After the Eid break, Pakistani entertainment channels are coming out with new dramas to keep us hooked. Among the list of new dramas coming out, there’s ‘Bhool’, starring Affan Waheed, Saheefa Jabbar Khattak, and Saboor Ali. The first episode focuses on the Awais (Affan) and Aiman (Saheefa) and their love story. It becomes evident in this episode that Saboor’s character will be introduced to us later.

The first episode opens on Aiman and her wedding festivities. She’s just told her mother that she loves Awais and doesn’t want to go through with the marriage her parents have arranged for her.

Her mother (played by Saba Hamid) is strict with her and tells her to keep her mouth shut and to quietly get married. As Aiman weeps, she calls Awais to ask for his help. Awais is nothing like what you would expect- he seems impatient and stubborn and slightly unempathetic.

When she calls him, he lays it out flat for her. Awais gives her two options: talk to her parents or run away. When he sees that she won’t talk to her parents, he pushes her to go through with the second. She’s conflicted as she hears this. Aiman loves her family too much to betray like this, but she does not want to marry who her family chose for her.

Mixed in with this dynamic is the typical different class situation. 

Aiman is from a middle-class family where she was the first person to go to university and Awais is the only child to a rich family and lives with his extremely strict mother.

Awais’ mother has control over him and his life, and his extremely stereotypically ‘rich’. She keeps referring Aiman as ‘that stupid girl’ and lives life with an air of being the only person who matters. Both characters are in extremely testing situations.

After much planning, Awais helps Aiman run on the night of her mehndi. 

They run away and get married in secret. Meanwhile, Aiman’s family is devastated and have to face the challenge of telling people what has happened. Her father announces that they’ll tell people Aiman committed suicide- for them, living with that lie is easier than telling people that she ran away. On the other hand, Awais’ mother is busy arranging his marriage with someone else.

The rest of the episode is Awais figuring out how to tell his mother what he did, and Aiman meanwhile is trying to come to terms with what she just did, not only to yourself but to her family. She’s truly a mess in this situation but Awais is of no help. He constantly loses his anger with her and shouts at her frequently. The start of this marriage is extremely shaky. The first episode spent too much time on Aiman grieving- so much so that the story began to stand still and there was just no progress happening in the second half of the episode.

This drama falls very easily into stereotypes. The rich boy falls in love with the ‘not so rich’ girl- not only is their economic background an issue but so is the way their families are; the clash of conservative and non-conservative families. The drama, or at least the first episode, is ‘typical’ and predictable too. The story followed a tried and tested trajectory: girl loves boy- girl can’t marry boy so runs away- the marriage has tension- the girl’s family is devastated, and someone dies, for sure.

The stage is set for a bad marriage or at least one that won’t last. Aiman will definitely be kicked out by Awais, and guess what? She won’t have anywhere to go because her family won’t take her back. I feel like this drama will have a ‘Humsafar’ type story arc- the bahu is kicked out, but she’s pregnant and that child becomes the reason for the couple to get back together.

What do you think of ‘Bhool’? 

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 Cover Photo Courtesy: ARY Digital