A review on Pakistani drama TV series, Parizaad Episode 7 (2021). The new TV series is directed by Shehzad Kashmiri and written by Hashim Nadeem. Parizaad is a Momina Duraid 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 Shehzad Kashmiri
- Written by Hashim Nadeem
- Produced by Momina Duraid Productions
+ Note
Parizaad is based on a novel by Hashim Nadeem and is a case study of a protagonist who cannot seem to find his place in a world where illicit behaviour and exploitation is rewarded over truth and kindness. The show explores the lower middle class societal problems of Pakistan and how a wallflower like Parizaad is never appreciated by our society.
The director of the show Shehzad Kashmiri is a well respected cinematographer who then moved towards directing TV shows. He also directed a feature length film Bin Roye in 2015 which earned him a nomination for Best Film Director at 15th Lux Style Awards.
+ Main Cast
- Noman Ejaz
- Ahmed Ali Akbar
- Syed Muhammad Ahmed
- Urwa Hussain
- Ushna Shah
- Yumna Zaidi
- Saboor Ali
- Mashal Khan
- Tipu Shah
- Kiran Tabeer
+ Plot
Born in a world of neglect and hurt, Parizaad is an innocent soul that differs from everyone. He is kind, thoughtful and a gentle soul who due to his nature and appearance, does not fit the societal norms of Pakistani culture. Will the devious modern society engulf Parizaad into its darkness or will he remain a beacon of hope and all that is good in Life?
+ High Points
i – Episode 7 is the beginning of a new phase in Parizaad’s life and its great to see that the focus of attention is once again on Parizaad. The last few episodes lost its way a bit, focusing too much on side characters who were nowhere near as interesting as our main protagonist but Episode 7 rectified all that. The subplots still exist but were given as much attention as they should have. The show is about Parizaad’s odyssey; the different kinds of people he meets along the way, the hardships that he has to face, this is and should be the main focus of the show and Episode 7 delivered on that front.
ii – In this week’s episode, there seems to be a subtle thematic nod to William Shakespare that I truly admired. In the episode, Parizaad’s new friend Lubna directed a theater play “Othello” which was written by the greatest playwright of all, William Shakespare. The play is about a Moorish General who destroys his own personal life due to jealousy by murdering his wife Desdemona in a fit of rage. Othello has a sense of insecurity due to his appearance since he is a dark skinned man. As you can imagine, this directly refers to our protagonist Parizaad who is also (perhaps not explicitly) insecure of his appearance. I love the fact that the director Shehzad Kashmiri decided to add a subtle thematic connection to our main character of the show. Let’s just hope that Parizaad’s story does not end the same way Othello did!
iii – It was intriguing to see Parizaad interacting with the high society and what a misfit he seems to be amongst them. It highlights the lack of moral corruption and purity of Parizaad.
+ Low Points
i – Since Ahmed Ali Akbar is just so outstanding in his performance as Parizaad, it puts most of the other performances of our supporting cast on the back foot. Mashal Khan as Lubna has definitely the potential to be an interesting character, her performance lacks the tenacity that the role requires. Her dialogue delivery and expressions seem very lethargic and not genuine to the character that she is supposed to be portraying onscreen. Although the performance is not terrible by any stretch of the imagination, it does seem lacking in quality when it coincides next to Ahmed Ali Akbar as Parizaad.
And on the side note, please get rid of cringeworthy dialogues from Lubna like “Mai Party phaak rahi hou!”. This sentence seems to be a direct translation of “I’m throwing a party!”. The translation makes no sense in Urdu. Either let her say this dialogue in English or avoid such false translations completely.
ii – There were several scenes during episode 7 where the atmospheric noise was completely absent (the echo and footsteps while walking in the hallway of the university). I’m not sure why this decision was made since it just ended up making the scenes feel hollow and taking place inside a vacuum capsule. Atmospheric background noise is vital if you want to give the illusion to the viewers that they themselves are part of the scene.
iii – The subplot of Parizaad’s sister has really not been all that interesting and are definitely the “skippable” parts of the episode. Let’s just hope that the subplot develops into something more engrossing than their current state.
+ Overall
Episode 7 presents a thought provoking journey for Parizaad as he gets to interact with high society and an entertaining hour of Television!
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