Jhooti: The drama that replaced ‘Meray Paas Tum Ho’

Meray Paas Tum Ho left some big shoes to fill. The Humayun Saeed-Ayeza Khan starrer received unprecedented success and was reported to be television’s highest-rated drama of all time. The serial wrapped up on January 25 and the next week on February 1, Iqra Aziz, Ahmed Ali Butt and Yasir Hussain’s Jhooti took over.

Much before its release, when the teasers of the drama were released, Jhooti had stirred up controversy for allegedly showing women in a bad light and portraying them as money-hungry, two-faced creatures and the first episode did nothing to change the perception.

The drama opened with the same-old storyline. Nirma’s (Iqra) parents want their daughter to get married and settle down. But the rebel daughter wants a better life for herself and doesn’t want to settle for the “useless” boys in her “poor” neighbourhood. She spends her days shouting or passing snide remarks to her family members. There are a lot of screaming sessions as Nirma clashes with her family over the rishtas that come for her. The only person who supports her is her father.

In comes Ahmed Ali Butt as Nasir, a simple man *yawn* madly in love with Nirma. He runs a small store in the neighbourhood and lives a fuss-free life. He comes over with his family with a rishta for Nirma. While Nirma herself rejects him by constantly calling him fat, her family thinks that he is a good choice for her. Eventually, Nirma’s partner in crime and equally vile friend advises her to marry Nasir only if he agrees to put his shop and house in her name. Interestingly Nasir’s parents agree to her condition and they come over to fix the date for the wedding when Nirma flips and tells them that she’s already rejected the proposal.

While the drama doesn’t appear to have anything new to offer as yet and is as regressive as it can get – I mean Nirma’s mother tells her that she cannot go to university because she needs to get married – the only department in which it excels is acting. Iqra has given a solid performance and you absolutely hate her at the end of the episode. The rest of the actors including Butt and Asma Abbas as Nirma’s mother put up commendable performances.

The drama has a bit of a negative vibe to it and reminds you of the over the top Star Plus sagas. But I’m going to watch a couple of more episodes before deciding whether the drama is worth watching or not.

Jhooti has been directed by Syed Ramish Rizvi and penned by Ali Moeen. It airs every Saturday at 8pm.