Faisla (Episode 1)- TV Show Review by Shoby

Faisla (Episode 1)- TV Show Review by Shahbaz Ali Naqvi

When trust is broken, the relationship fails to prevail. Faisla, the debut written TV serial of Aymal Raza kicked off last week on ARY Digital with a double episode. In this inaugural episode of Faisla, the whole focus was on the character of Maryam (Sonia Mishal), who is shown truly madly deeply in love with her husband Umair (Ali Abbas) and how their love marriage concludes in a devastating manner in the form of a divorce, courtesy Umair's extra marital relationship with another girl. It was also told in the script that all this was a by-product of Maryam's nature where she was always in doubt with respect to Umair's behavior. Meanwhile we are also introduced with Asad's  (Gohar Mumtaz) love for Maryam who belongs to relatively lower class as compared to rich birds Umair & Maryam.

So considering it as a introductory episode of the play, let me tell you that the serial was much successful in building a strong premise for the story. Seems like Asad will be able to turn the table in his favor, considering Maryam is now divorced. In the acting department, Sonia has done a fabulous job. Right from the first frame, where she was shown cutting (read destroying) her wedding anniversary's cake to the scene where Umair gives her the divorces, she was at her very best in almost every scene. The best thing about this acting was, her being natural. Ali Abbas & Gohar were good in bits. I like Ali's conversation with his mother post divorce. Waseem Abbas & Saba Hameed are seasoned actors and they have surely implanted a positive energy through their acting prowess.

Coming towards the story, it was a signature start of Aymal. We all know, whenever she writes episodic, the first episode starts & ends like this very way. She shows her characters in agony & pain and then eventually re-evolves her characters and bring them back to life. Maryam is presented in the same affliction which we are used to of observing in Aymal's characters (Nigaar in Piyaal Saaz & Bianca in Taveez e Hubb).

Aymal tried to keep the things simple & self explainatory in the innaugural episode. She never looked in a hurry to tell what she was up to. Dialogues were natural and much related to our daily routine life. I expect some solid punches in upcoming episodes from Aymal, the type of dialogues she is famous for. However we have seen a glimpse of it in, Maaon ko weham nahi, ilhaam hotey hain...

Aymal is famous for giving unorthodox titles to her writings. This time, we have seen rather a traditional one (i.e. faisla). I feel, may be this is so, because the word Faisla (decission) is going to be the key factor in the script. But as a regular reader of her, somewhere in my mind, I was perhaps looking forward for something more out of the box.

One thing is for sure that Aymal is going to show us the glimpses from the past in flashbacks and in this regard, we shall get to see the warm romantic side of the story. We all know, Aymal is at her prime best in writing both the feelingsof pain & romance. People still cherish the exceptional conversations which took place between Basil and Zimel in Piyaal Saaz.

Upcoming episodes will unfold the story more. Leaving you with two questions to answer. What will Umair do now, after divorcing Maryam and how will Maryam reacts over the same, once the things move further.