Faysal Qureshi’s name being associated with any drama is a general indication of success – and “Farq,” after 8 episodes, is a surefire hit. This is a drama that brings in over a million views within hours of an episode being uploaded on YouTube. The discussion, however, is whether or not “Farq” is deserving of the success it’s currently seeing. The answer – at present, yes. “Farq” stars Faysal Qureshi and Sehar Khan in lead roles with Mehmood Aslam, Adeel Chaudhry, Javeria Abbasi, Sohail Sameer and Saba Shah playing supporting roles. The story has been written by Imran Nazir and directed by Aehsun Talish.
In episode 8, the scene between Nimra and Irsa (Sehar Khan) is unexpected and sweet. It’s always nice to see kind-hearted characters in Pakistani dramas, because we all know how important emotional support is and our female characters desperately seem to lack that support. While Nimra may have judged Irsa for her lies, she now recognizes why telling those lies was necessary for Irsa and now sympathizes with Irsa’s predicament.
Jamshed (Raeed Muhammad Alam) is a character who puts a smile on the face of the viewer. He is the man who has slowly been winning Irsa’s heart, not only due to his persistence, but also due to his kind and hardworking nature. Irsa has never had a man in her life dedicated to making her happy and bettering his lifestyle in order to better her future – and this is what Jamshed is doing. Unfortunately, Irsa knows that her father will never agree to this match and she needs to make the smart choice over the heart-driven one – and so she agrees to marry Kamal Hassan. What’s funny about this decision is that Kamal has already decided to marry Faiza (Javeria Abbasi), so this “decision” is entirely “khayaali pulao” on the part of Arif (Mehmood Aslam). Of course, seeing Arif’s behavior, it’s clear that he has some plot in mind to make his wish come true.
More than anything, its Ayzel (Saba Shah) who wins audience sympathy. She’s a strong, confident girl, but she is also very lonely and loves her father a lot. Faiza wants to marry Kamal, but is already driving a wedge between the father-daughter duo and she hasn’t even entered their household yet. Faiza is a thorough manipulator and her entry into Ayzel’s father’s life would be terrible for Ayzel. This makes us wonder if Ayzel will be the one to bring Irsa into Kamal’s life? But then again, Ayzel and Irsa do not get along, not to mention the fact that Ayzel and Irsa are the same age and this would certainly add to the “ick” factor for Ayzel.
Saba Shah is a very natural actress and she is doing a great job in her role as Ayzel. Faysal Qureshi is also very likable as Kamaal and it’s easy to understand where he is coming from as a single parent. Raeed Muhammad Alam comes across as highly endearing as Jamshed. Unfortunately, the weakest link in the show is our female lead, Irsa, played by Sehar Khan. It would be great if our young actresses would work their way up and practice by taking on smaller side roles instead of jumping directly into lead roles. Sehar Khan is easy on the eyes and she’s sweet enough, but her acting is very weak and this has become a bit of an eye sore in her shows. Hopefully her performance will improve, but it is distracting in an otherwise strong show. Moving forward, the show has a lot of promise as a story.