All the more reason to question the wisdom of Mehreen Jabbar in choosing stories based in the USA. Surely, productions based in Pakistan would benefit the local economy. Also her dramas like Daam and Doraha had a lot more charm because they were based in Pakistan and had socially relevant stories which were conveyed beautifully by Mehreen. That is what a director of her caliber should be choosing and not some light weighted, fluffy stuff by Farhat Ishtiaq, no matter how highly recommended it comes.
I do think Mehreen is one of our more selective directors. She's certainly not churning plays after plays but to survive in the industry she also needs to have a good working relationship with ppl in it. She had previously worked only with Humayun Saeed's production house. She's clearly most comfortable with him, but obviously needed to diversify to other production houses.
When she did doraha, malal and daam, I believe she was given a lot of freedom and time by Humayun Saeed because she worked with Umera Ahmed to create the plot and characters for the script. She brought out the best in Umera and supported her through the process creating three incredible plays. That's why the scripts are top notch and the best works of both umera and mehreen.
But from what I heard about Momina's production company, it's very different. They have the entire script written which they just hand to the director. That's what Sarmad revealed during one of his interviews about humsafar. He had no clue about the script , plot of even the author ( he was at that time doing Jalpari and soon as that wrapped up, he jumped onto shooting Humsafar). So given this environment, Mehreen must have had very limited knowledge of the script/ plot and probably no involvement in the development of plot or characters.
so anyways, my point is that I don't blame Mehreen for the glitches. She's done a brilliant job given her limitations and I am glad she decided to continue doing more work:)
There is absolutely zero chemistry btw adeel hussain and sarwat gillani which makes the scenes btw them very forced and rehearsed, including the silly abrupt proposal :/ casting seems a bit off
Love the way it's shot though and sanam saeed is doing complete justice to her role, very into her character and believable.
from what I heard MJ is about to start off her second film project hence the reason to sign on for this sort of drama could purely be for monetary reasons. The camera work is awesome but apart from that one just can't ignore the sudden changes in the storyline. I mean it really makes the viewer feel like they produced this drama in a rush without putting much thought in the story and its characters.
It doesnt look like a play by MJ... where is the chemistry and romance... just a good camera alone can not make things interesting. I miss the believable romantic chemistry between Adeel and SanamB from Daam... Also there is no emphasize on characterization as MJ used to do in past. They have to tell each other what they did in past... how Haniya went to her parents and came back to Mama Jaani etc etc this looks shallow when the story is told in words. I remember how well MJ used to describe her characters (Aur zindagi badalti... Putli ghar... and Daam etc). Yamina's character is still a mystery and i dont understand why, if she is so practical (unlike her sister), why she doesnt fight with her husband.
One more thing form 1st episode everyone is bragging about Haniya's conservative values but i am cluesless what is it for. She doesnt know cooking, undisciplined and even in the morning she greets her parents with 'Good morning instead of saying Salam.
It doesnt look like a play by MJ... where is the chemistry and romance... just a good camera alone can not make things interesting. I miss the believable romantic chemistry between Adeel and SanamB from Daam... Also there is no emphasize on characterization as MJ used to do in past. They have to tell each other what they did in past... how Haniya went to her parents and came back to Mama Jaani etc etc this looks shallow when the story is told in words. I remember how well MJ used to describe her characters (Aur zindagi badalti... Putli ghar... and Daam etc). Yamina's character is still a mystery and i dont understand why, if she is so practical (unlike her sister), why she doesnt fight with her husband.
One more thing form 1st episode everyone is bragging about Haniya's conservative values but i am cluesless what is it for. She doesnt know cooking, undisciplined and even in the morning she greets her parents with 'Good morning instead of saying Salam.
Its very disappointing so far...
Honestly BELEIVE that this was a super rush job from script adaptation to direction. It is still directed. Y MJ so there are quality scenes. I am not writing it off do 1 bad episode. I will give it some more time. I stopped watched Sanjha already. I think production went into full force after a few episodes of Humsafar went of the air and it was number 1. But I am not sure about the details .
She looks good in this play. I don’t if you can compare her box office value with Mahira Khan though. She was on fire in Humsafar and the subsequent ads.
I do think Mehreen is one of our more selective directors. She's certainly not churning plays after plays but to survive in the industry she also needs to have a good working relationship with ppl in it. She had previously worked only with Humayun Saeed's production house. She's clearly most comfortable with him, but obviously needed to diversify to other production houses.
When she did doraha, malal and daam, I believe she was given a lot of freedom and time by Humayun Saeed because she worked with Umera Ahmed to create the plot and characters for the script. She brought out the best in Umera and supported her through the process creating three incredible plays. That's why the scripts are top notch and the best works of both umera and mehreen.
But from what I heard about Momina's production company, it's very different. They have the entire script written which they just hand to the director. That's what Sarmad revealed during one of his interviews about humsafar. He had no clue about the script , plot of even the author ( he was at that time doing Jalpari and soon as that wrapped up, he jumped onto shooting Humsafar). So given this environment, Mehreen must have had very limited knowledge of the script/ plot and probably no involvement in the development of plot or characters.
so anyways, my point is that I don't blame Mehreen for the glitches. She's done a brilliant job given her limitations and I am glad she decided to continue doing more work:)
See the thing is, some of us are not familiar with these pakistani production houses and their individual working styles. I'm watching this drama simply because it is a 'Mehreen Jabbar Drama'! And that is what most of us remember about her dramas. Rarely anyone will remember who the producers were. If she is indeed being selective, then she has to be selective for the right reasons. I'm not sure why she selected 'Neeyat' for example, it was a poorly written play, but all we remember is that it was Mehreen Jabbar's drama! Similarly with Mata e Jaan, if it is not Mehreen's usual standards then it affects her credibility as a great director. And then naturally her fans will keep going back and remember how good she used to be (in Doraha or Daam for example). There are very high expectations from Mehreen Jabbar and with director of her stature, it is up to her to select how she maintains the quality.
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