“Wehshi” has been a stellar show from start to present. Telling an intriguing story of emotional abuse from childhood to adulthood and the way it turns an innocent child into a perceived monster, “Wehshi” is a notch above the rest in effective storytelling. Starring Khushhal Khan, Komal Meer, Nadia Khan, Babar Ali and others in central roles while the screenplay has been written by Shumaila Zaidi and directed by Iqbal Hussain. In the last episode, we saw the marriage of Aamir and Sobia (Komal Meer), a blow that broke the camel’s back for Asif (Khushhal Khan). Having lost everything in his life and always being at the receiving end of abuse, losing Sobia, his one ray of hope, was ultimately the injustice he refused to accept.
So, in episode 30, Asif turns full-fledged villain – or does he? In the end of episode 29/the beginning of episode 30, Asif is seen leaving Sobia’s room on her wedding night with Aamir. Muneera (Nadia Khan) and Aamir assume the worst seeing Sobia’s state as she lay unconscious in her room. This sends Aamir into a state of panic and anger as he sets out to attack Asif with a gun, but accidentally shoots Muneera. Muneera does, in fact, die, which terribly affects Aamir’s mental health. This scene is performed incredibly well by Babar Ali, Nadia Khan and Subhan Awan and really shows the helplessness felt by father and son, losing the woman who has held their lives together for so long (though neglecting her own son in the process). But what’s not clear is – did Asif ever really do anything at all? Or has he just left the family assume the worst? If so, this does seriously redeem Asif from being a terrible human being to just extracting cruel revenge.
Unfortunately, the show takes a leap of several years. Why unfortunately? Because this “future” cast is absolutely atrocious and it’s as though people have been selected off the streets without an audition for prominent roles with substantial screen time! Asif is seen as a successful businessman who is admired by all and has taken control of many competitive businesses, creating a slew of enemies. There are so many flaws post the leap (in this episode at least), it’s almost embarrassing to watch. From Asif’s get-up (he looks less like a successful businessman, more like a college student going out for dinner with friends) to the character actors with their poor performance (and again, poor get-up), it’s difficult to get through these scenes. Even Khushhal Khan’s performance, which has been absolutely flawless up until now, is awkward and feels jarringly uncomfortable.
Fortunately, what does bring the show back to a likability point is the return to Aamir and Sobia’s married life. Sobia is now working full time as a doctor and caring for Aamir, who has been unable to return to normalcy post Muneera’s death. It’s not clear what happened to Majid (Babar Ai) yet. Sobia is often suggested to get remarried, but she cannot bear to think of it….almost as though she believes this is her punishment. Komal Meer and Subhan Awan perform well in these sequences.
While glad that the show did not take the original novel ending, this leap has lowered the quality of the show at present. Hopefully this one episode will be the only sore thumb with acting and writing and future episodes will be of better quality and writing. This is, by far, the worst episode of “Wehshi”….whicih has not had a bad episode yet.
