Amanat Episode 2: This Imran Abbas Starrer Has a Wafer Thin Foundation

“Amanat” stars Imran Abbas, Urwa Hocane, Saboor Aly, Haroon Shahid, Saba Hameed, Tara Mehmood, Srha Asghar and many others. It has been directed by Shahid Shafaat and written by Rukhsana Nigar. With two episodes down, this is a big-cast show, which means it arrives with high expectations. Imran Abbas has done the “helpless man forced to marry to protect an innocent woman” act before – and it was unsuccessful even then, in the sense that the audience simply could not buy the reasoning. While “Thora Sa Haq” may have been a TRP success and “Amanat” very well may go on to be a huge hit, the fact remains that like the former, “Amanat” also seems to rest on a wafer-thin plot, the audience having a hard time believing Zaraar’s actions.

In episode 2, Fawad (Asad Siddiqui) and Meher (Urwa Hocane) end up at Zaraar’s (Imran Abbas) door, asking for help. Fawad helped Zaraar out of a tight spot in the past, which has left Zaraar indebted to Fawad. This is why, when Fawad explains the circumstances surrounding his marriage to Meher, Zaraar supports them wholeheartedly. However, in the most ridiculous twist of fate, Fawad runs to a nearby shop to buy phone credit and is phone jacked, shot and killed in cold blood for a 2000 rupee phone. This scenario is difficult to digest. A young man who has run away from home with his new bride, on the run from a dangerous Khalu out for blood and he dies like this? It’s too convenient and almost ridiculous. And then, adding to it, Fawad is buried like an orphan without anyone even trying to contact his family? Fawad obviously had his wallet, because he went out to buy something – and paid. The thieves only took his phone, not his wallet. Again, this does not make any sense. Meher and Zaraar are left searching for Fawad and, unable to find him, Zaraar takes Meher with him to Karachi to attend his wedding. This is yet again another ridiculous scenario. This girl’s new husband has just gone missing and now Zaraar expects her to dress up and enjoy his wedding.

Zunaira (Saboor Aly), the fiancée from hell, is furious at Zaraar for not answering her phone call and has his entire household dancing to her tunes, demanding that Zaraar apologize to her before she will continue with the wedding events. Why would any logical human being arrange their son’s marriage to such a crazy woman? Zunaira is easily pacified by Zaraar, but she has driven his entire family to the edge of sanity with her anger and disrespect – and what’s worse is that her parents support her bad behavior. It’s unrealistic that a woman like Zaraar’s mother, played by Saba Hameed, would allow her son to go through with this marriage – especially knowing that her own daughter (Srha Asghar) is already married into it and Zaraar and Zunaira’s relationship has already affected her own daughter’s marriage. This did not sit well at all.

Can the acting be criticized here? No, everyone is playing the role they’ve been given just fine. In fact, Imran Abbas’s Zaraar is downright adorable and a very nice character….but his dishonesty will make him unlikable soon enough. Saboor Aly’s Zunaira is horribly unlikable, but Saboor is doing a great job of playing this role. It’s unfortunate that the story hasn’t been better written and these flaws are already showing in episode 2, so how strong will the story be moving ahead when the foundation is already shaky? In the upcoming episode, Zunaira will lose it when she begins to suspect Zaraar’s relationship with Meher. It’s not clear whether this show will pick up, but it has such a good cast, it’s really difficult to abandon it…though another few episodes like this and it can be written off rather easily.