The story might end but the show must go on. This is the philosophy with which the team behind the ratings hit drama Nand seem to be working with. While the drama’s story has apparently ended some time ago, the show does not show any signs of ending any time soon.

Confused? We will explain. Drama serial Nand is a typical story of an evil sister-in-law whose only agenda in life is to make the lives of all her family members as miserable as possible. Ultimately the evil character, Gohar played by Faiza Hassan, had the typical went-mad-and-got-lost-in-the-streets ending after all her lies were exposed and her reputation in front of her family was tarnished. All’s well that ends well?

Not quite. Because Gohar is all set to make her comeback to the drama even if the actress who played her might not. How? Well, through the good old plastic surgery trope!

A Huge Hit

Drama serial Nand was a typical affair right from the start as it was choke full of clichés (helpless women, naïve men and an evil sister-in-law who controls them all) that one usually witnesses in Pakistani dramas. What set the drama apart was the fast pacing (it airs four times a week) and Faiza Hassan’s excellent performance as the evil, manipulative titular nand. Faiza Hassan, who is very selective about the projects she does, had been missing from the small screen for a long time. Nand served as a comeback vehicle for the actress and it proved to be a huge success for her.

And as is the case with most dramas these days, the channel and the makers of the show decided to stretch the drama as soon as they found out it was doing well in terms of TRPs. As the the producer of the drama Fahad Mustafa has already confessed that he is only here to make money so, that is exactly what he is doing with the drama. The drama, which has already crossed 80 episodes, continues to bring in the ratings and the views for the makers clearly pointing out that the audience is not yet done enjoying it.

The problem, however, is that for quite some episodes the titular nand has been missing from the story. If the show has to continue for a longer time this might create troubles for the makers. So, to solve this little trouble, the makers of the drama serial Nand have borrowed the tried and tested trope of “plastic surgery” from the dramas across the border.

Who Is The New ‘Nand’?

There was a time when Indian dramas, especially that of Star Plus, were criticized for being never-ending. They went on for years, some of them aired more than a thousand episodes. The shows kept retaining characters by replacing old actors with new actors after showing the old characters undergoing plastic surgery. Nand appears to have taken its inspiration from such dramas as it is is set to introduce the same trope of plastic surgery in Pakistani dramas. Long after Gohar’s arc has ended, the drama will be reintroducing her.

But this time she will be seen wearing a new face, that of Javeria Saud’s. In the latest episode, Gohar’s character was seen getting a plastic surgery after she went through an accident which burned her face beyond recognition. It is likely that the drama will introduce Javeria Saud as Gohar in the next episode. The teasers for the new face of Gohar as well as her “revenge” plan against the family are already airing, building anticipation for the fans of the show.

Javeria Saud revealed in an interview that Faiza Hassan couldn’t continue the soap serial because of some personal reasons. Javeria, who has been away from acting herself for quite some time now except for doing some projects for her home production, said that she will be doing a drama for another production house after a very long time.

Final Word

Introducing the often frowned upon trope of plastic surgery might seem like a new low for Pakistani dramas, but if the makers and the audience are happy with the development then who are we to complain? All we can do is hope that after this nand meets her end we won’t get to see yet another Indian drama trope being used to continue the story. Nand ka punar janam? We shudder at the very thought.