Haalim (Nemrah Ahmed)- Episode 1 Review by Shoby

Haalim (Nemrah Ahmed)- Episode 1 Review by Shoby

Grace Van Pelt: [watching Jane perform a magic trick with his straw] How'd you do that? 

Patrick Jane: Telekinesis. 

Kimball Cho: He blew on it. 

Patrick Jane: That is another way to do it.

"The Mentalist"

Welcome to Kuala Lumpur (KL)- The capital of scenic Malaysia. Kuala is the point where two rivers join together and Lumpur means "mud", so Kuala Lumpur literally means "muddy confluence". The time has arrived to dive deep somewhere into the "Conflulence of Muddy Water".

She is a pitch perfect con-artist. He is the future president of Malaysia. Nothing unifies them except the one same trait. They both are dreamers, clairvoyant. Oscar Wilde said, "A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world". No one knows the dawn both of them have to see before the world watches it.

Nemrah Ahmed, this time tells us a story of two "almost" meta-humans (something like Cisco of The Flash). They can foresee whats coming next and they can interpret what they have dreamt off. Well obviously, their predictions does not always come true and sometimes they misinterpret but most of the times they stand winners. 

Taliya Binte Muraad is a mystery damsel and so does the charismatic Fateh bin Ramzel. Both of them are the passengers of two diverse journeys but GOD knows better, a day will come when one mutual destiny will unite them. Wait for the Fate, I say...

Taliya makes a perfect team of scam artists along with Danti and together they have achieved quite a success in the business. Haalim, the novel starts off with the lucrative execution of 11th job of Taliya (aka Haalim) as she categorically deceives the likes of Muliya and Anwer. After the successful completion of the job, it goes on to declare that (disguised) Haalim is ready for one last heist, the grand finale of all, the very last expedition that can turn the lives of these two 360 degrees. 

Just like near to the anti-climax of a crime drama, Taliya wants to settle down after this one last quest. She wants to earn a big bounty and live peacefully for the rest of the life but Plan kiya gaya gunaah kabhi akhri gunaah nahi ban sakta. Once you are in the business, you need to be there till the very end. There is no quitting here.

On the other hand, the other dreamer Fateh bin Ramzel is a poised politician with a vision of A Better Malaysia. He is hypnotic and a loved by masses. He has class, elegance, wit and every written trait of a larger than life personality. So we can say that apparently, instead of one, we have two "Haalim" (dreamers) to start of with.

What is the game plan for Haalim as a last swindle. She wants to steal a key available in the form of a set of bracelet and a coin. This will give her the earning for a lifetime and no points for guessing that both of these products are available at Fateh's place. So plan is pretty much simple. Its time for Taliya to enter his house and steal the things. The things like how and when are still to be responded by Haalim.

First episode of #Haalim is over and canvas is set for a high voltage thriller. Nemrah has taken a different route this time. Story seems to be highly inspired from several TV mystery thrillers. It is not wrong to say that this type of story is not yet attempted in mainstream digest writing in Pakistan. Script looks juicy and undoubtedly has an ocean to explore with a touch of mystery and politics involved in the epicentre of it.

Considering the fact that this was just a pilot episode of the novel, Nemrah has put on quite a remarkable effort in engaging the reader with the proceedings. The best thing about the first episode was its being pacey and interesting. Although she has chosen quite a complex premises this time, but she has done exceptionally well to keep the things real simple & digest-able for every reader. Somewhere I feel, the dialogues were somewhat lacking the real Nemrah's throw power. Hope to see the same old hard hitting Nemrah back soon.

Nemrah is no doubt a trend setter and she is one of those who know how to make a benchmark and how to surpass it in order to create a new one. People are still in awe of Namal and it would require more of a hard work to get over the Namal fever. I feel second episode is crucial as it will establish the actual point standing of Haalim.