New ARY Romantic-Comedy Drama’Shehnai’ Goes On-Air

When the ‘Shehnai’ promos started airing, it seemed like a fresh air as we got a new screen pairing of Affan Waheed and Ramsha Khan, as one of the main reasons to attract viewers.

With the soapy stuff on our screens, the love-comedy theme provides a much-needed break from the ordinary. With Raidan Shah as the author and Ahmed Bhatti of Gisi Piti Mohabbat and Kaisa Hai Naseeban as director, the play features Affan and Ramsha as well as stars such as Samina Ahmed, Javed Sheikh, Behroze Sabazwari, Salma Zaffar, Zainab Qayoom (ZQ), and many others. ‘Shehnai’ has taken a double episode on ARY Digital, but does it meet your expectations? \

Debut Episode

At the beginning of the episode, the audience was introduced to Qasr-e-Naz, a family headed by Absar (Javed Sheikh). Like all parents, Absar wants his daughter Bakht (Ramsha Khan) to marry into a good family and the “good boy” according to him was the son of his friend named Merab (Affan Waheed). Still, there are problems. Bakht is in love with Hunain and Meerab is committed to Samreen. Bakht has a record of rejecting proposals but is not sure she will repeat the same as Meerab once was a friend.

Other prominent family members such as Babi Maleeha (Zainab Qayyum), Nands Tooba and Munni (Salma Zafar and Javeria Abbasi), and damaad Kafeel (Saleem Mairaj) are busy complaining and speculating that Bakht will repeat history. The whole house is preparing and waiting for the Meerab family to arrive for dinner, but guess what? Meerab leaves the scene at the last minute to save Samreen who calls him and threatens to kill herself. 

Off To A Great Start

The episode begins with a tragedy as the dulha bhaga gaya (the groom has run away). Meerab’s parents are embarrassed and Bakht is one happy girl. In this tense situation, Maleha added fuel to the fire as she persuaded Tobaba to seek Bakht’s proposal for her son.

Samreen, who is ready to get married, gives Meerab a final settlement between them, or else she will choose to commit suicide but not marry someone else. Meerab finally arrives at Bakht’s house and they promise each other after which Bakht plans to flee. In a secret meeting on the roof of the house, Bakht openly refused to marry Meerab, and, of course, is happy to know that. The episode ends as both of them decide to cheat on their families by cutting off their future engagement in harmony.

‘Shehnai’ is a well-crafted product that has all the right ingredients to entertain. It’s got the right pace along with solid performances backed with a great script; the USPs  required to keep the viewers hooked. Ramsha Khan is effortless as the free-spirited girl and comes across as a more mature performer with every project she’s part of. The chemistry between the lead actors is yet to be explored. The rest of the cast fit their characters very well and provide great humor and laughter at regular intervals. 

The drama does have some bits that left us wanting more. The entire sequence of ‘Dulha Bhag Gaya’ somehow defied logic and seemed dragged with every character giving illogical reasons. Also, I wonder what was the brief given to Salma Zafar as she was over-expressive in many of her scenes. That being said, it’s a great start to an exciting and colourful journey filled with romance, comedy, and emotions. It would be interesting to see how ‘Shehnai’ maintains the pace in the upcoming episodes.