Green Entertainment is revolutionizing the television landscape with an unprecedented offering for its audience. Among their exciting firsts is the introduction of a captivating two-hour slot dedicated to one drama, thus guaranteeing a substantial amount of entertainment. Setting the precedent, Siyaah series is the first drama to follow this format. On Saturday, the audience embraced an addition to local content, in the genre of horror, that promises its viewers spine-chilling tales, supernatural encounters, psychological thrills, suspenseful moments, urban legends, and even horror comedy.
The Siyaah series will comprise of a number of disconnected and individual episodes that will have their own cast and plot. The series boosts a talented and long list of actors that includes Ali Ansari, Asad Siddiqui, Dur-e-Fishan, Osman Khalid Butt, Hareem Farooq, Naveen Waqar, Hira Mani, Usama Khan, Hania Aamir, Sami Khan, Alyy Khan, Faysal Quraishi, Arsalan Naseer, Shahveer Jafry, Maryam Noor, Noor Zafar Khan, Mariyam Nafees, Affan Waheed, Babar Ali and a strong supporting cast for each episode.
Diving straight into the two episodes that aired last night:
Spoilers Ahead
Roohdad: A story of a deceitful man entangled in his own sins
The first chapter in the Siyaah series stars Asad Siddiqui as the lead. He characterizes a cunning man Wasi who deceits people by claiming that he can call the dead to this world and their loved ones can talk to them, for which he charges a large amount of fee. He and his three group of friends engage in first finding clients and then through mimicking the dead person’s voice they trick people into believing that they have brought dead to this world and later upload the videos of this exchange on the internet.
All goes well for the four friends until they get a case to call a boy Nabil back to this world by his mother, who claims she doesn’t have any video or audio of her son but only has a necklace that belongs to him, which she hands over to the friends.
Hell breaks loose when Wasi’s three friends Tariq, Luqman, and Danielle die a painful death when they are near the necklace and see a ghost of the young boy Nabil. Wasi realizes that his mischief has caught up with him after he is sent a video of his case which led to him realizing that he defamed Nabil due to which he died.
Following that we see some eerie shots and a petrified Wasi trying to escape his death. The macabre atmosphere sends chills down the spine and creates a shuddering fear in the audience. The forty-five-minute episode was well directed and that kept the element of intrigue intact.
Asad Siddiqui also did a splendid job, from depicting a ruthless and cold Wasi who is fixated with money to a frightened man who has lost his three friends and trying to escape his own death. Overall, the episode did a job well done, hooking our interest in the Siyaah series.
Khoat: Unwrapping a psychological thriller
The second episode of the Siyaah series unfolds the story of a man named Tariq, played by Ali Ansari. The episode begins as Tariq reaches his home to witness some abnormal activities which leaves him shaken.
Then enters Bashir, an obnoxious bully who is determined to make Tariq’s life living hell. He takes his laptop before an important presentation that Tariq has to prepare for. A frightened Tariq succumbs in front of his bully.
The next day after getting a scolding from his boss for his unprofessional attitude, Tariq is consoled by Annie, whom he has a crush on. The story moves forward as we see one of the managers misbehaving with Annie, but an afraid Tariq does nothing, only to be shamed by Bashir for his cowardliness. Following that we see that the manager has been attacked.
Suspecting Bashir, Tariq goes to his friend DCP Yawar to seek comfort and take advice from the DCP regarding his bully, who advises him to take a stand for himself. Exhausted from all the bullying, Tariq decides to take a stand for himself and frame Bashir for the murder of Danielle, who is Annie’s fiancé.
The climax of the episode unfolds after Tariq records Bashir murdering Danielle, only to realize later that he is actually Bashir after watching the video clip. Tariq is left perplexed and when he goes to find DCP Yawar he is left in shock to know that the man died 17 years ago.
While there is no doubt that the episode was well directed, the episode received mixed views. For some viewers the episode was too bland, who were able to figure out within fifteen minutes of the episode that Tariq had multiple personality disorder, thus the climax was underwhelming for them. The other group of viewers, who were oblivious to the mental health disorder were left confused with the ending.
We appreciate the writer’s efforts to bringing a desi psychological thriller to life, but we wish that a few things were tweaked here and there that would have made the episode more engaging.
Our Verdict on Siyaah
Siyaah series has been written by Syed Ameer Hussain Shah and has been directed by Sabeeh Ahmed, who have done a commendable job in bringing this series to life. Due to each story being encapsulated in less than fifty minutes, the viewers remain more engaged throughout the episode and the plot does not get dragged.
With its strong writing and direction alongside a remarkable list of actors who will be starring in the future episodes, we have high hopes from this one.
