“Aakhir Kab Tak” has been a generally flawless show, boasting not only of great performances, but a great story that offered hope to its viewers (and characters) despite grim circumstances. Starring Ushna Shah, Srha Asghar, Adeel Hussain, Haroon Shahid, Javeria Abbasi, Shahood Alvi, Gul E Rana and others, the story has been written by Radain Shah and directed by Syed Ali Raza Usama. Despite having a tight script for over 25 episodes, the story has upset fans in the past few episodes after Fajar’s suicide.
It has always been a monumental task for Pakistani dramas to handle courtroom sequences and, unfortunately, where many dramas have failed before, “Aakhir Kab Tak” falls into the same hole. It is the latest trend in Pakistani dramas for the prosecution to hire a “good female lawyer,” something which is a very progressive, uplifting move – but as always, that female lawyer ends up being incompetent, being caught unaware of the most basic things in her case and letting things go haywire for her clients almost immediately. This is where the story goes here as well. In episode 30, the family grapples with moving forward. As Saim (Haroon Shahid), Noor (Ushna Shah) and Nasir (Adeel Hussain) hire a lawyer for Fajar’s (Srha Asghar) case against Zafar (Azfar Rehman), she appears very confident initially – but her tactics nosedive simply because she did not bother to have all the facts and speak to all the family members before they took the stand. Adding to the ridiculousness is that Nasir and his men beat Zafar in custody, something which he should have known would harm his sister-in-law’s case, regardless of how corrupt he has been in the past. And worst of all, while Safia (Javeria Abbasi) is on the stand – and is actually defending herself rather nicely, taking blame for her faults, but asking why Zafar isn’t being questioned -, Zafar, the defendant and accused rapist, begins berating Safia from his own box. And while he’s doing this, aggressively yelling at the mother of the woman he is accused of raping, the judge and other lawyers are silently watching. Why? Why does this happen?
It’s frustrating, as a viewer, to watch a show go from strength to strength, managing to give its audience hope each week in a heavy story – and then suddenly begin to falter. Ever sinc? Fajar’s death, the narrative has been going downhill. It’s as though the writer and director have decided they’ve done well enough up until now and don’t need to work as hard anymore. As a real fan of this show, I can only hope that the remaining episodes manage to pick up and the story is salvaged before the entire feel of this otherwise wonderful drama falls into a black hole.