Does the survival of good content mean that dramas should evolve with time in terms of pace and storytelling or merely stick to a generic stereotype as the way forward? Neem makes us question this with its slow pace, relaxed storytelling, and old-school drama-making.
The Characters
Mawra Hocane returns to our screens as Zimal, a girl from Kashmir who just completed her education and now wants to work for the development of her village.
Written by Kashif Anwar who also wrote “Sabaat” and directed by Shahzad Kashmiri of “Parizaad fame”, the drama also features Syed Jibran, Arsalan Naseer, and Ameer Gilani in prominent roles, alongside Mawra.
The Story
The story seems to be about working against the feudal establishment and mindset. Education and its access to everyone is the main focus. Zimal is a kind-hearted and maybe idealistic girl who, instead of buying clothes for her bhabi, distributes the money to needy people, chooses to not marry for two years so she can work for the betterment of her area while her cousin destroys the cable in the village believing it is spreading “fahashi”. This puts the narrative in perspective. The question is, will the drama offer us something new in terms of execution and storytelling?
The first episode laid the groundwork for getting to know the characters – from overbearing Karamat who watches YouTube on his phone but doesn’t want the villagers to watch cable tv (his wrath expressed by chopping off the cable line), to Zimal’s grandfather who is progressive and attempts to reinvent education in his village with the help of his granddaughter (and the only one Karamat obeys apparently), to Zimal’s bhai and bhabi who live simple lives.
Zimal is engaged to Shazil aka Arsalan Naseer whereas, unknown to her, Ashhad aka Ameer Gilani, who lives in the same village, and also stutters, hails from a working-class family, and secretly likes her. There are also village rivalries and those will be expected to play out as the story unfolds.
Wait for the story to play out.
With our fingers crossed, we await to see how the story develops further. Will the narrative and performances carry enough punch to make us fall in love with the slow pace and a very traditional mode of storytelling?
