“Jalan” is a show that follows a certain template – troublemaking sister finds herself jealous of her older sister’s happiness and sets out to steal that happiness for herself. We’ve seen this played out in “Yahan Pyar Nahin Hai” and “Madiha Aur Maliha” (ironically both Hum Tv productions), as well as other shows. Here, however, the presentation does stand out and the show is appealing enough to bring in a viewership. Starring Minal Khan, Areeba Habib, Emmad Irfani and Fahad Sheikh in lead roles, the show has been directed by Aabis Raza. At present, Nisha is adamant on breaking off her engagement to Ahmer and has gone to extreme lengths to make sure that happens. Now that she has painted Ahmer in a negative light and the engagement has been broken off with the support of her family, the situation becomes messy.
In episode 6, Nisha (Minal Khan) continues to create a negative image of Ahmer (Fahad Sheikh) as he struggles to come to terms with their broken relationship. When Ahmer sees Nisha with Asfandyar (Emmad Irfani) in the mall, he verbally attacks the two, which sets the ball rolling for events to unfold, events which lead to Ahmer’s mother’s death. As the family grieves, Nisha seems only too pleased to continue her seduction of her brother-in-law.
![Jalan Episode 6 - Presented by Ariel [Subtitle Eng] - 22nd July 2020 - ARY Digital](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bWLnDzUgDis/hqdefault.jpg)
Coming to the positives, it has long been tradition to present characters like Nisha as “jealous,” “manipulative” and so forth and the fear I had going into this this show was that it would be much of the same. Fortunately, it does seem that with Nisha, we are actually being given a character with clear sociopathic tendencies and she will (hopefully) be acknowledged as being a sociopath rather than a “seductress.” This is a positive aspect. Of course, the greatest positive is the treatment of Ahmer’s track. Ahmer may have made a lot of mistakes in his handling of the situation, but at present, Ahmer and his sister are the only ones who truly recognize what Nisha is about and one can only hope Ahmer manages to find happiness away from the memories (nightmare) of Nisha. Fahad Sheikh is doing a great job.
The downside is simply this – when a family has grown up as tight-knit as Misha and Nisha’s family has, they tend to be very much aware of the nature of those living in the house. Misha and Nisha are shown as being close, so if her behavior went unnoticed by her parents, Misha would have been aware at least. That being said, their mother makes several references to Nisha’s bad behavior in the first episode itself. So why is it that when Ahmer tries to defend himself against Nisha’s accusations, no one takes a step back and thinks “Hey, Nisha has pulled a lot of strange stunts before. Could this be possible?” If we ignore all of this, let’s just focus on Asfandyar for a moment. Immediately after getting engaged to Misha, he was introduced to this inappropriate side of Nisha. She sent him pictures of herself in Misha’s wedding outfit, took jewelry from Misha that was gifted to her by Asfandyar and made enough inappropriate comments to him that he confided in his sister that Nisha made him uncomfortable. Why is he suddenly her savior and defending her against “big, bad Ahmer”? Does he not trust himself enough to realize his instincts were correct?
http://thebrownidentity.com/2020/07/02/jalan-episode-3-minal-khans-nisha-sets-her-sights-on-asfandyar/
Fahad Sheikh is the star of this episode, portraying Ahmer with a vulnerability coupled with anger that translates well on-screen. The audience can feel Ahmer’s grief, frustration and helplessness in losing a relationship that once brought him so much happiness. Minal Khan is performing well, but somehow the “tenson” between Emmad Irfani and Minal Khan does not work as Minal and Emmad’s pairing seems “off. Next week, it seems viewers will be treated to a full-blown affair developing between Nisha and Asfandyar. Quite honestly, if Asfandyar heads down this path, he deserves a woman like Nisha and will regret his decisions soon enough. At present, even Misha is coming across as unlikable simply for failing to recognize her sister’s manipulations. Ahmer is the hero of the show and is strangely the only lead character on the show that viewers wish happiness for.