Sabaat maybe just ten weeks old but the HUM TV production has managed to grasp the audience’s attention in the short span of time. With Sarah Khan and Mawra Hocane leading the way, the play seems to be heading in the right direction. Although fans of Usman Mukhtar are still wondering when he will make an appearance, one thing is certain – the already-familiar characters will approach him to treat Miraal (Sarah Khan) who is quickly descending into a hell created by her own insecurities.

The Plot

In the ninth episode of the drama, things moved at a swift place, although Hasan (Ameer Gilani) and Anaya’s wedding is still one week away. After the two lovebirds reconcile during a chance meeting, Hasan’s mother (Leyla Zuberi) makes every effort to convince Anaya’s parents (Mohammad Ahmed and Seemi Raheel) to forget the past and move forward for the sake of their kids, and they agree to it. When they visit Hasan’s house and encounter Miraal (Sarah Khan) and find out that she is a bigger terror than her father (Moazzam Ali Khan), they decide not to reveal the incident to Anaya (Mawra Hocane).

The tenth episode revolved around the preparations of the wedding ceremony with Hasan and his father patching up things, and Miraal losing her fiancé to her bullying nature. Just two days before the wedding, she decides to make things worse by standing alone in the corner, waiting to make life a hell for all defying her.

The Good

After eight episodes of playing the helpless mother, veteran actress Leyla Zuberi finally gets to show her acting prowess as the woman of the house. She not only takes her husband (the highly impressive Moazzam Ali Khan) head-on but also convinces Anaya’s parents in the best possible way. The scene where she tells the men of her house to grow up and reconcile were the best ones of the last two episodes. Also, Mohammad Ahmed’s outstanding scene with her daughter where he tells her about the realities of life, Ameer Gilani’s scene where his character convinces Mawra’s character to give him a second chance along with Moazzam Ali Khan’s stubbornness as well as helplessness in the same frame, make this drama one of the best shows on air at the moment.

The change in attitude shown by Mawra Hocane especially after the confrontation scene that also featured Sarah Khan’s Miraal and Ameer Gilani’s Hasan was too good to ignore. Sarah Khan raises the bar effectively as the wronged woman who was disowned by her fiancé, whose only friend sticks to her for old time’s sake, whose parents are sick and tired of her attitude and who is to be blamed for everything bad that’s happening to her. Last but not the least, Azra Mansoor’s haunting performance as the back-from-the-grave Nani is just too good to ignore. Her smile, her dialogue delivery, and her expressions make you want to cheer for her character despite knowing that she can’t be back.

The Bad

Why was Miraal referring to her deceased grandmother as Mariam Bee when till now she was calling her Nani? Why did the scenes where Anaya was shopping for her big day lack happiness? Why Hasan’s workplace was not shown but his friend’s office was visited twice for no reason? In fact, the scenes featuring writer Kashif Anwar and Abbas Ashraf seemed forced and could have been done in an intelligent manner. Why was the writer trying to copy Humayun Saeed is beyond me, at a time when Humayun Saeed is himself doing well. Also, Abbas Ashraf needs to understand that being the brother of a successful actor doesn’t mean that acting will come naturally to him; he has to work hard and look committed like Ameer Gilani who has won fans over with his performance.

The track regarding Ali’s (Jahanzeb Khan) escape and his mother defending his act seemed too hastily done and had Sarah Khan not broken the frame, it would have gone down as the worst scene of the play. Why Ali left the country when he could have skipped town is beyond me and one hopes that he has a better explanation for doing so.

The Verdict: Sabaat is on the right track!

So far, the play has been doing well with minor issues mentioned before. The script has been written in an energetic manner, every major actor is doing a fabulous job and the locations are too perfect for a TV drama. It would be great if Anaya and Hasan get married soon because the wedding has been on the agenda for too long now. Maybe it seems a long period because of the Eid holidays, but the audience is worried about a lot of things such as the change in the mood of Hasan’s father, Miraal’s dominating nature and Nani’s regular appearances.

If the promo of the next episode is to be believed, then there will be a wedding that will be followed by a fire in the newly-wedded couple’s room. If that sounds more like an Indian soap than a Pakistani drama to you, then join the club. If the drama doesn’t go that way, the most relieved person on the planet would be me.