The content that the Pakistani drama industry mostly churns out largely revolves around stereotypical themes of family-feud and love stories. Seldom do we see something on our screens that breaks this stagnancy.

Bandish; that is being aired on ARY these days, is one such stagnancy-breaking story. With its supernatural theme that has been excellently executed, it wouldn’t be incorrect to say that it has lived up to the expectations of the Pakistani audience.

Based on the issue of black magic in our society, Bandish is a well-directed serial by Aabis Raza with a great script at its core. This breathes a lot of life into the characters of the story, that is much-needed to make such stories believable on screens. The drama highlights the serious yet frightening realities of our society, and how these rituals are used to fulfill one’s evil desires.

The Troubles

Bandish starts by taking us into the lives of a happy family, where Marina Khan (Madiha) and Sajid Hassan (Junaid) play the parents. They have three young daughters, played by Hira Mani (Saniya), Zubab Rana (Haniya), and Hoorain (Aleena).

As the story unfolds, we see how the family starts having small issues, and how Haniya starts experiencing seizures where she acts violently every time she meets a family for her marriage proposal and then forgets that something even happened to her.

As Zainab Ahmad (Sandal) enters the story as an employee for Junaid’s firm, the plot starts taking a twist, and we see things heading towards a disaster in the lives of the happy family.

Sandal takes the help of her sister Sumbal, played by Farah Shah, who can be seen as an ill-wisher of the family, performing black magic rituals. She casts spells on the family that resultantly breaks them apart.

As the spell gets deeper, Junaid leaves his family for Sandal, and divorces his wife, while their youngest daughter Aleena becomes possessed by an evil spirit. Amid all of this, Madiha is seen running around, looking for cures to both her daughter’s conditions, and that’s where she meets Sumbal.

The Little Highlight

While Sajid, Marina, Zubab, and Hira are all outstanding actors and have given incredible performances, it is the child star Hoorain who is the actual highlight of the serial. Playing the role of Aleena, not only has she proven to be a rising star, she has brilliantly brought a lot of our worst nightmares to life with her amazing performance.

Up until now, the serial has given us goosebumps with some fantastic performances, great direction, and a haunting background score. The drama has piqued our curiosity, and we are yet to see how the story unfolds, and how and if the family will overcome disaster that has befallen upon them.

For now, all we can say is, “SO FAR SO GOOD”!