By Maliha Rehman
I am hoping that Tere Ishq ke Naam, produced by iDream Entertainment, proves to be one of those rare dramas that doesn’t drag, that doesn’t rely on repetitive scenes that add nothing to the story and that has strong character development.
Based on the recently aired second episode, the story continues to be an interesting one. The shades to the various characters are slowly deepening, their good, bad and ugly sides are slowly becoming more apparent.
Zaviyar Naumaan Ijaz as Khursheed, for instance, is the all-out good hero. He’s from a humble background, works hard, loves his mother and patiently bears with the constant jeers of Rutba, aka Hiba Qadir, out of respect for her father.
Rutba is a spoilt brat who gets your blood boiling but there’s a chance that we may feel a bit sorry for her later. In this episode, we find out that she lost her mother when she was very young and was spoilt rotten by her greedy, no-good phuppis. Maybe she’s going to turn over a new leaf eventually? She is the main female lead after all.
Altamash is Rutba’s fiancé. He’s sly, manipulative and clearly has his eyes on Rutba’s vast inheritance. He is also perhaps in love with her – but just more in love with her money. His mother, enacted by Munazzah Arif – one of Rutba’s phuppis – is just as greedy.
Rutba’s other phuppi is played Nadia Afgan. She’s a widow with two daughters and seems to be hoping that Altamash will eventually marry her elder daughter Azka, played by Yashma Gill. She rushes off to Altamash’s house and chides her sister for not insisting that Rutba and Altamash marry immediately. She then goes to Rutba’s home and advises her brother to continue with his plan of making Rutba complete her studies before she weds. Basically, she’s just turning both sides against each other to suit her own purposes. Azka helps her mother along, scheming, taking secret photographs with her phone and ratting out Rutba to her father in attempts to create trouble.
This brings us to Jamal Shah who plays Rutba’s father. He wants his daughter to focus on her studies and be less of the spoilt princess that she is. Her lectures her and worries about her – and it’s so strange that he hadn’t realized up till this point just how badly his daughter behaved. He scolds Rutba for misbehaving with Khursheed and then later, asks Khursheed to begin tutoring Rutba so that she studies better – despite knowing how problematic his daughter can be. He very evidently lives in la-la-land.
In this episode, Rutba’s father is also the constant unfortunate recipient of complaints. The servants tell him how badly Rutba has behaved. His sister tells him that Altamash and his parents are going to insist on marriage soon. Azka tells him that Altamash had suggested to Rutba that they could run away and marry. Every time, he huffs and puffs and scolds Rutba. In the very next scene, she is shown going against her father’s will yet again. As fathers go, Rutba’s rich billionaire father seems to be quite ineffectual.
Khursheed’s mother, played by Nida Mumtaz, goes about being good and performing her domestic duties. She also, while conversing with Khursheed, reveals some of Rutba’s back-story. Nida Mumtaz, it seems, is going to subtly narrating a lot of the main nuances of the plot to the audience.
This is alright, for now. One hopes that she doesn’t make a habit of it. One also hopes that Jamal Shah has more to do in this drama than just fret over his daughter. He is a seasoned artist who can really uplift a story when given the chance to do so.
Having said this, the narrative is engaging. The drama’s teasers have clearly revealed that Rutba will eventually, through some twist of fate, end up marrying Khursheed. Altamash has been shown throwing things about in a fit of anger. How will all this happen?
One hopes that the story doesn’t dwindle towards familiar, predictable tropes later on. If director Ahmed Bhatti keeps up the drama’s pace, then there’s a strong chance that the audience will riveted, waiting to see this turning-point and whatever happens after it. It helps that the entire ensemble consists of some great actors. The performances are quite flawless and the visuals are glossy, with attention having been given to the characters’ styling.
So far, so good.
What do you think?