Aslam finally decided it was time to stand up for his love and took matters in his own hands, while Nargis and Rakshi became mother and daughter in a bitter sweet incident! This story on first love has just taken an intense turn and we’re absolutely loving Maya Ali and Sheheryar Munavar’s journey as Aslam and Rakshi in Pehli Si Muhabbat!

The Plot

An extremely distraught Rakshi (Maya Ali) has no idea how to stop her neighbour Niggi from leaking the news of her love affair with Aslam to the entire neighbourhood. She begs and pleads but Niggi is adamant on telling the world about Rakshi’s secret, what happens next is totally unpredictable. Nargis (Rabia Butt) stormed into the room and took charge of the matter, she threatened Niggi against spreading any rumours against her ‘daughter’ Rakshi or blackmailing her for jewellery otherwise she wouldn’t hesistate to harm her. A thundering slap to Niggi seemed to have cured her of all her horrible intentions, Rakshi realised Nargis was never the evil-step-mother she thought of and was in-fact her fairy god-mother in that moment.

Zainab (Uzma Hassan) returns back home with Aslam and speaks to her mother (Saba Faisal) of Aslam and Rakshi’s budding love story. Things do not go as Zainab planned as her mother blatanltly refuses to accept Rakshi as her daughter-in-law. On the other hand, Faizullah (Shabbir Jan) has already agreed to marry off Rakshi to his friends’ son without asking her if she is ready for the marriage.

Aslam turns hero after he decides to teach Niggi a lesson, he reaches her house and begins his theatrics, acting as Niggi’s ‘lover’ he threatens to tell the neighbourhood lies of his secret love affair with her. Niggi is scared beyond wits and promised to leave Rakshi alone. Our dapper hero, Aslam takes matters into his hands by ending his engagement to his cousin Bushra. He travels to the city to his ‘Nanyaal’ and politely refuses to marry Bushra, leaving his uncle and aunt stunned by his shocking revelation.

The Good – Applaud Worthy Performances by the Rabia Butt, Sheheryar Munavar

Rabia Butt emerged as the fiery lioness who would go to any extent to protect her cub in danger. Her performance with Niggi deserved a few ‘seetiyan’ and we were more than happy that an end was finally put to all the blackmailing by the cunning Niggi. Butt, owned this episode by showing us a completely different side to her character and left us in awe of her brilliant acting, adding herself to the likes of the finest actresses in the industry.

Saba Faisal portrayed the conflicted mother perfectly, at one moment she was worried for her daughter Zainab, and couldn’t control her tears, while when she found out about Rakshi, she was unwilling to accept her for Aslam due to it being a love affair. Uzma Hassan’s hard-hitting dialogues where she points out the hypocrisy of her mother regarding Rakshi being ‘characterless’ was a definite treat to watch.

Aslam’s performance with ‘Niggi’ was one of the highlights of the episode with his over the top dramatics when he went to scare her into staying away from Rakshi. The actor has once again proved his mettle with romance, action and comic deliveries throughout the play that are making us fall in love with him all over again.

The Bad - What Could Have Been Portrayed in a Better Way?

The ease with which Pakistani dramas normalise domestic violence and the way the girls family tend to remain quiet after, definitely needs to change. After knowing the truth about Zainab’s unhappy marriage, she cried her heart out but was unable to do anything about it. To be so helpless that you cannot stop a man from hitting your child, because you have done it yourself in the name of ‘honor and family respect’. Why should our dramas portray violence on our daughters and wives to be okay?

What’s Next?

As Aslam works towards convincing his mother to agree for his marriage to Rakshi, will he be able to stop Rakshi’s engagement to someone else in time? We’re anxious to see where this journey of first love with the two love birds Aslam and Rakshi takes us.

Watch Pehli Si Muhabbat every Saturdays at 8 PM on ARY Digital!