  After briefly opening her eyes to see Hamzah, we see Hamzah's mother pass away, turning Hamzah's world upside down, but also leaving Iqra and Hamzah left to care for each other - hence bringing up the issue of "mehram, na mehram."

While the anti-Moammar Rana viewer in me rejoiced at this turn of events, the drama lover and wife in me mourned deeply at this twist. Sudden loss is painful, because it's completely unexpected and watching this episode, it was hard not to put myself in Iqra's place and not feel her grief.  Ayesha Khan's portrayal of Iqra left me speechless in this episode, conveying Iqra's pain through her eyes.  I haven't been impressed with Ayesha's performances as of late, but this lady deserves a round of applause here.

On the other end, no grief was felt more than Hamzah's. The loss of his brother, mother and the silence of his Bhabi all at once was almost unbearable to watch.  Zahid Hamid, despite being a newcomer, has definitely won over my heart with this episode.  I have appreciated his cute acting since episode 1, but he's exceeded all expectations with his performance here.  His pain was what stood out most in this episode, literally putting it into the category of "No one should have to experience this much trauma at once."

With this episode, we lost two major characters:  Zubair (Moammar Rana) and Zubair & Hamzah's mother (Sajda Syed).  Despite Zubair missing in action for a couple of episodes, the loss of his presence is deeply felt and then his mother's passing only doubles that grief.

If there was ANY negative in this episode, I will be honest and say that the character of Maulvi Sahab.  If a character like Maulvi SubhanAllah (Pyaray Afzal) challenged and changed the stereotypes, the character of Maulvi Sahab here in Mehram again comes back to the stereotypical, mildly heartless portrayal of religious figures.  Not only is Maulvi Sahab incredibly restrictive and hard on his daughter, Iqra, he also seems heartless in this episode.  While Hamzah and Iqra are still dealing with their grief, he brings up the discussion of Iqra's "iddat" and their living situation.  It all had a feeling of "TOO SOON"!

That aside, I'm now intrigued and very curious to see how this story moves forward.  Kudos to Siraj Ul Haq for such a brilliant episode and credit to all the actors involved for making me cry like I haven't in a while.  Haha.

Happy watching!

A Rant on Bashar Momin - An Overly Glamorous Attrocity

Sick.

That's the only way to describe this drama and the poor writing behind a genuinely evil, twisted character.

Rudaba has decided to commit to her marriage.  Seriously?  We see her smiling to herself after sharing 1-2 nice conversations with Bashar.  Um, what?

The audience here is being taken for a fool - and given, some of the members of this audience are fools, because they are buying into it.  I am no fool.  I won't forget the cruel way Bashar separated Buland and Rudaba for Tayyaba's gain.  I won't forget how rude and verbally abusive Bashar was to Rudaba.  I won't forget how he forcibly had his nikkah done with Rudaba.   I won't forget that Bashar laughed to himself at Rudaba's helplessness, waiting for him to take her home and saying he would divorce her.  I won't forget that Bashar raped Rudaba the night of their Rukhsati and then threw her out of the room.  And we definitely will not forget all the pushing, shoving, throat grabbing and all sorts of other abusive behavior Bashar has shown Rudaba post marriage.

And I'm sorry - but anyone who finds anything about this "love story" endearing is clearly forgetting all this......OR thinks something about all this horrific mess is romantic.

I've seen Bashar Momin being compared to Beauty and The Beast.  This is not the story of beauty and the beast.  The beast roared.  The beast was stuck in his own misery.  BUT the Beast was never vicious.  The beast didn't have any HORRIBLE qualities.  He never physically hurt Belle.  Rather, he became a good human being because of her and discovered true love.  Let's not INSULT that beautiful story by comparing it to Bashar Momin.

I'm rather disgusted with the writers of this show, now trying to show Bashar becoming "soft."  However, after Bashar spills his guts to Rudaba about his past, his sister, mother and father......he then GRABS Rudaba by the THROAT and THREATENS her if Buland ever so much as looks her way.  UM......how.....romantic?  Well yes, only if "romantic" is a replacement word for "psychopath."

Friends, let's not glamorize abuse and mental illness.  That's what's being shown here.  And in the form of Rudaba, we're now seeing a smart, confident, sweet girl turning into the victim of a sick, abusive relationship....and she's clearly HAPPY about it.

This scenario is messed up on so many levels. But do you know what's the worst part?  I am POSITIVE the writing and production team actually think they're presenting a beautiful love story.  There's nothing beautiful about this.  This is just another way for our society to fill the minds of girls with crap and teach them that this is appropriate behavior.  Why?  Because Bashar has been through SO much.  AWWWWW.  Rudaba will get through his hard heart and soften him up.  SPARE US ALL.

Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge

Directed by: David Dhawan

Starring: Salman Khan, Karishma Kapoor, Paresh Rawal, Om Puri, Anupam Kher

Released: 2000

My rating: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - good – great – amazing

Often my readers accuse me of not being able to appreciate films which are meant to be „just fun“, films that are purposefully mindless, silly and unrealistic. They say I cannot enjoy anything that is not meaningful. And so I sat down and tried to think of a movie that was all that and I would have liked it. I did not have to think for long. A line up of such films exists and Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge (which at first confused me because the title was just too similar to Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge) is one of them. Coming out of David Dhawan´s workshop, it ranks among his better efforts, before he went into a long and fruitless period before being somehow revived by his (so far) latest outing of Main Tera Hero.

It is a story of Sapna (Karishma Kapoor), white-clad, long-haired, blue-eyed virginal niece of three rather eccentric uncles, who all make her their personal crusade by forcingly trying to shape her according to their own lifestyle. Thus the strong, wrestling sportsman tortures her with rigorous exercise, pious devotee insists on her spiritual development and the forever young disco lover just wants her to be a modern vixen. Naturally the poor girl wants nothing but to be herself, and so one day she secretly joins a group of tourists traveling to Switzerland. Among the travelers is also Raja (Salman Khan), already determined to make Sapna the Queen of his heart. But conquering her is the least of his troubles, since ultimately he will have to impress the uncles. All of them.

Judging by the wardrobe neither were sure of what the climate of Switzerland actually was like.

Now, you really cannot look for „meaning“ and „depth“ in this one, can you? But you can enjoy it immensely and I did. Perhaps because even the over the top performances seemed earnest, perhaps because it was cute and fluffy and funny without need to use profanities or lewd sex jokes. Maybe it was Johnny Lever dancing. Maybe I was simply in the right mood. Dulhan Hum Le Jayenge serves you comedy laced with youthful enthusiasm of the main leads and great combination of great supporting actors, and there are some hilariously choreographed (but back then highly cool) catchy songs (complete with puzzled foreign onlookers). Not all films that may claim to have the same hold my love, and I suppose many times I just go by instinct (and my, am I picky!). Some films just do not feel nice. This one does.

Unlike the horrendous Biwi No. 1, this film provides greatly for all Salman-Karishma shippers, among whom I count myself. They are one of the grossly underrated jodis. Neither of them is a stupendous actor, but they bring out the crazy best out of each other. They seem very well suited and there is cheekiness to them both which beautifully underlines their chemistry.

As usual my feminist side was not entirely happy with the movie, since there is lots and lots of men deciding for the girl in this film. Even the happy ending is ensured only thanks to Sapna´s grandfather. At few points it actually gets regressive (talking here about two scenes especially: when Sapna is immediately sexually attacked while thumbing a lift, and when Raja hits her when she is dancing with two horny men. Given both things were stupid of her, the whole thing played it on stereotype that INDIAN girls do not behave „like that“). Well, at least nobody makes a big deal out of Sapna´s change of image from baggy clothes and pigtails to sexy mini-skirts and fashionable hairdo.

So there you have it. That „pure fun“ film I like. Go and watch it. It might just be the right thing to brighten your afternoon.

Review: Happy New Year

Cast: Shah Rukh Khan (Chandramohan Sharma aka Charlie), Deepika Padukone (Mohini Joshi), Abhishek Bachchan (Nandu Bhide and Vicky Grover), Boman Irani (Temhton Irani aka Tammy), Sonu Sood (Jagmohan Prakash aka Jag), Vivaan Shah (Rohan), Jackie Shroff (Charan Grover). Emotional Appearance: Anupam Kher (Manohar Sharma, Charlie’s father). Special Appearances: Dino Morea (host of World Dance Competition), Prabhu Deva (Dance Instructor), Sarah-Jane Dias (Laila), Malaika Arora Khan (an actress), Anurag Kahsyap (himself- Judge), Visha Dadlani (Himself, judge), Sajid Khan (Director), Geeta Kapoor (Judge of World Dance Competition)

Genre: Action, Comedy-Drama

Direction: Farah Khan

Production: Gauri Khan, Red Chillies Entertainment

Written By: Farah Khan, Althea Kaushal, Mayur Puri (Dialogues)

Cinematographer: Manush Nandan

Editor: Anand Subaya

Music: Vishal Shekhar, Background Score – John Stewart Sduri

Distributed by: Yash Raj Films

Release Date: 24^th October, 2014

Language: Hindi

Duration: 2 hours 59 minutes

Happy New Year, a typical Farah Khan film with her lucky mascot Shah Rukh Khan. Although the movie has nothing new to offer, not to be seen with logics in place, very very predictable plot, and a few SRK dialogues rewritten, still, you may like to watch the movie for its light-heartedness.

The stage is set for the World Dance Championship at Dubai and the movie begins with the narration of Shahrukh Khan: there are only two types of people in the world- Winners and Losers. And he takes us through the flash back about the story of six losers coming together for a mission.

Charlie (Shahrukh Khan), Boston University topper, wants to take revenge with diamond merchant Charan Grover (Jackie Shroff) for betraying his father Manohar (Anupam Kher), implicating him, spoiling his business and framing him in a fake robbery. Charlie had been following Charan for the last eight years to keep a close watch on his every step. And then comes an opportunity to avenge Charan when he announced to the world in regard to 9 precious diamonds being brought and kept at his world famous locker – Shalimar Vault (which was originally made by Manohar). And the same day at the same venue, World Dance Competition’s opening ceremony was also there. Charlie plans to skillfully set up a heist plot against the international dance competition scenario.

Charlie gets his team ready for the mission of stealing these diamonds with Jagmohan Prakash aka Jag, an ex-army bomb squad expert (Sonu Sood), Temhton Irani aka Tammy, a 50-year stud and an expert to open any coded lock  (Boman Irani), a hacker Rohan (Vivaan Shah), Nandu Bhide (Abhishek Bachchan) and Mohini Joshi, a bar dancer (Deepika Padukone). Everybody had a reason to be part of Charlie’s mission. Rest of the story is all about how this team of six losers plan the whole mission. How do they execute the whole plan? Are they able to fetch victory in their mission? How do they breach the security?

Yes, indeed the movie is funny in parts. Certain dialogues from SRK’s movies (DDLJ, Chak De, Devadas, Don, Main Hoon Na etc.) are rewritten. Boman has done complete justice to his stud act. Sonu, SRK have lavishly flaunted their six/eight pack abs. Abhishek is good as Nandu Bhide though his vomit is unbearable. Deepika is definitely ravishing with her athlete figure. Vivaan Shah is promising.

Movie in the second half drags. Three-hour long movie seemed to be pretty long. Emotions / pain don’t generate any empathy, don’t touch the hearts. Humour at places goes overboard. Farah has tried to evoke sense of patriotism through ‘India Wale…’ number and a shayari by SRK towards the end of the movie which conveyed that let India be a country of scams / poor people, still everybody’s heart has ‘Tiranga’; but it does not seem to fit completely. Music by Vishal-Shekhar does not do great wonders except ‘Manwa Laage…’.

The best scene in the movie: AbRam Khan’s debut at the credit segment with SRK.

Watch the movie for just the starry element in it (minus logic).

Rating: 2.75 /5

Bobby Jasoos

Directed by: Samar Shaikh

Starring: Vidya Balan, Ali Faizal, Supriya Pathak, Kiran Kumar

Released: 2014

My rating: destroy every copy – horrible – bad – whatever – flawed but enjoyable - good – great – amazing

I had the best will to love Bobby Jasoos. After all, it was meant to be about one girl´s ambition. A funny, light-hearted venture starring the wonderful Vidya Balan, it was all wrapped in bright colours and promised to supply me with some sweet (and very much needed) entertainment. However even with me feeling very gracious, love never really happened. There is still lots to like about the picture.

Bilkis, called Bobby, is truly set on her dream of becoming a successful private detective, and nothing, not rejection from a detective company, not stern disapproval of her father, can discourage her. And when an opportunity comes her way, she grasps it. With enthusiasm. So much enthusiasm she actually shows why the detective company has rejected her – Bobby has no inkling about what to be a detective is about. She is supposed to find a young girl for an old man. And she does not even stop to ask him why. Naturally this comes to bite her later, which, however, I had anticipated from the very beginning. Bobby does learn her lesson, but since we are supposed to really root for her and unlike the rest of the world appreciate her intelligence and talent, the damage is done and there are dents in the character which actually made me agree with those who keep telling her she needs to learn first before plunging into something. It was really this shortcoming of the main character, combined with a very simplistic “investigation” without twists, that lessened the enjoyment for me,

Other than that Bobby Jasoos is a pleasant enough experience. It has vibrance of colours but does not go overboard with it, and the setting and the characters exclude charming warmth which at no point runs out. It is not funny enough to be a full blown comedy, but remain light-hearted from start to end. The film only has one purpose – to please. And it does just that. All the actors do a commendable job, and Vidya Balan in naturally their Queen. She, for much part, carries the story on her shoulders and proves yet again she is simply mega-talented. Not to mention super gorgeous. All her "covers" are done to perfection and if I did not know, I wouldn´t have recognized her in most of them (I decided to to question how is Bobby doing all that make up and so, because such a question is pointless in this movie). After disappointing borefest of Ghanchakkar and half-baked Shaadi Ke Side Effects, Bobby Jasoos gives Vidya her rightful screen space. I suppose that after Ishqiya and Kahaani the expectations of her movies have rocketed sky high and it is difficult to match them. In comparison this film pales nearly to insignificance, still it is a huge improvement from the last two Vidya´s outings.

Ali Faizal was a pleasant revelation for me. Handsome and with a spark, he matches Vidya and completes her performance with his comic timing. I certainly would not mind seeing lot more of him in years to come. The bit of the necessary Bollywood glitz is added to the product thanks to several songs, which are aptly used and display cute chemistry the two leads share.

Bobby Jasoos is worth a watch, and if you are in the right mood, you are bound to enjoy it with all its shortcomings. Try, if possible, to forget all you´ve seen from Vidya before, and few things can stop you from having a good time.

Sadqay Tumhare and Digest Writer: Episodes 1 & 2 Thoughts

First of all, I want to apologize for the period I've gone without writing, which has been nearly 3 weeks.  Eid mubarak to everyone and hope everyone had a great Eid with their families.  I flew down to my parents house to spend Eid with my family (3 week vacation) and have been busy with them since, hence my absence.  But now that things have quieted down, let's get back to discussing dramas!  =)

While "Digest Writer" didn't bring forth as many expectations, as Saba Qamar's dramas of late have been slightly disappointing, "Sadqay Tumhare" held colossal expectations from my end.  So how did these two dramas fare entertainment wise?

Perfectly.

Digest Writer tells the story of Farida, alias Rashk-e-Hina, a girl who writes stories as a passion and her stories earn her recognition (albeit anonymously) once published in a digest.

To add to the story, we have one unsupportive, jealous sister (Maheen Rizvi), one supportive sister and brother and unsupportive parents.  Of course, we also can't forget Farida's admirer and cousin, played by Gohar Rasheed.

It's these supporting characters that add to the quality of the story.  At present, we've seen that Zhalay Sarhadi and Farhan Ali Agha's characters are that of a married couple in the drama industry who show an interest in signing Farida as the writer for their forthcoming drama.  What will Farida's parents say, namely her father?  Your guess is as good as mine, but my hunch is that the lure of money will entice Farida's father eventually!  

As of now, this show is definitely one that I wait for each week!

Moving on to Sadqay Tumhare:

Everything from the OST to the poster suggest a good, old-fashioned love story.  What you expect is what you get here - the love story seems to be set in the 70s and tells an incredibly cute tale of an engaged couple, Shano (Mahira Khan) and Khalil (Adnan), who have never actually met.  While Shano is blindly in love with her fiance without meeting him, Khalil is a little more hesitant in his thoughts towards Shano.  Not only that, but we also see that Khalil has a world of "nakhray," packaged with an attitude bigger than the entire village!

Mahira Khan and Adnan Malik share a world of chemistry despite not even sharing a single scene together yet!  Rather, it's the build-up, the writing and the treatment of this story that makes the audience want to see these two characters interact and move the story forward.  This show is not only written beautifully, the visuals transport you into Khalil and Shano's world.

What I sense for the future story, looking at Shano's mother's hesitation and demeanor, is that there's a secret between the two families - one that won't allow Shano's family to agree to the marriage.  What is confusing, however, is the enthusiasm with which Khalil's mother and father anticipate Khalil and Shano's impending marriage.

All will be revealed in due time, I'm sure!  Until then, let's enjoy the beauty and simplicity of this love story.  After a long time, I feel emotionally invested in two characters and their outcome.

Happy watching!

Review : Bang Bang

Bang Bang, another release alongside Haider. This film is absolutely for Hritik Roshan's fans. There is entertainment quotient in this movie for action-flick lovers.

Rajveer aka Jay (Hrithik Roshan) has stolen Kohinoor from UK and is being followed by bad men as well as government agencies. Rajveer lands up in Shimla, where he incidentally meets Harleen (Katrina Kaif) in a restaurant, who was there on a blind date through a website 'truelove.com'. Harleen who was having a monotonous but peaceful life along with her grandmother and working as Bank receptionist, life took a complete u-turn for her after meeting Rajveer. The complications for Harleen starts unfolding.

The whole movie revolves around Rajveer that how he protects Kohinoor and how he saves himself and Harleen also.  

There are shades of Ek Tha Tiger, Dhoom in certain scenes. 

As far as the performances are concerned, Hrithik has done very well. His dance sequences are very good as always. Katrina has done this before also - a sweet, pretty looking lady. Danny and Pavan Malhota are also good. Kanwaljeet and Deepti Nawal, although having very less screen time, are very good.

Watch Bang Bang for Hrithik and action sequences. A decent entertaining film.

Rating: 3/5

  

Review : Haider

Haider is one of the best release of this year. Vishal Bhardwaj's adaptation on Shakespeare's Hamlet has highlighted Kashmir issue. Everything about this film is simply great. First of all let me talk about script. Well crafted script and screenplay. The dialogues depicting the plight of Kashmiris is surely going to touch hearts. What a tragedy! Kashmir is torn between India and Pakistan. They have to show ID cards every now and then in their own homeland. Whoever is doubted to be a militant or suspected of having even a remote connection with a militant is arrested, tortured, kept in cells, killed in encounters etc. Survey says, many people are missing in Kashmir. 

Haider - Shahid Kapoor's best film, comes home from Aligarh on learning about his family house being burnt, father missing. He gets shocked and depressed to find his mother (Tabu) in a singing-dancing mood with his Khurram Chacha (Kay Kay Menon). Haider is not ready to believe that his father is dead. He along with his love interest (Shraddha Kapoor) starts searching for his father in every camp, jail, cells but efforts are all in vain. Then comes Rudaar (Irfaan Khan) as messenger of Haider's father. The message brought by him shakes Haider.

What happens thereafter? Is Haider's father dead or alive? Was there any romantic angle between Kay Kay Menon and Tabu in the movie? What path Haider choose in his life? 

It is sad to see the challenges faced by Kashmiris every moment. So much of uncertainties and  unpredictability to be faced by the people.  

The song 'Bismil Bismil' is great.

Shahid is excellent, deserves a National award. Vishal Bhardwaj is to applauded for handling such a sensitive issue in such a subtle and empathetic manner. Tabu- what a delight to watch her on screen. Kay Kay Menon- as always - another great performance from him. Irfaan Khan - what a powerful entry, even though screen time is less. Shraddha Kapoor's performance is ok.

Haider may not be liked by you, if you are looking for fun element. It is a very intense movie. Go for it, if you love this genre and also to enjoy great performances.

Rating: 5 /5

Mohabbat Ab Nahi Hogi: The Last Episode and Overall Review

Before even starting, I do want to point out that it seems that Hum TV's shows are getting shorter and shorter - I am not complaining AT ALL.  I was always a fan of the 13 to 20 episode format for each show and find myself getting exhausted once a show hits 24-25 episodes.  But I was surprised to see this show end on episode 17, as I felt it had much more potential.

Rather than a review, this is simply a rant of my thoughts.  The episode itself served its purpose as a "wrap up episode," tying up all loose strings and the predictable outcomes occurring.

There was a lot of room for these characters to grow.  A few more episodes to see Fiza realize her mistakes would've been refreshing.  A more gradual realization from Azhar's stance would've been great.  Arham having a proper discussion with Fiza and Azhar about boundaries would've been a scene I would've loved to see.  Urooj realizing and properly discussing the situation with Fiza would've been a very realistic scene.  And while this all may seem like my over-scrutinizing and simply a "wish list," all of these scenes would've been essential to realistically put this show to rest.

It can be argued that Arham and Fiza's marriage was possibly beyond repair.  Not only was Arham torn by the thought of Fiza and Azhar having a "rendezvous," but he was completely shattered by the betrayal.  On the other end, Fiza was aghast at the thought that her husband could suspect anything so terrible......yet not for one moment did Fiza stop talking to Azhar.  Not only did she not stop speaking to him, she wholeheartedly relied on him for everything. .And then let's come down to this miraculous pregnancy.  If anyone can fill in the details for me here or point out something I missed, please DO.  This is a huge flaw for me - how did Fiza have a 45 day pregnancy when she hadn't seen Arham in 2 months?  It absolutely did not make any sense.  Was this supposed to be a miracle?  If so, it was very poorly stressed (and very irritating).  Any man in his right mind in that frame of mind would instantly wonder what the hell happened there!

Then we come to Azhar and Urooj.  The mistakes made in Fiza and Arham's marriage directly affected Azhar and Urooj's marriage.  Why is it that it was never acknowledged that Fiza actually was the cause of Urooj's miscarriage?  How can the writers suddenly play her off as an innocent?  We saw it and saw what she did!  The character of Fiza was very hard to redeem, yet they tried desperately to do it by suddenly including absolute loopholes in the story.  While Azhar and Urooj solved their misunderstandings, it still doesn't erase the bad actions of Fiza in their life - and even more, it doesn't erase the bad actions of Azhar who tried his best to make Urooj change who she was!  These problems were not even acknowledged in the end, simply brushed under the rug.

In the end, we see Azhar and Urooj in Dubai, living separately from Arham and Fiza.  Arham and Fia are now happy, living with Arham's mother and with Fiza taking care of the family and the household.  Arham and Fiza are happy with their marriage and their life with Fiza reflectively saying "Arham, ek baat ka afsos hamesha rahega.  Zindagi  to thi hi khoobsurat magar afsos is baat ka hai ke mujhe yeh baat samajhne mein dair kyun lagi?"  While this is truly a beautiful thought......when did this happen, Fiza?  When did you come to this realization?  When did you mend your ways?  And WHY did you mend your ways?  

To the end, even on the phone call Arham overheard between Azhar and Fiza, Fiza maintained her stance of the "ghalti" being Arham's, never acknowledging her role to play in the entire situation.  We never see her apologetic for her behavior towards Auntie and Aapi.  We never see Fiza repent wholeheartedly for her terrible behavior towards Urooj.  We never see Fiza and Azhar acknowledge the indecency in their relationship.  We never see Fiza apologize for her hurtful words about Arham.

All of this combined together made for a rather unsatisfying ending to an otherwise horribly entertaining show.  I can't knock this drama for anything other than a lot of flaws and loopholes in the last episode.  The way this show was shot, directed and enacted deserves applause.  I found myself hooked every Monday and Tuesday, anxious to see the new twist the show would take.  For this, I think Mohabbat Ab Nahi Hogi deserves a lot of credit.

If you haven't seen this show, I would recommend it.  While not perfect, it was definitely something great to watch!  

Happy watching!