Pakistani dramas generally are far from reality – even though they do pretend to be realistic. But more often than not you come across dramas that are so far-fetched from reality that they begin to test your patience. And Hania Aamir, Feroze Khan, Gohar Rasheed and Ramsha Khan’s Ishqiya is one of those.
To begin with, the plot doesn’t make any sense. Hamna (Ramsha Khan) and Romaisa (Rumi) are two sisters who have typical Pakistani drama parents: old-school and simple. While Hamna is the sober and serious one, Rumi (Hania Aamir) is the lively and playful one. Hania in this drama is no different than Daneen, her character in Anaa and from the first 10 episodes, I think it is fair to say that her fate will somewhat be the same. Rumi’s over-the-top energy is a bit annoying and her dialogues are borderline cringe.
On the other hand, Hamna is in a relationship with her class fellow Hamza (Feroze Khan). The two love each other passionately to the point that Hamza is a bit obsessive about Hamna. In the first few episodes, Hamza gives major Kabir Singh vibes: the public possessiveness, the self-destructive nature etc. In a typical twist of fate, the girls’ father Siddiqui Sahab (as Rumi calls him) has ill health and wants to get his daughters settled (in other words married) as soon as possible. When his colleague approaches them with a rishta of his son Azeem (Gohar Rasheed) for Hamna, Siddiqui Sahab does not hesitate to say yes and Hamna is soon married to Azeem. When Hamza finds out, he throws a major tantrum and in the process ends up getting involved in a car accident. After he recovers, Hamza decides that the best way to get back at Hamna is by marrying her sister Rumi and soon the two also end up getting married with the reception of both the sisters scheduled on the same day.
I’m pretty sure by now, after reading the plot of the drama, you must also be thinking keh yaar yeh kya drama hai? My sentiments exactly. The plot makes zero sense to me – how can a someone not tell their sister that ‘Dude the boy who is approaching you for a rishta is my ex-boyfriend and that he is only doing this to get back at me?’
Not only that, ever since Hamna got married to Azeem, she has a long face, barely eats and is always teary-eyed. That is literally visible to everyone except her own family who are oblivious to her tears.
After mentally torturing Hamna through four episodes and making her uncomfortable at every opportunity, the latest episode saw Hamza finally take his new bride, Roomi home. Hamna also moved to her husband Azeem’s house. It appears that now that the basic matters have been settled and the two former lovers have married other people, we’re in for a major plot twist and a whole lot of drama, which I’m thinking I will skip given how the plot of Ishqiya isn’t the most original. The Pakistani drama scene has seen plenty of such dramas before: one I can remember on top of my head is Yaariyan featuring Ayeza Khan, Moomal Sheikh, Junaid Khan and Muneeb Butt. It also had a similar premise involving two sisters.
Written by Mohsin Ali Shah and directed by Badar Mehmood (Cheekh, Balaa), Ishqiya airs every Monday at 8pm on ARY Digital.
