Episode 2 Review
(A New and Fresh Narrative)
This week’s episode of Parizaad elevated the bar a bit higher. The episode continued to unwrap the cliff hanger (though the plot was already predicted by many viewers) left in the last episode where Parizaad was confronted for writing Naheed a love letter. A wrongly accused Parizaad is confronted in front of the whole neighbourhood. Yet, he refuses to speak the name of the real culprit, due to the one-sided love for Naheed. In that particular scene Ahmed Ali was phenomenal and just through a few mere expressions he was able to convey the turmoil within him.
The story progresses with a shamefaced, Parizaad continuing with his usual life of tutoring and studying. He is accused by his brothers and the only one that comes to his rescue is his sister. The unbreakable bond between Parizaad and his sister calls for some notes to be taken as to how to be always benevolent to your sibling(s).
However, the story took an unexpected twist when Shauki apologizes to Pari (which honestly I didn’t expect from the way his character had developed in the previous episode) and inculpated Naheed for being with another man on the roof. The events unfold at an interesting pace when Parizaad follows Naheed just to find his suspicions turning out to be true. He finds Naheed with another man (and that too is non other than Majid who is shown to be a pious god-fearing man). Honestly, till now I was not able to decipher why was it necessary to show Majid too religious and then associate him as part of a lie. Hopefully, writer Hashim Nadeem will resolve this for us in the upcoming episodes.
Ahmed Ali Akbar once again captivated the audience with his performance. He somehow manages to make us live the life of Parizaad through him. From the beginning of the episode, in the scene where he is slapped by Naheed’s father in front of the whole neighborhood to his expressions when he finds Naheed with Majid are priceless. It is safe to say, even with a judgment based just on two episodes, that this will be the highlight of Ahmed Ali Akbar’s career.
Moreover, the direction was phenomenal. Kudos to Shehzad Kashmiri for giving us such beautiful and captivating shots even in a small neighborhood where we can expect it’s hard to get enthralling shots. As for the next week’s episode, we might expect Pari’s life to unfold a bit more and the narrative to shift from Naheed. Nonetheless, we are eagerly waiting for it to air.
