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Dil Banjara, now in its 20th episode, is one of the few drama serials that I am currently watching. The biggest reason for being committed to it is the lead couple – Adnan Malik and Sanam Saeed – it’s always delightful to watch them for a combination of things including their being talented and representative of the ‘urban cool’. Sanam may have played the suppressed daughter in one story too many but her aura is contemporary and she has a very cool Chicago-Grease legacy that goes with her.

Anyway, back to the play, it’s a typical love story and could have done so much better with attention to detail and a better script.

For example, Sikander and Nida have been playing cat and mouse for three or more episodes but everyone except the bride and her mom has noticed the glances they exchange. It’s too much!

 

Dil Banjara

 

Secondly, Shama’s mother – Mahtab Auntie – has to be another level of blindly insensitive to completely disregard the fact that Sikander was initially unwilling to marry Shama. Not once has she asked him whether he changed his mind because of her accident (which she’s overcome now) and she isn’t sensitive to Nida’s presence in his life either. He’s visibly pining after Nida and she can’t see it.

When it comes to attention to detail, Dil Banjara is grossly lacking. I mean, I’m watching Zaman’s wife Rida complaining of not feeling well but she isn’t elaborating at all. It would obviously have made more sense for her to have explained whether she was cramping, bleeding, having unnatural contractions etc. The narrative is so bland and amateur that it puts one off.

These kind of negligence recurs through the play and is really annoying. The dialogues are annoying too. I don’t know any people who talk like that.

Again, I’m watching the play for a few characters that I like – Sikander, Nida and even Nida’s father and taaya but I do wish that the drama had been written with a little more care and depth.

Aamna Haider Isani

Editor-in-Chief, The author is a full time writer, critic with a love for words and an intolerance for typos, although she'll make one herself every now and then.