By Maliha Rehman
It’s an unlikely romantic pairing.
There’s Haroon Kadwani, one of the youngest heroes to emerge on the local drama-scape which is more or less dominated by 30-something leading men. And there’s Zara Noor Abbas, older than him but not too old, earlier seen in dramas with the prevalent lot of mature heroes.
And yet, in the very first teaser of Abdullah Kadwani and Asad Qureshi’s upcoming drama production Jhoom, this unusual couple somehow seems a fathomable one. There are romantic scenes by the sea and then, tears, implying that while these two are in love, societal pressures due to their age difference have broken them apart. There are glimpses of fist fights and moments of melancholy where she, dressed as a bride, and he, spread-eagled at the sea-side, gaze listlessly into the distance. There’s music, heightening the play of emotions, and grand sets and picturesque visuals of the sea.
If I hadn’t already known that Jhoom is an upcoming drama, I would have assumed that it was a movie. The scale of the visuals and the treatment is very cinematic and high-end. Even the soundtrack consists of two original songs – snippets of both play out in the teaser – and they are likely to be fitted on to different situations in the story. It seems to be like a movie, only you don’t have to buy a ticket to see it and it will be screening every week, in your home, on your TV screen.
This, if it is true, may turn out to be Jhoom’s strongest selling point. The Pakistani drama-watching audience is a discerning one. Every day, they have the choice to tune into myriad storylines on multiple channels, airing at a prime time that now extends from 7 p.m. till 10 p.m. This constant flow of content has them sated and they have, in fact, become fickle, switching off from a drama that drags too much or becomes predictable, moving on to one of the other options that is available to them. Hooking this diaspora to a single drama, all through its run, requires planning and an intuitive know-how of what they like. A storyline in itself may not be completely different from other dramas, but the way the story is told matters immensely.
For instance, in Jhoom’s case, we have recently seen other dramas that have challenged stereotypes by pairing an older woman with a younger man – Dobara starring Bilal Abbas and Haidqa Kiani and Agar starring Junaid Khan and Juggan Kazim come to mind. But if Jhoom turns out to be the larger-than-life extravaganza that the trailer implies it to be, then it’s going to make a mark of its own.
There are other intriguing aspects to the drama. Haroon Kadwani is a fresh face, previously having been seen on TV in the telefilm Ruposh last year. The fact that he did not follow up his success in Ruposh by coming on board multiple dramas and becoming ubiquitous adds to the charm of seeing him now, on TV, after about a year.
Also, Zara Noor Abbas was last seen in the dramatic Badshah Begum, a drama which had a story that is very likely to be starkly different from Jhoom’s narrative. She is an actress who works consistently and yet, doesn’t just sign on to multiple roles in one go. This adds novelty to the dramas that she does sign on to. Zara is a fine actress and she looks beautiful in Jhoom’s teaser. It is likely that she’ll shine in this role, so different from typical drama fare.
There’s also the music to look forward to. In a recent conversation, 7th Sky Entertainment producer Asad Qureshi had described to me the considerable effort and analysis that goes into choosing soundtracks for dramas, which are played out by a live orchestra rather than getting created electronically. From what I have heard of Jhoom’s sountrdack in the teaser, I can sense the same attention to detail. The songs are emotional to the core and melodious.
The drama evidently spans 15 episodes. This is rare, in times when drama episodes run on to over 30 in many cases. A romance, short, powerful, well-narrated could work wonders and actually initiate the trend for shorter episodic drama series.
Nevertheless, a teaser is merely a fleeting glance at the overall drama. It remains to be seen whether Jhoom, the drama, will be quite as powerful as the teaser hints that it will be!
What do you think?