ours truly sat through the first few episodes of a play that started airing on a private channel on October 13. A sunk investment unfortunately, for Sukoon, directed by Siraj-ul Haq and written by Misbah Nosheen, sadly is nothing to write home about.

The drama series stars actress Sana Javed as Aina, the quintessential Cinderella. However, this time around, there are no evil step sisters or a step mother but biological parents who choose to ignore all the red flags which even a Spanish bull could spot from far away.

Aina is engaged to her first cousin, Usman, played by Adnan Samad Khan who is portrayed as an extremely domineering and possessive fiancé. He throws his weight around and treats her as his personal property (So, what’s new?).

Aina’s younger sister, Aima, played by Qudsia Ali, breathes some life into this extremely predictable play. She is gutsy and does not mince her words when it comes to putting Usman in his place.

As mentioned earlier, the parents, Laila Wasti as Abida and Ahsan Talish as Mehmood, believe that their future son-in-law cannot put a foot wrong and, ignoring all the red flags, consider him the perfect match for their daughter. Much like a sacrificial lamb, Aina the dutiful daughter, cannot even dream of going against her parents’ wishes.

Until one day when the dashing Raza, played by Khaqan Shahnawaz, arrives on the scene and as luck would have it, falls in love with Aina at first sight. His first cousin Hamdan, played by Ahsan Khan, who is present when that happens and is responsible for running his uncle’s business and mentoring Raza so he can take over the family enterprise later on, warns him to stay away and mind his own business.

For some context, Raza’s father and Hamdan’s uncle, Amjad, essayed by veteran actor Usman Peerzada, is an extremely successful business tycoon who wants his nephew to knock some sense into his son. Raza has a sister, Shanzay, played by Sidra Niazi, who (yes, you guessed it) is besotted with Hamdan and is bent on marrying him, come what may.

The plot thickens and seems straight out of a ’90s B-grade Bollywood film. The only saving grace is Aima who lights up the screen with her presence because Sana Javed’s face is quite expressionless, in comparison. The actress is supposed to play the damsel in distress who has intermittent fainting spells and has to be rescued from her fiancé, a man who becomes increasingly unbearable by the minute. All one can do, as a viewer, is curse under one’s breath over how blind and idiotic the girls’ parents are.

Such productions really test the intelligent viewers’ patience and are ideal for those who want some mindless entertainment. All the actors are wasted and the story is dull, boring, lifeless and highly predictable.

In this era of women-centric plays and roles, it is disheartening to see plays like Sukoon being made – a litmus that a certain section of the public is still addicted to hackneyed plots and unimaginative stories where all the female lead has to do is look beautiful, shy and demure, make compromises left, right and centre and wait for a knight in shining armour to come galloping to her rescue. Thank God, Aimasaves the day.

As for the plot, it is highly predictable; the characters are dull and lifeless and the direction lacks substance. It is disappointing to see female leads being reduced to mere props, delivering clichéd dialogues and doing little more than wearing a pained, sorrowful expression throughout the play. Do we really want to see our extremely talented actresses playcharacters that insult the viewers’ intelligence or see empowered females with a mind of their own?

A fan of the ’90s Bollywood cinema may enjoy this production.It has absolutely nothing new or interesting to offer. Sana Javed is wasted as the helpless Aina.She has proved her mettle as an actress in some of her earlier plays and can do far better.

If you would like to watch a mindless and lifeless production, tune in every Thursday and Friday at 8pm. Hopefully, you’ll have better options so you can give this one a miss. Unless, of course you’re a fan of Sana or want some eye candy in the form of Khaqan Shahnawaz, the new addition to a brigade of young, upcoming male actors.

The writer is an educationist. She can be reached at gaiteeara@hotmail.com.