In today’s day and age, how is the success of a show measured? Is it measured by YouTube views, TRPs, social media trends or audience positive word of mouth? It’s difficult to assess in the current climate. While “Sinf E Aahan” manages to rack in views (episode 22 has 2.4 million views in two days), audience feedback is at an all-time low. Starring Sajal Aly, Yumna Zaidi, Ramsha Khan, Kubra Khan, Syra Yousef, Dananeer Mobeen, Yehali Tashiya Kalidasa, Sheheryar Munawar, Sonia Mishal and others, the story has been written by Umera Ahmed and directed by Nadeem Baig.
In episode 22, “Sinf E Aahan” continues its dreary, lagging pace where the female leads are seen doing little other than recollecting their positive experiences and hardships at the academy – a scene which takes up 15 minutes of the episode. As has been stated in previous reviews, this is the weakest part of “Sinf E Aahan.” While the show has a great cast full of strong performers and should be utilizing the story to showcase their talent, they have wasted the opportunity by not actually focusing on their stories.
There’s a cute moment between Aarzoo (Syra Yousef) and Nathmy (Yehali Tashiya Kalidasa) on stage at their award ceremony where they sing “Dosti” – and while it’s cute on stage, their second rendition back in the hostel room is entirely unnecessary and, once again, makes the episode lag. There are cute moments interspersed in the episode, for example the exchange between Shaista (Yumna Zaidi) and Sidra (Dananeer Mobeen) and the brief moment between Usman (Sheheryar Munawar) and Kiran (Sonia Mishal).
What doesn’t work is how the episodes are being executed. There is a large chunk of scenes between Nasar (Asim Azhar), Rabia (Sajal Aly) and Mahjabeen (Kubra Khan), which are entirely flashback sequences, which feel unnecessary and do not add to the story….or the flow, making the episode feel disjointed with the back and forth. There’s also a jarringly odd moment where a “Sunehre Din” clip is inserted into the episode just so the girls can be reassured that “cocktails” are no longer allowed. The problem is that, as previously discussed, there are interesting stories, but they aren’t given enough attention. For example, Nathmy’s mysterious story with her dad’s friend is wrapped up before it even had a chance to be a story.
Again, it would be unfair to call “Sinf E Aahan” a failure, because it’s doing well in numbers. But from an audience viewpoint, it has failed to maintain viewer interest with little real buzz surrounding it. Rather than being a show with solid storytelling, it’s simply a brochure for females joining the army.