By Maliha Rehman
22 Qadam, which started airing this past weekend on Green Entertainment, is so feel-good that you can’t stop smiling when you see it.
The narrative so far is strongly inclined towards the female protagonist: Hareem Farooq as Fari, a college-going, cricket-obsessed, sharp-witted girl. Surrounding her is an ensemble of colorful, well-rounded characters, including Fari’s elder sister played by Kinza Razzak, her father and mother enacted by Shahnawaz Zaidi and Nida Mumtaz respectively and her new-found, street-smart friend Naz Kiryana, played by Alina Abbas. Wahaj Ali – Pakistan’s biggest heartthrob, actor extraordinaire and a major reason why this drama’s release got so much hype – makes a few short appearances as Junaid, a cricketer battling a serious ligament injury. His character and its particular intricacies are yet to unfold.
The story, so far, revolves around the crazy escapades of Fari. Every night she has kooky dreams about cricket, every day she gets late for college and is punished by the teacher who makes her stand outside the class. She places bets with boys playing cricket on the street and proceeds to beat them and will deliberately step in front of the car being driven by her cricket idol just in order to meet her. She’s basically a piece of work – and you fall in love with her as she prances about her home and antagonizes her mother.
At one point, Junaid gives her a lift in his car and they have a heated argument peppered with hilarity. There’s more of that to come, I am sure.
The drama has only just started but there are underlying messages that can be deciphered in the script written by Zeeshan Ilyas. The untapped talent amongst women athletes is the obvious moral – but then, there are other subliminal messages. One sees Fari’s parents eager to marry off her sister. The mother frets that her elder daughter is now 25 and is inclined towards getting her betrothed to a man that no one in the family has met. The father, fortunately – and so unlike most patriarchal father figures in Pakistani dramas, weighed down by the burden of their daughter – has taken a stand so far. And then, there are the dreams that Fari’s friend, Naz, has of building her own business someday. Dreams of promising careers and affluent lifestyles are not specific to any one gender and this message rings out loud and clear in 22 Qadam.
Anjum Shehzad directs, keeping the story’s pace interesting. And Hareem Farooq absolutely shines. This drama may prove to be her finest work yet, with the affable, effervescent Fari being right up her alley – quite similar, I feel to who the actress is personally! From the initial two episodes, one feel that this is the sort of role that any actress would love to carry out. Fari is very loveable and such a far cry from the mundane, sobbing, suffering women that prevail in the Pakistani TV drama-scape.
Wahaj Ali looks great and acts well but his scenes so far have been few. One looks forward to seeing what Junaid does next – and given Wahaj’s acting prowess, one expects him to stand out. Also, the exemplary Saleem Mairaj will be surfacing in later episodes and he is very likely to take over the screen, as he tends to do.
As for now, the story has only just started off. It’s an engaging, entertaining start! 22 Qadam may be categorized as a sports drama but even people who don’t care for sports are likely to want to watch it.
What do you think?