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Featured: A Review of the Pakistani Drama “Hum Kahan Ke Sachay Thay”

About the drama

The words ‘Hum Kahan Ke Sachay Thay’ literally mean “When were we ever truthful?” This Pakistani drama television series is based on the novel of same name by Umera Ahmad. It first aired 1st August 2021 on Hum TV. It was directed by Farooq Rind, and co-produced by Soul Fry Films and MD Productions. The main cast features big-name Pakistani Celebs such as Mahira Khan as well as lesser known but talented additions such as Kubra Khan and Usman Mukhtar in lead roles.

Trailer

Synopsis

Hum Kahan Ke Sachay Thay offers mystery, suspense and strong female characters and is a story of love, hate and complex relationships. The serial revolves around three cousins Mehreen, Mashal and Aswad, played by Mahira Khan, Kubra Khan and Usman Mukhtar respectively.

Mehreen is a troubled and conflicted child haunted by the past actions of her parents while Mashal is vivacious, carefree and thinks everything revolves around her. Their cousin Aswad is a young and handsome who is caught between the clash of egos of these two girls.

 Review

My Overall Thoughts

This drama starts out quite well. Setting up an interesting rivalry and a put-upon heroine that you can’t help but root for. However, very soon it starts to drag – on and on and on… You quickly get tired of the back and forth whining between the two female leads and the complete and utter (might I suggest to an imbecilic degree?) cluelessness of the hero. The heroine is also waaay too passive in this modern day and age, she just lets everyone walk right over her. Overall, although the plot is quite interesting with a number of great twists and turns: the quagmire of relationships between the lead characters is handled poorly and seems to slog the pacing to make it seem like we’re stuck in quicksand.

The Best Parts of the drama

Like in many dramas the start and end are the best parts, leaving the middle to drag. I’ve never wanted to skip stuff quite so badly…

Plot

The strength of the drama comes from the murder mystery plotline. We all know that the one accused can’t have been the killer, but there is enough doubt to leave you wanting more. Mehreen’s treatment by others and her medical problems are also treated in a plot-relevant and interesting manner.

Acting

The actors manage to sell their roles quite well, and even manage to be quite captivating in some points. Mahira Khan’s portrayal of Mehreen especially, lends her a quiet sort of dignity that is mesmerizing. Aswad (the utter cad) comes off as an utter cad quite easily, while still seeming torn over his action as well as possessive and obsessed by Mehreen. The only performance that was slightly weaker may have been that of Mashal, who, while seeming quite malicious, was never quite as threatening as I thought she ought to be.

Things That Were Not good

I actually enjoyed this drama, depite the slow pacing and some healthy skipping leads to a much better viewing experience.

Show don’t tell

The characterization of the main characters is given way too much time – in the wrong way. They keep adding rambling passages from Mehreen’s diary as she wanders around, or sits sorrowfully, or stares into the distance, or – you get the point. They show Mashal ranting at Mehreen in her nightmares, or her dressing room, or her bedroom but the scenes are not dynamic, they’re quite flat, because she keeps saying the same stuff and quite frankly; she’s not all that intimidating.

Pacing

The pacing, oh the pacing… It’s so damn inconsistent! Sometimes stuff happens so fast, that if you blink, you’ll miss it, (one time, I was bored and skipped ten seconds ahead, and suddenly Aswad was declaring his love for Maheen to his mother, whereas before he had been dead set against marrying her), other times you can skip whole episodes because nothing actually happens.

Repetition

Stuff is repeated until you’re actually sick of watching the same scenes over and over. This is especially true regarding Aswad and Maheen interactions and as well as Maheen and Mashal interactions.

Side Characters

The side character are all horrendously one-dimensional. That is all.

My Final Thoughts

The drama was “conditionally fun”.

My rating for this drama is 6/10.                                            


DISCLAIMER:

This review is the Author’s opinion, the author does not claim anything stated here as fact. If you disagree with anything written in this article please do not hesitate to sound of in the comments down below. However, please keep in mind that the author is not liable for any information stated in this post. It is purely opinion.

The Drama “Hum Kahan Ke Sachay Thay” and all of its materials are owned by HUM TV, and its various producers and Entertainment companies. We are merely using some of them in this post to illustrate a point (fair use). If you wish for your materials to be taken down please contact us and we will remove them immediately.

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