Mehmal says yes to the wedding, Manto denies being in love, Farhad’s changeover fooled everyone except Madiha and phoppo is waiting for the miracle that will flip events in her favour – when Mehmal doesn’t end up marrying Mikaal and Farhad targets another one of the Amritsaris, or ends up being targeted himself. It’s all happening in Main Manto Nahi Hoon!
But here’s the question on top of our mind: What does Suraiya want? Despite the fact that she shares a close bond with Mehmal, closer than the one Mehmal has with her mother, is Suraiya really sincere with her? Is she using Mehmal to exact revenge for the murder of her sons? And more importantly, is it Farhad she wants killed, or perhaps even Shamrez? Is Suraiya dark enough to wish death upon her own family just because she has been deprived of her own children? There’s a lot hiding behind that secret smile, the fleeting expressions, the waiting to believe that Mehmal is, after all, getting married to Mikaal, the label of Manto ‘not qualified for love,’ as if throwing him a challenge. Does Suraiya just want the Amritsari and Bin Yameen universe to always stay off-balance. Once she achieves that, she derives a vicarious pleasure from knowing that others around her will never be happy – a fitting revenge from someone who has to spend her life with her sons’ funerals as a stark memory – even Mehmal, the person she loves dearly, might be used to exact that revenge.
And that dear folks, is Suraiya in a nutshell. But the heavens are conspiring to set her plan in motion, as Mikaal gets a phonecall, possibly from Farhad, asking him to call off the wedding? We spin our best prediction on this one, but it’s as close to the story as it gets. However, what Farhad might not know is that Manto is also at the wedding, all dressed up, in all his wedding finery (this time, there’s money in the bank too, as he’s accepted his father’s inheritance, good timing that), and could conveniently step in to serve the groom’s role?
Not just that, but the gaping age difference; 42 years vs 22 years has us wondering if drama makers have now decided to cash in on the age gap as a trend to be exploited? Practically every drama throws in an age gap between the lead couple and interestingly, no one blinked an eye when this one came up, well, because we’re still rolling our eyes on the teacher-student debate despite some from the cast staunchly denying the story line.
Anyway, onwards to Farhad whose latest twist is as sinister as it gets. One wonders why or how Bin Yameen falls for this one, was he in fact, born yesterday? It does seem from Hammad’s reaction to Madiha’s angst though, that he’s not buying it but pretending all is well. What does Hammad know that we don’t? Episode next for Main Manto Nahi Hoon is going to be a banger for sure, lots of action and big reveals!
Hazrat and Mehmal have a showdown. And so do Ms. Maria and Manto Sir. While Manto is in denial, or really not in love, one wonders why Ms. Maria is bent upon making him admit to something he refuses to acknowledge? Is she forcing a false statement from him, just like they do in the movies, or does she truly believe he’s in love with Mehmal? And is she bent on encouraging a rimanve between a student and a teacher? Is Ms. Maria herself not a responsible adult, that too, a teacher in the same college. Why would she instigate such a relationship? If Suraiya does it, she has ulterior motives, but why Ms. Maria? On the other hand, does Mehmal believe Manto Sir is in love with her, the way he sweats profusely at the mention of her could either be because of the Siraj Amritsari fear factor or, he is really and truly in love with Mehmal? Again, Manto isn’t saying much but deny as much as he can, Ms Maria and Mehmal will have none of it.
We also saw a glimpse of the phoppo-Naseeba rivalry as Naseeba seeks to reclaim the daughter she lost to Suraiya. Unfortunately, despite Mehmal’s undeniable love for her phoppo, it seems that Suraiya is not capable of genuine feelings towards anyone in the family, so dark is her heart, plotting, praying, planning revenge that Mehmal might also be a pawn in the game for her – anything to achieve her purpose.
But one wonders if we can blame Suraiya for being so dark? Saima Noor has played the character well and despite the shades in her, the character elicits a mix of fear and strangely, a kind of sympathy too, for the fate she has suffered in life.
Main Manto Nahi Hoon is moving towards a showdown and events are spiraling to a climax as Mehmal’s wedding approaches. Anything can happen between now and next week. From Manto marrying Mehmal at the last moment, to Shamrez and Farhad facing off, Mikaal backing off from the wedding, and Hammad, let’s not forget Hammad, falling victim to a conflict that is certainly not of his making.
Mention of Ifrah had us sitting up as we’re waiting to find out about her fate. Is she alive or dead? Despite the complex and intriguing twists in the story, some dialogues could be worded better and clichés such as references to Tom and Harry that seemed really out of place from Mikaal, Mehmal using terminology such as ‘moon tor doongi’ with Mikaal, and Mikaal suddenly backing off from the plan to delay the wedding just because Mehmal said so, seemed a bit disappointing. But disappointing is what Hazrat has been from the very beginning, so we guess the character stays true to itself.
Do you also feel Suraiya is not sincere with Mehmal and that was Farhad on the phone with Mikaal, is Manto really not in love and who will marry Mehmal eventually? Drop us a line if we missed something in this week’s Main Manto Nahi Hoon review.
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The cast includes Humayun Saeed, Sajal Aly, Azan Sami Khan, Sanam Saeed, Asif Raza Mir, Saba Hamid, Saba Faisal, Saima Noor, Babar Ali, Usman Peerzada, Musaddiq Malek, and others. Main Manto Nahi Hoon is written by Khalil ur Rehman Qamar, directed by Nadeem Baig, and produced under the Six Sigma Plus and Next Level Entertainment banners. It airs on ARY Digital on Friday and Saturday evening.
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