“Tere Ishq Ke Naam” is that show that is both entertaining and has characters with a moderate amount of depth. This show stars Hiba Bukhari, Zaviyaar Nauman Ejaz, Usama Khan, Yashma Gill, Nadia Afgan, Munazzah Arif, Jamal Shah and others while the story has been written by Maha Malik and directed by Ahmed Bhatti. The story follows siblings, their conflicts and how those conflicts have been passed down to their children, intensifying familial drama.
It’s in this episode where we see the complexities of the Azka (Yashma Gill) character. While initially Azka simply seems like a meddler, a young girl who has her sights set on Altamash and wants him for herself, we’re finally seeing more to her role now. While Azka certainly does want Altamash for herself and declares him as her “love,” light is being cast upon how Azka has been raised. Ronaq (Nadia Afgan) has a harrowing past with her family, a past in which we presume her father had the man she loved killed. While Ronaq puts on a pleasant, caring demeanor on the outside for her siblings, she is manipulative, calculating and has silently been plotting her revenge for years – a plot where neither Sanobar (Munazzah Arif) or Mehr (Jamal Shah) are safe. Azka, being Ronaq’s eldest child, has been raised in the shadows of all this plotting and manipulation and is constant competition with Rutba, having been told all her life that Mehr took what belonged to them, depriving her mother of her rights. Due to this brainwashing, no matter how valid Ronaq’s feelings may or may not be, Azka has become a younger version of her mother, inheriting all her insecurities, complexes and anger. Yashma Gill is doing a great job of adding layers to this character, showing how her jealousy and insecurity moves beyond family politics and into their university life as well. Azka throws Rutba under the bus this week, informing their professor of how Rutba has been cheating her way through classes.
The Khursheed (Zaviyaar Nauman Ejaz) and Rutba (Hiba Bukhari) angle takes a turn for the wonky this week as Mehr appoints Khursheed as Rutba’s gatekeeper. He is meant to inform Mehr of Rutba’s every move as Mehr leaves the city to take care of business. As an audience, we are quite positive that Mehr has put all his properties in Khursheed’s name to prevent Altamash from getting his hands on any of it through Rutba. Rutba, overhearing parts of the conversation, leaves home to meet Altamash in secret and is greeted with an entire “baraat” procession at his house. Khursheed, on his part, realizes his mistake too late and runs over to Altamash’ home, arriving just seconds after Rutba’s nikkah to Altamash.
The sudden narrative with Khursheed making moony eyes at Rutba is not a welcome one. How could Khursheed possibly be in love with a girl who has openly been mistreating him his entire life? Rutba may have her reasons for being bratty, but no individual in their right mind would love anyone who treats them in this way. This angle is very much unwelcome, and it would’ve been better served to be a “love after marriage” trope rather than this unrealistic one-sided love. While Zaviyaar and Hiba impressed in previous episodes, their cat and mouse chase in this one is not enjoyable. It’s Yashma Gill who stands out this time around, along with Nadia Afgan as the devious Ronaq. Honestly, this marriage plot twist comes as a surprise. We’d all been expecting Altamash to betray Rutba and Khursheed to step in and save the day by marrying her. Rutba marrying Altamash has never been a prediction and does make for an interesting storyline. With Mehr confronting Rutba next week, how will Altamash react when he realizes Rutba doesn’t have any properties or inheritance left in her name?