It’s always great seeing a fresh new pairing on-screen. We’ve been blessed with really great on-screen couples in the near past, what with Ahad and Sajal, and then Farhan and Iqra. Shaz Khan and Zara Noor Abbas join them as another couple that looks precious together. We’re finally seeing Shaz Khan after his stellar stint as ill-fated Daniyal on ‘Yakeen Ka Safar’ and Zara Noor Abbas after ‘Khamoshi,’ both credible dramas that showcased the actors’ acting abilities.
The episode begins Saba Faisal as Bibi Jaan, a widow who longs for her son Haashir (Shaz) to come back home. It takes one phone call to persuade him to go home and informs his wife (whom he’s secretly married) that he’s jetting off. We quickly find out that Haashir’s already engaged – cue shock and horror – to a family friend back home (I think he doesn’t know or forgot). Bibi Jaan tells his wife-to-be to get ready for Haashir’s return to Karachi.
Zara Noor Abbas is introduced next as the humble, tempered Alina, who’s from a poor background, starkly different from the lavish life Haashir leads in NY, and the Karachi haveli his mother lives in. She lives with her elder brother and vindictive (evil) sister-in-law who’s quick to accuse Alina of not earning money – another recycled trope, the war between a brother’s wife and his sister but it’s too soon to make a judgment.
Haashir’s hesitant to tell his family he’s married – and it’s intriguing to know why. He tells his best friend on arriving that he hasn’t told Bibi Jaan because he first needs to “mentally prepare” her. Haashir tells his mother he wants her to come back to New York with him, but she cuts short a little tender moment between mother and son to reveal to him that he’s engaged. Mega awks. Things get a bit tense, and Bibi Jaan refuses to speak to him, wishing he goes back (even though he JUST arrived). It’s a bit of a selfish motive of Bibi Jaan’s to try and get her son to marry someone he does not love, but then again it’s an emblem of most elders and their rigid mindsets.
Haashir’s wife is a bit irrelevant (and annoying), so I’m not rooting for them at all tbh. She asks him when he’s going to tell his mother about their secret marriage, but he’s more worried about any stress that might be inflicted on Bibi Jaan, who’s a heart patient. They have an intimate conversation that falls short of sweet, but I suppose it’s necessary to set up narratives in the first episode.
Zara and Shaz are phenomenal actors, and while Shaz is yet to really unleash, we got to see Zara’s brilliance in a short altercation with her bitchy sister-in-law who wants her out of her house. Things reach a boiling point when she walks out, giving her ailing husband two options – either he writes her into the sole owner of the house, or he kicks Alina out. Despite such abuse, Alina is still adamant about bringing bhabhi home and apologize, but her brother insists that she hasn’t done anything wrong that justifies an apology.
Despite a few very archaic themes we’ve seen a little too many times in dramas, let’s see if ‘Lamhay’ carves a more unique path for itself. I’m curious to see how Zara and Shaz will collide, and can’t wait for their interactions. The first episode set up a few sturdy foundations to build upon, despite its slow pace. What did you think of the first episode?