“Prem Gali” has been winning hearts week after week with the cute, simple yet realistic storyline. Written by Faiza Iftikhar and directed by Qasim Ali Mureed, “Prem Gali” stars Farhan Saeed, Sohai Ali Abro, Saba Hameed, Shamim Hilaly, Uzma Hassan, Waseem Abbas, Qavi Khan, Anoushay Abbasi, Farah Shah and many others. The strong ensemble cast aside, the story keeps the proceedings light-hearted while discussing real, societal issues in a small neighborhood.
Episode 20 opens with Hamza (Farhan Saeed) getting a call for an interview, landing a job at Manzoor’s (Javed Shekh) office. This is made evident that it’s not a coincidence and Manzoor is taking an active interest in Hamza and his career since he’s married to his daughter. Of course, while the family begins rejoicing at Hamza’s promotion, Shireen (Saba Hameed) grows suspicious of how easily this job has fallen in Hamza’s lap and even insinuates that Hamza is lying. Between Shireen’s suspicions and Rahat’s (Shamim Hilaly) interference, Hamza and Joya’s relationship is slowly heading down a dangerous path where the two are constantly affected by their family’s behavior.
To make matters worse, the neighborhood has begun to protest against Shakoor, Abdul Maria and Ahmed residing with Haseena (Farah Shah). While Haseena comes out in full force against the neighbors for their judgmental behavior, she’s shocked at Shireen’s support of this move. Shireen has been fed more nonsense against Hamza by the neighbors, believing Hamza is up to “no good” with his budding friendship with Shakoor. Shakoor has been there for Hamza, being a good friend (and vice versa), so their friendship is actually great to see – but others do not seem to agree. Hamza’s words in this scene, defending the trio against the accusations and pointing out the flaws in others, are applause-worthy. And while Rahat scolds Shireen for the stunt and applauds Hamza for standing up for the trio, Shireen becomes more determined to get to the bottom of Hamza’s antics, sending her worker at the store to follow Hamza to find out where his job is, doubting the reality of it.
The basis of the story now revolves around a basic idea – is family support always positive and is it always healthy for a young, newlywed couple to be surrounded by family at all times? Our culture thrives on the idea that children are there to support their parents in their old age and promotes the idea of the joint family system. And it’s true that whether it’s a male or a female, it is their obligation to care for their parents the way their parents cared for them. However, considering the unique situation Hamza and Joya are in, their families are so possessive of Hamza and Joya that they are consistently embroiled in a tug of war. It’s also true that both families are looking for fulfillment of their failed marriages through Hamza and Joya’s marriage, which is putting immense pressure on this young couple. The realistic nature of the storyline continues to be impressive and Farhan Saeed does a great job as Hamza in this episode. The supporting cast deserves a round of applause as well, especially Anoushay Abbasi and the actors playing Salman, Abdul Maria, Shakoor and Ahmed. With the addition of Javed Sheikh to the cast, the story with Joya and her father promises to make things interesting.