‘Tajdeed E Wafa’ has been creating a lot of buzz since the first promo of the show was released. The show features Ahmed Ali Akbar and Naveen Waqar, who haven’t featured in Pakistani dramas for a while now. Fans were also excited to see the online chemistry between Ahmed Ali Akbar and Ainy Jaffri.
The first episode came out this week and we just watched it.
The show follows the lives of two brothers, Arsal (Ahmed Ali Akbar) and Ashar (Haroon Shahid). Arsal lives with his parents, while Ashar is married and lives in Karachi. The drama focuses on the dynamic of the family; be it the brothers and their parents, Ashar with his wife or Arsal with his love interest.
Ashar and Neha (Naveen Waqar) had a love marriage, and moved out of his parent’s house in Islamabad and moved to Karachi. Their marriage is the main plotline of the first episode. Ashar is a typical mama’s boy, while Neha is trying to balance maintaining the house and also working, of course, Ashar isn’t of much help.
Most of their tensions root from this particular issue, how Ashar is just unwilling to help her out.
There is a lot of mention of how their marriage was not as tense as is shown in this episode, and at one point there is a throwback. Both of them seem to be in love with each other, with Ashar just constantly doting over her. There isn’t much indication of what caused a shift in their marriage but there is a point where Neha places blame of Ashar’s mom (typical, yes I know). There are moments where he tries to be ‘cute’ with her, it works for a while, but it isn’t long that the tensions blow up again.
Arsal’s story is sort of different.
He lives with his parents but can’t stand his father and how he treats him like a child, money wise. He avoids going home and stays there very little. The only good thing in his life is Hareem. They are both madly in love with each other and trying to figure out how to push the ‘shaadi’ question to their parents. It’s pretty obvious from the way he talks about his brother, that he looks up to him and aspires to achieve what all he has in life. That includes moving out of his parent’s home and marrying the girl of his dreams.
‘Tajdeed E Wafa’ is not a family drama, it is a drama about family and the realities of desi family dynamics. It shows favoritism, resentment and how sometimes a marriage can run dry. This episode ends with the promise of a large plot twist/ point of conflict coming up with regards to Ashar and Neha’s marriage. All the promos of the show also indicate that it is their marriage that starts a ripple effect. It will be interesting to see how family, a sometimes rigid institution, can warp and adjust to the shock of a failed marriage.
Have you seen ‘Tajdeed E Wafa’ yet? If so, do let us know what you think so far in the comments 🙂