Review of Urdu Drama Ashk by GEO TV – Episode 7

Review of Urdu Drama Ashk by GEO TV – Episode 7

Directed by Sarmad Khoosat
Produced By:Abdullah Kadwani & HuJuneun Saeed
Cast:Fawad Afzal Khan,Resham,Neelam Munir,Seemi Raheel,Sohail Sameer,Mehreen Raheel,Mohsin Gilani,Shafqat Cheema,Irfan Khoosat,Zamurd khan,Tipu Yurguc Sharif & Imran Bukhar

Rohail: Main nay Orkut, Facebook aur Twitter par likh diya: I am in love!

I: Who uses Orkut?

Rohail: App ko lagta hai main pyar kee acting kar raha hoon?

I: Errrrrr….literally, you ARE acting!

Conversations like these are usually galore along with a strong urge to shed some “Ashk” when watching the said drama serial. However, to be honest, thanks mainly to the fact that this week’s promo aired by Geo TV did not give away the crucial details, this episode was much better, as we finally saw Zaibu and Rohail interacting, and Mehru talking lesser than usual.

Even with a script that actually raises more questions than attempting to resolve any, I have to say I am enjoying Rohail and Zaibu’s track much more than Mehru and Bilal. The latter couple literally talk too much (whether to each other or to others), and emote too little. As a viewer, I really do not feel anything for them – honestly, it is a total blank. Today, I just forwarded all their scenes, because (and I will say this outright), they were boring and the story did not really move forward! At this point, I don’t even care if Mehru and Bilal get together or not!

Zaibu and Rohail, on the other hand, are rocking. I just loved them, whether it was Zaibu desperately trying to shut the toy up, while Rohail watched amused, pretending to be asleep, or Rohail declaring his undying love for her. Neelam Munir and Fawad Khan have done an awesome job here. The only question marks here are raised by the script – for instance, in his nice, long, declaration of love, how come Rohail doesn’t ask Zaibu why she ran out of the room the previous night? In fact, he doesn’t seem to think that was out of the ordinary at all, which seemed quite strange!

One of our readers pointed this out, and I wholeheartedly agree, that we, as the audience, were never given enough time to fall in love with either of the couple. Maybe some glimpses into the past of Mehru and Bilal, showing how they fell in love while doing relief work, might have helped the situation. Same goes for Rohail and Zaibu. The overly long scenes could have easily been chopped down and space made for more of these emotional fillers to enable the audience to connect to each couple. Rohail and Zaibu share a great chemistry, and emote just as well, which was probably the saving grace of the entire episode today, along with Kulsoom’s brief but very entertaining appearance! Otherwise, Mehru’s attempts to ensure that her name remains clear and at the same time, her father forgives Zaibu were unconvincing at best.

Overall, I would say it was one of the better episodes! However, the storytelling remains flawed, and there are too many eyebrow-raisers (too many to recount in one review). I am still intrigued to find out what becomes of Rohail and Zaibu, and how Rohail’s “love” is tested with Madiha and Bedi Singh in the picture. Let’s see if there are any twists in store. For now, I will just go back and watch that scene with the toy again!

Written by Drama Buff (dramabuff.dp@gmail.com)