My twisted take on the weekly Pakistani drama, Mann Mayal. 'Dekhiye Peer sabh, raat aath bajey.. sirf Hum par, *cue 'Hum jaisa koi nahin' voice-over*. Seriously though, watch it.. even if Mannu's silliness, Salahuddin's general backbone-less-ness, M...
Mujhe honestly Salahuddin ki samajh nahi arahi. Tutor Zehreela's bipolar tendencies are getting on my nerves. He acts aloof for an entire episode (and a half); jumps into a 'secret' relationship with Mannu in the next; makes a half-hearted attempt at asking for her hand in marriage; literally, shuts her out of his life; convinces another guy to marry her; and after he puts her through ALL of that, he calls her and asks her to meet him in secret [and these are the events, as they happen, in chronological order; *insert Jackie Chan confused meme here*] WHAT THE FALOODA, SADI?! Let the girl move the hell on!
Waise, if you consider the Mannu-Salahuddin meeting independent of the entire episode, it was very cute and well, kinda heartbreaking at the same time. Call me a masochist, if you will, but I liked the second half of their meeting more.. yeah, the sad bit. The dialogues, here, were just so darn beautiful. When Mannu says that 'aap ko dobara kabhi nahin dekhoongi?' line, I got choked up and I couldn't stop sobbing for the rest of the episode. There was such sadness and finality to that line. You could see the heartbreak on her face. Then they added the 'Aaj Jaane Ki Zid' instrumental in the background and I died! I remember screaming 'noooo, why are you doing this to me?!' Yeah, I literally said that out loud - it was just so cruel, I couldn't stop myself!
While we're on the topic, I wanted to share something interesting, regarding that ghazal, with you guys. I kid you not - and this is freaky - I was planning a Mannu-Sadi VM on THAT very ghazal for two weeks. Freaky, right?! Waise, I don't think I'll be able to top THAT now. It was such a perfect song and blended so beautiful with the situation. Kudos, music department. You guys are ace!
Now, onto my Fat Owl Favourites for the week!
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ABAYA. Alright, this is a tiny little thing, and probably overlooked by many, but I can't get over that scene where Salahuddin helps Mannu into her abaya. I mean, I've seen the opposite, the girl helping the guy wear his jacket, a million times but this.. this, in Pakistani dramas, was a FIRST for me.
THE MUSIC. Aaahh, the music. That melody that plays as Mannu sneaks out of her house was beautiful! The love for classical desi music is real! That 'Aaj Jane Ki Zid Na Karo' was the cherry on top. A sad cherry.. but a cherry nonetheless! Also.. I can't get over that VM-waala coincidence!
MANNU. Mannu seems to be the ONLY consistent character in Mann Mayal. Just for that reason, I am - regardless of her childish antics and general marranjogi-ness - Team Mannu .. all the way!
THE 'PODA' METAPHOR. One line that hit me like OUCH was when Mannu says 'uss poday [par] hawa aur paani band kar dogi toh woh khud hi tarap tarap ke mar jayega.'
I love it when so many things come together to create one perfect moment and Mannu's monologue, about that poda, was one such scene. I can't stress how much I absolutely LOVED Maya Ali here!
At first, it was just a random dialogue about a plant, it's when her actions start to mirror her words is when you slowly start to realise that the poda is, in fact, a metaphor for Mannu herself.
She tries to keep it together at first but, as she goes on, the metaphor becomes more and more familiar, which then sends her spiralling into a state of melancholy.
First, she starts gasping for air between words, then, as her speech becomes more slow and drawn out, her posture changes and she tries to make herself as small as possible, eventually breaking down as she sits down on the chair, where she lets her tears flow free, to 'teri deewani hui tera kasoor hai'. The way Ali's facial expressions and body language change, throughout, was BRILLIANTLY done! *standing-ovation for Maya bae and her director, Haseeb Hasan*
MAYA ALI. I can't praise the girl enough. She has, yet again, stolen the show. From beginning to end, episode 5 belonged to Maya Ali! What I love most about Ali, is that whenever she's a part of a show, she makes the character her own. Her performance is always so natural, that I don't even, for a second, think that yeh woh character nahin, par Maya hai. She is especially effortless at those emotional scenes - which we had plenty of, in this episode.
THE LAST 10 MINUTES. Gold. One of the most awaited scenes: the one where Sadi protects Mannu from ghar waalon ka attack was in THIS episode and it was GLORIOUS! Baaqi sab kuch toh tha hi AMAZING.. I have NO words, but I can't possibly end this review before talking about that last line of the episode.
BABA TEDDYBEAR SAYS IT AS IT IS AND SLAM-FREAKIN'-DUNKS SALAHUDDIN! Teddybear said EVERYTHING we've been thinking for the past few weeks and man, did it feel good!
Now for my two cents: *clears throat* Salahuddin.. you are a good-for-nothing, confused, spineless little coward who doesn't deserve Mannu! *drops mic, wears sunglasses and walks off stage in slo-mo*
