A review on Pakistani drama TV series, Ishq Hai – Episode 29 to 32 (2021). The new TV series is directed by Aabis Raza and written by Rehana Aftab. Ishq Hai is an ARY Digital 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 Aabis Raza
- Written by Rehana Aftab
- DOP by Waqas Ali
- OST composed by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
- Editing by Zeeshan Ali Jokhio
- Produced by Fahad Mustafa & Dr. Ali Kazmi
+ Note
Ishq Hai is a tale of two lovers, a Shakespearean tragedy set in South Asia where the conflict between tradition and individual freedom comes into play. An age long question within our Pakistani culture; should the tradition of arranged marriage be questioned? How important is the right to choose your own life partner? The drama has a star studded cast of young and veteran actors and is an exclusive ARY Digital Production.
+ Main Cast
- Minal Khan as Isra
- Danish Taimoor as Shahzaib
- Hammad Farooqi as Hammad
- Babar Ali as Isra’s father
- Hammad Shoaib as Haris
- Saba Faisal as Nafisa
- Mahi Baloch as Sameera
- Sajjad Paul as Raza
- Mahenur Haider as Nimra
+ Plot
Isra and Shahzaib are the young lovers in conflict with their respective families. Their parents have already found a spouse for them. Arranged marriage has been a family tradition but against all odds, Isra and Shahzaib want to fight for their love. Will their pure love be able to conquer all?
+ High Points
i – One of the bare minimum character development scenes we have in this show’s entirety takes place between Nimra and Shahzaib. Thankfully this scene lets itself playout to the audience without any nonsensical editing tamperings.
+ Low Points
i – Ishq Hai continues to devolve further into obscurity. The illogical “twist” in episode 31 felt unnecessary as the status quo was once again reached by the end of the same episode! Nimra and her sister are still the evil sisters out of Brother’s Grimm Fairytales! Why introduce this twist in the first place? Was it just to create some sympathy within Shahzaib’s heart for Nimra? But that was already in process so this clearly nullifies the whole scenario. Secondly, I can’t even begin to count how many times, within the last 6 Episodes, has Shahzaib “caught” Isra with Haris. Guys, it got old the first few times, also Isra is sincerely lacking intelligence when she resorts to trusting the sister of Nimra who physically assaulted her and openly engaged in submitting Shahzaib to her mad love. The pendulum of the narrative keeps swinging back and forth but this show goes nowhere.
ii – The dreaded slow motions keep plaguing this show. Every scene is unnaturally prolonged by stuttering slow motion scenes which are clearly added in Post production for the episode to reach its hour runtime. Never have I ever seen a show that has absolutely no faith in its own content. Well, at least even they are self aware how utter nonsense their own product is!
iii – Apparently in the world of Ishq Hai, whenever you see your wife talking to another man, that equates to cheating on him. Whenever your wife injures her hand and a man tries to help her, that also equates to cheating on him. Shahzaib knows well enough that Haris has been stalking his wife for some time now, so Haris forcing himself upon Isra at times makes no logical sense to him? Was he dropped on his head as a child or does everyone in this show lack even basic commonsense? Why do I keep watching this nonsense?
iv – Of all the characters I wish would just “go away”, Azekah Daniel as Naina is always on top of that list. Her character is just horribly written, solely serving as a person who could “negate” everything Isra claims. She openly whines in every episode how her life is ruined because of Isra, how she is never the center of attention because of Isra but we, as an audience, know literally nothing about Naina! What is her character outside of Isra? What are her ambitions? After 32 episodes, we literally know nothing about her.
+ Overall
With four episodes each week, Ishq Hai triumphs Quantity over Quality by a mile and a half! It is one of the worst shows ever aired on Pakistani Television (and that is saying a lot!).
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