A review on Pakistani drama TV series, Sang-e-Mah Episode 13 (2022). The new TV series is directed by Saife Hassan and written by Mustafa Afridi. Sang-e-Mah is the spiritual continuation of the saga introduced in the Hum TV drama Sang-e-Mar Mar (2016). Sang-e-Mah is the acting debut of the famous Pakistani pop star Atif Aslam and the drama is a Momina Duraid Production.
+ Crew
- Directed by Saife Hassan
- Written by Mustafa Afridi
- Produced by Momina Duraid Productions
+ Note
The drama Sang-e-Mah serves as a spiritual sequel to the show Sang-e-Mar Mar (2016) with Noman Ejaz, Sania Saeed and many others returning to the same cast and crew. The drama deals with life in the Pakhtoon region of Pakistan and explores such hard hitting topics like forced marriages and integral family relationships. According to the director, Sang-e-Mah serves under similar themes as its predecessor, in a three part trilogy, ending it with the next planned show, Sang-e-Siyah.
+ Main Cast
- Atif Aslam as Hilmand Khan
- Nauman Ijaz as Haji Marjaan Khan
- Kubra Khan as Sheherzaad
- Hania Amir as Gul Meena
- Zaviyar Nauman Ijaz as Hikmat Khan
- Sania Saeed as Zarghuna
- Samiya Mumtaz as Zarsanga
- Omair Rana as Mastaan Singh
- Najiba Faiz as Harshaali Kaur
- Hassan Noman as Badam Gul
+ Plot
Sang-e-Mah is a story of a dysfunctional Pakhtoon family in the tribal regions of Pakistan where pride and honour mostly triumphs over empathy and forgiveness. The show deals with issues such as young love and opposing families who are engaged in a tribal battle with one another.
+ High Points
i – Episode 13 continues on with the unresolved issues between Marjaan Khan and Hilmand. With the recent attempt at his life, Hilmand strongly suspects his step father to be behind this heinous and cowardly act. When sharing the screen together, Atif Aslam and Nauman Ijaz play excellently off one another and bring a sense of dread to the forefront.
+ Low Points
i – This episode was pretty much a waste of time. Nothing significant happened throughout its runtime. There were a lot of mediocre scenes and set pieces, accompanied by sub par performances from the main cast. Atif Aslam as Hilmand was especially one of the worst parts of this episode. Of all the scenes that he was conscious, his stabbing was played off as a minor inconvenience as he was too busy being sarcastic and nonchalant. How a person regains consciousness and health in just a week’s time by being repeatedly stabbed is beyond my comprehension of medical science. Episode 13 will undoubtedly go down as one of the weakest episodes this show has ever produced.
ii – Along with Hilmand, Sheherzaad is one of the worst written characters on the show. By sharing a mere couple of moments together, she has now fallen head over heels for the bad boy Hilmand who hardly remembers that she even exists. This feels as if the show missed out on building just basic chemistry between the two characters as it makes zero sense why she seems so utterly concerned about her love. I have seen better romance in Disney princess animated films than this. The writing by Mustafa Afridi has been just awful when it comes to building romance between the two leads. In contrast to this, Mastaan Singh and his fiance have a much better and convincing romance. They genuinely seem to care for each other’s well being and have the ability to finish each other’s sentences. Hilmand and Sherherzad have absolutely nothing going for them.
iii – Speaking of Mastaan Singh, why in the world did he decide to murder yet another person when he was just forgiven (merely days ago!) from his previous crime for life long slavery? The reasoning given by the script is that he wanted to protect his “daughter” Gul Meena from the trap that Hilmand had invertedly set for her. But Mastaan committing yet another heinous crime so nonsensically is beyond absurd and lacks any form of believability. Apparently the writer wanted Hilmand to be in peril so we could sympathize with him more and hence, the stabbing. This is a perfect example when the narrative hijacks the characters into committing actions which make no sense to their characterization or the situation.
iv – The elders of the village serve absolutely no purpose to this story. They are literally pointless tools who add nothing and by now, they should really be written off the show. Their scenes usually consist of useless banter or some villager insulting them. That is the extent of their character development in the show.
+ Overall
Episode 13 has unfortunately turned out to be one of the worst written episodes this show has ever produced.
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