After the success of “Woh Pagal Si,” “Taqdeer” arrives to take its place as the Monday through Thursday show on ARY Digital. Sami Khan starring in a show immediately piques interest, as he is such a talented, likable actor. Adding Alizeh Shah into the mix makes for a new pairing that seems promising. “Taqdeer” stars Sami Khan, Alizeh Shah, Javed Sheikh, Annie Zaidi, Asim Mehmood, Amna Malik, Khalid Anum, Saba Faisal, Maryam Noor, Zain Afzal, Aliya Ali and others. The story has been written by “Doorway Entertainment” (anyone care to explain?) and directed by Mohsin Talat.
With 6 episodes down, if one were to ask for a summary of “Taqdeer,” it would have to go something like this: “Married women have little else to do in life but seethe in anger at their in-laws and conspire against other young women in the family.” This is the takeaway after watching the first batch of episodes. Rumi (Alizeh Shah) is the apple of her family’s eye, particularly that of her elder brother Arsal (Asim Mehmood). Unfortunately, Arsal’s wife, Hamna (Amna Malik) is a next-level jealous woman, constantly fuming over the attention Rumi receives from her brothers. This kind of behavior is abnormal and it should be addressed that way. It’s tedious watching Hamna’s rude behavior with a girl who even cares for her child. However, this is not the least of it and it does get worse.
We have Asad (Sami Khan), a successful businessman who is unmarried. Why is he unmarried? Well, his brother, played by Zain Afzal, had a love marriage to Maheen (Aliya Ali), the most “nalaayak” girl who can’t even wake up to help her husband with simple tasks. Maheen is visibly not easy to be around and has a terrible attitude, so her in-laws do not like her – and so Maheen has taken it upon herself to keep Asad from getting married, because she refuses to let Fehmeeda (Saba Faisal) have a daughter-in-law she actually likes. Logical? No? Well, clearly being a sister-in-law in this drama means you must be absolutely insane.
In all this familial chaos, Fehmeeda zeroes in on Rumi at a wedding and arranges her marriage to Asad. Asad and Rumi also like each other and are excited for the wedding…..but of course, the two jealous “bhabis” are there to plot and create discord. Will Asad and Rumi have a happy marriage? We will have to wait and watch.
Is “Taqdeer” a great show? Not particularly. There is an incredible amount of manipulation involved. Every person in this drama is a master manipulator, conspiring against one another for things that could just require a conversation to clear up. The highlights of the show are Sami Khan, who is looking ridiculously handsome and plays an appealing character, along with the Asad-Rumi pairing, which is sweet (so far). Hopefully the rest of the story falls into place soon and more focus is put on Asad and Rumi (who are almost sidelined up until this point due to all the manipulators).