A review on Pakistani drama TV series, Raqeeb Se – Episode 6 (2021). The new TV series is directed by Kashif Nisar and is a production of Momina Duraid Productions. Raqeeb Se is a HUM TV Production.
(Note: If you’ve already read the review of the previous episode, you can skip directly ahead to the High points section).
+ Crew
- Directed by Kashif Nisar
- Written by Beegul
- DOP by Hassam Mairaj
- Music Composed by Hadiqa Kiani
- Produced by Momina Duraid Productions
+ Note
Raqeeb Se is the newest HUM TV Production and is once again the collaboration of the award winning Writer/ Director duo of Bee Gul and Kashif Nisar.
The title of the show is heavily inspired by a poem from the legendary poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz when the young poet fell in love with a girl next door in Sialkot. But alas, as luck would have it, she one day unexpectedly left the city, only to be reunited years later when Faiz was already an established poet in the circles of Urdu literature. This encounter inspired Faiz to write a poem “Raqib Se!”. The backstory of this poem plays a crucial role in the premise of the show.
+ Main Cast
- Hadiqa Kiani as Sakina
- Noman Ijaz as Maqsood
- Sania Saeed as Hajra
- Faryal Mehmood as Insha
- Iqra Aziz as Ameera
- Saqib Sameer as Rafiq
+ Plot
Raqeeb Se is a call of Maqsood’s dark past that could potentially destroy his present life. In order to escape her abusive husband, Sakina, along with her daughter Ameera, flees from her village to find shelter at her former lover’s place, Maqsood. Unfortunately Maqsood, who still holds a grudge against Sakina’s past actions, refuses to aid her in her most dire situation. But his wife, Hajra, seems much more sympathetic to the situation and lets Sakina stay at their home till things are figured out for the future.
But can Sakina be trusted to stay out of Maqsood’s life or will they be tempted to rekindle their lost love and in the process, destroy what Maqsood and his wife Hajra have built together?
+ High Points
i – Episode Six entails more characters (Maqsood’s older brother and his wife) which is a blessing for the show since the same four main cast of characters in every episode was becoming stale fast.
ii – In my last review, I mentioned that Hajira’s character needed more exploration. Thankfully, this was already in the cards of Raqeeb Se’s creative team as there are subtle hints of Hajira’s eventual outburst against the rekindled relationship between Sakina and Maqsood.
iii – The low lighten, illuminated backgrounds of each scene plays nicely to the overall dower atmosphere of the show. It visually conveys the anguish and seriousness of the plot.
Iv– There were some experimental camera angles used in between the episode which (for the most part) worked quite well. A shot through the glass where a window frame separates the two characters and their conflicting point of views was a nice touch.
+ Low Points
i – This show is incredibly repetitious and uncompelling for the most part. No matter how many layers there are to the Maqsood/ Sakina story, the pacing is slow, each scene lingers on much longer than it should and an iteration of the same themes of “will Sakina leave or stay?” is already a monotonous premise at this stage of the show. The plot and character arcs need to develop at a much faster pace than this as it is currently an ordeal to watch through.
ii – SPOILER ALERT!!! (skip to next point if you would like to avoid it)
The revelation that Ameera is possibly in love for Maqsood sahib is… well, disturbing to say the least. Yes, younger women do get fascinated with older men but just the fact that Maqsood was almost engaged to be married to her mother is (quite frankly) repulsive to say the least. Whether there will be any feeling from Maqsood sahib remains to be seen but is this really the direction the show wants to go to?
iii – The whole sequence of Sakina leaving for her village and then eventually, Maqsood Sahib bringing her back seemed utterly pointless and was quite obviously a tactic to prolong the episode to an hour long TV show.
iv – Near the end of the episode, Faryal Mehmood’s malicious dialogue towards Sakina felt quite out of character. Although it’s already established that she doesn’t like this whole arrangement, the threatening tone seems so out of the blue and felt as if the writer got Ameera’s dialogue mixed up with Insha’s.
+ Overall
Even with a shocking revelation, Episode 6 once again falls back to mediocrity and serves nothing to the overall plot in the long run.
Rate: 2 out of 5 stars
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