“Jaan E Jahan” has taken a turn away from Mahnoor and Shehram’s romance and has entered an era of angst. Torn apart due to family obligations, the two still love each other, but are attempting to move on – which is hard for both the characters and the audience. Starring Hamza Ali Abbasi, Ayeza Khan, Asif Raza Mir, Noor Ul Hassan, Savera Nadeem, Haris Waheed, Raza Talish, Srha Asghar, Emmad Irfani, Maryam Nafees, Nawal Saeed, Kinza Malik and Zainab Qayyum, “Jaan E Jahan” is written by Rida Bilal and directed by Qasim Ali Mureed.
In episode 27, a flood strikes the city and Shehram (Hamza Ali Abbasi) dives headfirst into helping the people who need it most. This track is perfectly setting up Shehram’s journey into politics, a step towards fulfilling all of his father’s dreams. With Mahnoor around, Shehram had found the inspiration to live again – but his focus became set on the school due to Mahnoor’s presence there. With Mahnoor now (temporarily) out of his life, he is finding new ways to keep himself busy and focus his attention and that’s great for the character’s self-growth and realizing his strengths. Do our hearts break for Shehram? Yes! Hamza Ali Abbasi has done such a fabulous job portraying this character with all his strengths and weaknesses – and even when Shehram is strong, we can see the hurt lurking behind his eyes. This is a performance and others should take notes.
There’s something both vulnerable and frustrating about how Mahnoor has been written – and why? Mahnoor is reacting in a flawed manner. She isn’t perfect. She is upset and she doesn’t know who to blame. Does she blame her parents? Her upbringing won’t allow for that. Does she blame Shehram? Shehram hasn’t actually ever done anything but be kind to her – but she resents him for not being able to protect her and her parents the way she would’ve liked. Is it fair? Absolutely not, but it’s understandable. Can she blame Taimoor? No, he hasn’t done anything except love her wholeheartedly and accept her as she is. But Mahnoor is lashing out, because she has changed. She is no longer happy and she does not know how to cope with her feelings Ayeza Khan is portraying Mahnoor’s anguish incredibly well. We can only hope Taimoor himself catches on quickly and does the gentlemanly thing. We are still rooting for a Zeenat and Taimoor union!
We also see Tabrez (Haaris Waheed) and Gulraiz (Nawal Saeed) taking steps towards their marriage. Gulraiz is the one character in “Jaan e Jahan” who needed to be more fleshed out. Is she manipulative? Is she plotting and planning? Or is she simply a widow who sees a better opportunity in Tabraiz? It’s difficult to read this character and it’s not certain who deserves the blame for it. Tabrez is a fascinating character and it will be interesting to see how he reacts when he sees Aaliyah (Srha Asghar) slip out of his hands. She is already a Shehram loyalist – how long before she jumps ship to being an Abdul (Raza Talish) loyalist as well?
“Jaan E Jahan” is such a well-executed show, it’s hard to say anything negative about it. The writing, the direction and the performances are all top notch. It there’s a negative, it’s that we’re now restricted to only one episode a week instead of two, which makes the wait much more difficult. This is how romance is done – and the audience is here for it.