By Maliha Rehman
‘Jhoom’ has been twirling so beautifully on TV. Produced by Abdullah Kadwani and Asad Qureshi, and airing on Geo Entertainment, the drama wraps up this week with its final, 15th episode. In a drama-scape thronged by series that often stretch out to 60 episodes, the shorter span has been refreshing.
The drama has also undeniably been a visual extravaganza, upping the bar for TV by shooting with the aid of high-end video cameras usually reserved for cinema, spanning beautiful locales. In Jhoom, the Karachi beach looks like a stretch of sand straight out of Europe, the homes are lavish, the hospital is squeaky-clean and the interiors look classy and color-coordinated. The cast, too, has been groomed to the tee – your eyes often get drawn to the clothes that they are wearing. Moreover, the drama’s original score is very hummable.
It’s very obvious that Jhoom is a 7th Sky Entertainment passion project. It can be conjectured that this passion has its roots in a father’s love for his son. Jhoom, after all, stars fledgling actor Haroon Kadwani as the male lead, the son of the drama’s producer Abdullah Kadwani. It is true that the young Haroon has never looked better. He’s the poster-boy for the lovestruck young hero, battling his inner demons and the evils of the world, all for the sake of love. He zooms down roads on his motorbike, slings his jacket over his shoulder while walking and smiles goofily when with the girl he loves.
On the other hand, the female lead, actress Zara Noor Abbas, is also standing out as the serious, emotional Maryam – she, by the way, is not related to the makers.
The story, in contrast to the complicated narratives of long plays, is not long drawn-out. It is a shorter narrative and yet, one that is layered. The characters have back-stories and distinct personalities. There are confessions of love and of desolation, strong friendships and evil vendettas, and in a short span of time, you feel that you know the characters very well.
The plot is also, in some ways, unpredictable. When the initial promotional teasers had been released, prior to Jhoom’s TV premiere, it had seemed that the drama was going to be a love story between an older woman and a young man. To the contrary, the age difference between both the leads forms a relatively insignificant part of the overall narrative. There are other obstacles that fall frequently in the path to true love; among them, an evil younger brother, a step-sister hell-bent on revenge and childhood traumas stemming from a troubled divorce.
Holding the plot together is the acting. The drama is co-produced by Abdullah Kadwani, starring his son Haroon Kadwani, but the story could have had fallen flat had it not been for the performances. In one particularly gripping scene, part of the drama’s 14th episode, Haroon’s character Aaryan reunites with his long-estranged mother who is battling cancer. Shaking, crying, he bends towards her, begging her to leave, blaming her, before ultimately hugging her desperately. It was certainly the most powerful scene in the drama, enacted brilliantly by Haroon and Zainab Qayoom, who plays his mother. Without the right effort, the scene could have had simply been that of a mother and son uniting tearfully – sad, but not necessarily memorable. Instead, in Jhoom, the tears and the dialogues hit at the heart and you find yourself holding your breath.
There are other moments in Jhoom that have been powerful; for instance, Zara Noor Abbas, staring desolately, disbelievingly, when Aaryan gets arrested on their wedding day. Heightening the visual experience are the details; an on-screen wedding couldn’t have had possibly looked more lavish, the beach hut where the two lovers often meet couldn’t have had looked more enticing. There are the filmy bits too; the dances at the wedding, the gorgeous sea-scapes and then, an incensed Aaryan pacing his jail cell in his sherwani, arrested on what was supposed to be the happiest day of his life. When his bail gets paid in the morning, Aaryan walks out of the cell, his eyebrows furrowed, his sherwani draped dramatically over his shoulders. It’s all very OTT, very dramatic, very true to the movie-like landscape etched out in Jhoom.
There could have had been improvements, of course. Aaryan’s father is a renowned professor, played by Usman Peerzada, who tends to drone on and on to his students about love and relations hips while they appear to nod intelligently. Is that all he teaches? Why is Maryam’s brother, Sherry – enacted by the talented Haris Waheed – so intent on punishing Aaryan? Does Maryam’s friend, played by Noreen Gulwani, have any interests of her own or does she while away her free time pondering over Maryam’s love life? These aspects of the script could have had been clarified.
Notwithstanding these cribs, Jhoom is very romantic overall, packing the punches with some beautiful moments and highlighting some exceptional performances. Zara Noor Abbas shines and so does Haroon Kadwani who may have managed to push aside the nepotism tag with this drama, proving his mettle through his work – especially that extraordinary scene in episode 14!
The drama’s popularity also highlights how the audience is now ready to watch shorter dramas with concise storylines. A story can have its twists and turns but there is no need for repetitive flashbacks or long shots in slow motion. There can be sad parts to a story and happy parts but there is no need to dwell upon them repetitively. I hope producers are reading this.
What do you think?