Ahmed Ali Akbar raises the bar with his performance

Hashim Nadeem’s play continues to garner attention with its near-perfect execution

A few weeks back, when Parizaad made its debut on television, only a handful knew that it would go on to become one of the most successful plays of this year. It has everything that a drama should have – action, thrill, romance and suspense – and that’s what makes the viewers wait in anticipation for every new episode. Last week, the drama had a change of direction that was mostly due to Yumna Zaidi’s character, but even that couldn’t displace Ahmed Ali Akbar from the top of his game. As many protagonists are remembered by their characters, one can be sure that Ahmed Ali Akbar will remain Parizaad and has made a name for himself in the character that will define him for a long time.

Ahmed Ali Akbar raises the bar with his performance

Long before he did Parizaad, Ahmed Ali Akbar had proved his mettle as an ambitious actor who could do any kind of character. He played the good guy, the bad guy, and even the heartbroken who never gets his dream girl. To play someone as laid back or worthless as Parizaad was always going to be a challenge. Akbar changed the way he normally walks, adapted a new way of speaking, and agreed to have his face darkened to look get into the character.

From facing rejection from Naheed, to having his heart broken by Bubbly and later by Lubna, Ahmed Ali Akbar made Parizaad the poster boy for rejection. Yet he never stopped since each heartbreak taught him lesson and he managed to succeed in life through hard work and dedication, and all those who considered him worthless come to realise that he is worthy of their love.

This gives a lesson even to the viewers that if your success is not the best way to answer those who didn’t believe in you, then I don’t know what is.

Shahzad Kashmiri must be commended for executing the novel perfectly!

Usually when novels are dramatised, it is the director who takes the lead instead of the novelist, but here it seems that the director is working closely with the writer, because of the results. Shahzad Kashmir has smartly used Karachi for the outdoor scenes, and Islamabad for the interiors, which has a good effect on the viewers’ mind. Each and every actor has been sent in a direction, rather than being directed which shows Shahzad Kashmiri’s skills as a director. He has smartly used actors in guest appearances, and executed their arcs perfectly, and must commended for the drama’s success because he chose to be different, by being different.

Yumna Zaidi, Mashal Khan, and Ushna Shah keep Parizaad busy

For a person who never received love from anywhere because of his skin colour, Ahmed Ali Akbar’s Parizaad is currently very busy on that front. Be it his first love Naheed or his friend Lubna, everyone wants to have his attention because of his wealth. While Naheed chose Majid because of his stable job and Lubna’s mother rejected him because of class differences, Parizaad now has their undivided attention. Yumna Zaidi’s RJ Annie makes her presence felt in the last two episodes as a visually impaired girl who loves Parizaad’s poetry and wants to get his face sculpted, but Parizaad is rude to her because, he doesn’t want to face another rejection and thinks that she is mocking her like many others in the past. Let’s hope he ends with true love this time, otherwise many real-life ‘Parizaads’ will lose hope in life.

Hashim Nadeem continues to thrive as a writer

One must commend Hashim Nadeem’s writing for he has been delivering hits after hits in recent years. From Ishq Zahe Naseeb to Parizaad, he has been in tremendous form as a storyteller who knows what the audience wants to watch. If Ishq Zahe Naseeb featured a character suffering from multiple personality disorder, then Khuda Aur Mohabbat 3 and Raqs e Bismil were about true love, and now Parizaad is about a guy who is as far away from love as possible.

The way he creates characters out of thin air including the development they go through and the dialogues each of them deliver take the audience back into the good old PTV days. That was the time when dialogues and situations mattered, performances were preferred over social media presence and dramas had messages for the viewers. One hopes that Hashim Nadeem continues his good work and keeps entertaining his fans that seem to be growing in numbers with every passing day.