“Neeli Zinda Hai” has been a show of interest due to its horror element and Urwa Hocane’s mysterious, scary Neeli (that too without makeup). Starring Mohib Mirza, Sonia Mishal, Urwa Hocane, Mohammad Ahmed, Kinza Malik, Jinaan Hussain and others, the story has been written by Adeel Razaq and directed by Qasim Ali Mureed. While “Neeli Zinda Hai” started off strong, it has taken a heavy saas-bahu turn in recent episodes with Sonia Mishal’s Sumbal doing little to fight her case (with her own ridiculous behavior). This week, the family’s behavior takes a turn for the loopy.
One thing is for sure, episodes 20 and 21 are certainly eventful. With Aaliyah (Aliya Ali) determined to marry Danish (Salman Faisal), the two hatch a plan to run away and have a court marriage. This is encouraged by Aaliyah’s mother, Bano (Kinza Malik) – but plot twist: it’s not actually Bano, rather Neeli in Bano’s form. The shape-shifting is all over the place in this episode with Neeli taking the form of Nagina (Jinaan Hussain), Bano, Sumbal and even Aaliyah. It’s also something to point out that Neeli was “trapped” in the house, but she is suddenly roaming around in the marketplace and revealing herself to Daniyal (Agha Mustafa). Does this have to do with Dilawar now being dead, which has set her “free”? That’s not clear. But Neeli (Urwa Hocane) takes over Aaliyah’s body, locking her up in her room, and goes to his house with him where Danish and Daniyal have a show-down over their marriage. It’s then that Daniyal walks in on Neeli, no longer in disguise as Aaliyah, strangling Danish. He is shocked and shoots Neeli, the bullet somehow ricocheting off her and shooting Danish instead. This leads to Danish’s death, which is a tragedy all around, Daniyal blaming himself and losing his senses.
The police then come to question Aaliyah and this is where the scene becomes absolutely chaotic. Aaliyah is obviously distraught but also tries to explain, in her turbulent mental state, that she never left the house – but takes it a step further, saying she kept trying to leave the room, but couldn’t. Adding to this is Bano’s insistence that she never tried to convince Aaliyah to run away and have a court marriage, which is actually comical seeing mother throwing her own daughter under the bus in an effort to protect her “izzat.” Bano then unleashes her anger on Sumbal (Sonia Mishal), which is ridiculous altogether, saying she was behind Danish’s death.
Ultimately, Aaliyah is cleared of any wrongdoing, but what the viewer is left with in the end is that first, Aaliyah’s family did nothing to protect her. With four other grown adults in the house, not one could vouch for the fact that Aaliyah was in her own home the whole time – which she was. Second, Sumbal stared on in disbelief, despite knowing that there’s a shapeshifting ghost in the house. Where does Sumbal’s intelligence disappear to at important times? She only remembers Neeli’s existence when it serves her, but not when a man’s head is being rammed into mirrors in their house and her sister-in-law is being accused of murder when she never left the house. And last, the police tell Aman (Mohib Mirza) that Danish didn’t die of a bullet wound, rather strangulation – but as viewers, we could see that he was still alive not only when Daniyal walked into the room, but also after Daniyal shot him….which means he did not die of strangulation, rather a gun shot wound. Loophole? Flaw? Call it what you wish.
As has been said, this episode is an action-packed one, but also has a heavy dose of illogical. That being said, Aliya Ali and Agha Mustafa are the stars of this episode, performing very well as they both deal with the anguish of losing Danish. The next episode looks interesting and equally as action packed with Aman finally sensing Neeli’s presence as well, along with Fahim (Mohammad Ahmed) realizing there’s something amiss. Hopefully the episode will not have as many loopholes as this one did. Overall, “Neeli Zinda Hai” is still an interesting show, but there needs to be less saas-bahu saazish and more supernatural content. Also, these characters need to behave logically – particularly Minaal, who has no reason to trust a spooky ghost over her own mother.
