It’s that time of the year again when a day feels incomplete without watching an episode of a Ramzan special drama to sit back and relax after a day of prayers and chores. Admit it or not, they’ve become a part of our life. Be it game shows rom-coms Ramzan dramas are here to stay and their millions of views per day prove that.
This year, we have our eyes on not one but three of them i.e. Paristan, Chaudhry and Sons and Hum Tum. Although Paristan has us a bit more excited because it is starring last year’s favorite couple Arslan Naseer and Aymen Saleem and our once colleague Merub Ali who used to write for us back in the day. We loved her presence at our workplace and we love her the same way on the screen now!
Here are some pieces by Merub:
Pakistani celebrities people LOVE to HATE
Why is Momina Mustehsan’s mouth always open?
Pakistani Celebrity Couples Who Are Goals AF!
Punches outside the ring: The result of oversharing on social media
Talking about the drama itself, our first impression is that it is enjoyable, entertaining and a little too loud. Paristan has what anyone would expect from a Ramzan drama i.e. a crazy over the top family, a love interest and a conflict with lots of comedy. Clearly it is a tried and tested strategy and every channel has jumped the bandwagon – Paristan is no different. But is that a bad thing? Not really, as long as it is entertaining.
The story follows the story of Parnia aka Pari played by Aymen Saleem. We get introduced to her cousin Ujala (Merub Ali), love-interest-to-be Arsam (Arslan Naseer), Zubaida (Mira Sethi), Kamali (Ali Safina), Babar (Junaid Jamshed) and her aunt (Javeria Abbasi) among others.
Being the first episode we yet have to see the story unfold but what we do know is that Pari, an orphan who lives with her aunt and uncle dreams of being rich – although she is living a comfortable life. It was a delight to see Aymen Saleem as the lead heroine and even though there were just a couple of scenes with her and Arslan Naseer, the chemistry between them was everything!
There is one character atleast I instantly fell in love with and that is of Mira Sethi playing Zubaida. My oh my! For the whole duration of the drama I forgot Mira Sethi exists because she was just Zubaida for me. Sethi’s grasp on her punjabi accent was exceptional – she became Zubaida fully and completely.
Where one was brilliant with the Punjabi accent, one not so much. Javeria Saud as Haseena was too loud on the ears. The over-the-top Punjaban didn’t come to her naturally and looked made-up to the point where she became annoying to watch. Made us miss Suno Chanda’s Shahana and Chupke Chupke’s Baybay. We hope she grows on us soon otherwise will be hitting the forward button with her scenes.
On the whole Paristan was a good watch. We’d give the first episode a 7.5/10 but are pretty sure it’d go up soon!
By Aimen Tofique
I go by @rants_of_a_millenial_wife on Instagram even though I don’t rant a lot!
