The story may have slowed down a bit, but this does not damage the impact of the play, which is proceeding with high ratings and for good reason.
INSTEPREVIEW
Drama serial Khaani, now in its 6th episode, has slowed down a bit. This was perhaps necessary to allow viewers to absorb and digest the fast paced beginning but it has also allowed the serial’s flaws to leak through the cracks.
A recap: The influential Mir Hadi shot dead the defenseless Saarim in Episode One, leaving Saarim’s twin sister Khaani, two other sisters and parents to mourn him. The previously weak and meek Khaani turned around, stepped up and took her brother’s place in keeping the family together, especially after her father suffered a heart attack and became dependent. Mir Hadi, initially unrepentant and bullish, began softening to Khaani, perplexed and at the same time impressed by her refusal to bow down to him.
In this episode we see Mir Hadi, portrayed to great popularity by Feroze Khan, struggling with his emotions and feelings for Khaani. One remembers an over-emotional Feroze Khan from his last TV serial – Woh Aik Pal – and has to appreciate his growth as an actor. To emote and express the inner ambiguity that his character is experiencing in Khaani could not have been simple and yet he manages to do justice to his negative character while picking up sympathy as his persona evolves.
Khaani’s character, portrayed by Sana Javed, on the other hand has limitations. Sana’s elocution and dialogue delivery is strong (if you close your eyes and listen to her, which would make her great on radio) but the image attached to the sound does it no justice. For a character that has suffered great trauma, tragedy and that has been mourning for six episodes, the fact that the actor has a porcelain face with no expression (a creaseless forehead, for instance) does her no favours at all.
Another small flaw in details is the financial/social status of the Khan family. They are struggling with finances and their daughters take public transport/rickshaws to commute and yet they live in a sprawling mansion with lush green gardens that would cost a king’s ransom to maintain in Karachi. How can they not afford a small car?
Fortunately, these small oversights do not damage the impact of the play, which is proceeding with high ratings and for good reason. While the young Mir Hadi may be turning over a new leaf, his father Mir Shah shows no signs of remorse or retribution and is fueled by power and politics only. Mir Shah’s biggest worry now is his son, who is obsessed with the defiant Khaani and is not ready to fall into his father’s footsteps as easily as Mir Shah had hoped he would.
There promises to be great drama up ahead, given that the story does not fall into a stereotypical love genre, where romance between the two protagonists becomes inevitable. We really wouldn’t be able to live in a world, albeit on the TV screen, where a woman forgives a man for murdering her brother in cold blood. We all love a happy ending but sometimes happy endings lie in unconventional conclusions, which in this case would be justice for Saarim.
