“Phaans” is a story of rape and the way the victim is affected in the aftermath. With the culprit still a mystery, “Phaans” is a crime thriller of sorts. The story has been written by Sameena Aijaz, directed by Syed Ahmad Kamran and stars Zara Noor Abbas, Shahzad Sheikh, Sami Khan, Yashma Gill and others in lead roles. The mystery continues regarding the attack on Zeba as the focus turns on Hashir, Zeba’s fiancé.
Does anything of consequence really happen in episode 6? Not necessarily. While it’s absolutely understandable that the story cannot be rushed, as it’s a mystery, does the show really need to have 28 episodes? Can our writers and channels accept that viewers would rather watch a show with an interesting script with an action-packed story – and that can only happen without dragging and stretching. We’re only on episode 6 and the story is beginning to feel drawn out. “Phaans” is an interesting concept, so one can hope this improves in coming episodes and the element of mystery is retained while the story is also moving forward in some way.
Episode 6 focuses on the continued “whodunnit?” as Zeba (Zara Noor Abbas) remains adamant that Saahil (Shahzad Sheikh) is her attacker. Saahil, of course, maintains his innocence, as does his family, and he sets out to confront Samad (Sami Khan) for breaking his sister’s heart. Saahil is a very sweet character and it’s wonderful to see how much he cares for his sisters. Samad, however, is in no mood to forgive and not only tells this to Hafsa (Yashma Gill), but also Samad, who he does seem to care for very much. When Saahil arrives back home, he’s not only confronted by his father for leaving the house, but an angry Zeba storms into the house, attacking Saahil, angry at his father for sending goons to threaten her family. This aspect of the story is giving off mixed opinions, because while Zeba deserves justice, it’s clear that Saahil is not faking his condition and so Zeba’s attacks appear to be in poor taste. But since Zeba is clear that her attacker was Saahil, what really happened? It’s nice to see that this aspect of the mystery is leaving viewers confused – and interested.
Samad does his own detective work and while he maintains his own innocence, he doesn’t believe Saahil did it either. And so, he approaches Zeba several times during the episode to talk to her, but Zeba refuses, brushing him off, believing he’s also trying to bully her into changing her statement. Samad appears to be a good guy, but at present, all eyes are on Hashir, Zeba’s fiancé. The worst character in this entire show, the most useless, is Zeba’s sister Farah. This woman changes her thought process 15 times through the episode and one is tempted to say “OK Farah, it’s alright, don’t hurt your brain thinking so much.” While she seems to be trying to get to the bottom of the mystery, her mind goes from Hashir to Saahil to Samad with one thing in common – all her theories consist of Zeba conspiring with the guilty party. This is a rape, not a robbery. This character needs to be written off the show immediately, because she is being given unnecessary screen time.
There’s a deep lack of logic in some of the incidents – for example, when the policemen, on Saahil’s father’s instruction, decide to arrest Hashim for Zeba’s rape. The victim is not Saahil or his father and while Hashim was initially a suspect, all of that vanished when Zeba woke up and declared Saahil her attacker. Unless there is DNA evidence or any concrete evidence that Hashim is the rapist, there is no logical way Hashim can be arrested for a rape if the victim is not pressing charges against him. Everyone from the doctor in the hospital and the police officer magically seem to be working for Saahil’s father. What a coincidence?
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Does this sound as though “Phaans” is a bad show? It isn’t. In fact, it’s a good show with some great actors and an interesting storyline. It’s just that it has reached a point of being stagnant very early on and we’d like to see some logical movement in the story now. The sibling relationship between Hafsa, Saahil and their other sister is simply wonderful as always. This is the sort of sibling relationship we should be seeing on-screen more often, one of love and support and the trio are acting very well. Zara Noor Abbas is doing a great job acting as well. With Hashir now in jail, how will the show move forward? Why is Samad so convinced that Hashir is the culprit? Is Samad not as innocent as he appears to be? We will have to wait and see!