A new week has begun and we have compiled yet another list of what we feel have been stupendous performances that we can’t help but appreciate. More often than not, actors are responsible for carrying a whole drama on their shoulders, even when the storylines never support them. From the portrayal of a modern woman to the anguish of one-sided love, there were many other actors who left an impact on the audience with their acting. Here’s a breakdown of our favorite performances from the past week.
Yumna Zaidi as Allah Rakhi in ‘Dil Na Umeed Toh Nahi’
Yumna Zaidi, with her soul-touching performance in this week’s episode of ‘Dil Na Umeed Toh Nahi‘, proved yet again that she is one of the most talented actresses working in our industry. When the drama serial started, the audience didn’t know what to make of the mysterious character, Sumbal, played by Yumna. However, in the latest episode, Sumbal breaks down in front of Savera and reveals that her real name is Allah Rakhi – a name given to her because she had been declared dead when she was born and just as her father was about to bury her, she came back to life. Her father told her that she came back because she was destined to do great things in her life.
While telling her story to Savera, Allah Rakhi gets up and starts crying and dancing, referring to the fact that she was now a courtesan. It was hard for the audience to hold back their tears during the scene – all because of Yumna’s incredible performance.
Faryal Mehmood as Insha in ‘Raqeeb Se’
Faryal Mehmood has been in the industry for quite a long time now but for some reason, directors never knew how to extract the best out of her. Kashif Nisar, however, has finally given her a role worthy of her acting skills, in ‘Raqeeb Se’. Insha is perhaps the only sane voice in a drama that is filled with characters that are either too naïve, annoying, or extravagant; one may say that Insha is the audience’s voice since she questions everything that doesn’t make sense to her about the soft spot her parents (especially her mother Hajra) have for Sakeena.
Her troubles, however, don’t just end there. She also has to deal with her boyfriend who is suffering from an inferiority complex. But Insha isn’t afraid to call a spade a spade, regardless of whether she is talking to her father, mother, or her boyfriend. It is because of Faryal’s confident performance that the audience cannot help but shower its love on her character, which is saying a lot considering the drama has an A-list cast including Sania Saeed, Noman Ijaz, Iqra Aziz, and Saba Faisal.
Fariya Hassan as Sitara in ‘Raqs-e-Bismil’
Sitara was introduced as a rather “typical” character in ‘Raqs e Bismil’. Her parents had arranged and fixed her marriage with Moosa when they were children which led to Sitara fantasising about Moosa, fall in love with him and then get engaged. However, Moosa fell in love with Zohra and Sitara had to return her engagement ring, though that didn’t stop Sitara from loving him. In fact, she started respecting him even more.
Generally, our dramas have a habit of pitting two women against each other in a love triangle. That was not what happened in the latest episode of ‘Raqs e Bismil’. Both Sitara and Zohra want the best for Moosa, even though Sitara is madly in love with Moosa and Zohra isn’t. Sitara understands that she cannot force Moosa to love her but that doesn’t mean she can’t show her support for him. The conversation she has with Zohra was so well-written and moving. Fariya Hassan performed her scenes brilliantly while perfectly capturing the emotions of a desperate yet helpless woman who wants to help the man she loves, at any cost.
Shehzad Sheikh as Saahil in ‘Phaans’
It is always refreshing to see when actors leave their comfort zone and pick challenging roles regardless of whether they are successful in their experiment or not; the fact that they try to break the mold should be appreciated. The same goes for Shehzad Sheikh. After having performed a myriad of characters that were sometimes quite similar to each other, Shehzad has chosen to play the intellectually disabled character, Saahil, in ‘Phaans’, and has really outdone himself. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that Saahil might be the best character he has played so far, keeping in mind how challenging the character is. But Shehzad, with his convincing performance, made it look effortless.
As of the latest episode, it is quite evident that there is more to Saahil’s character than we have seen in the past episodes.
To round off, lead or supporting, our actors were in-charge of their characters in their respective dramas this week. And with the introduction of Zara Sheikh in the next episode of ‘Raqs e Bismil’ and Maqsood asking Sakeena to leave the house in ‘Raqeeb Se’, it would be interesting to see how the dynamics change and what the new introductions have to offer to the audience.
