It was hard to imagine that any visual, story telling experience could be more agonizing than the excruciating pain we suffered while watching Mann Mayal. I was wrong. Along came Sanam, with Maya Ali as the common denominator and a story that just made no sense. And no Hamza Ali Abbasi to provide the eye candy, at least.
Okay, so over to Sanam. Nine odd (double click the word ‘odd’) episodes have taken the protagonist, Harib, from one woman to another and then yet another. Married to Ayla, he befriends Aan and then goes for a sympathetic hook up with old flame Sara. And they all live in the same compound. Ayla is apparently bipolar, Aan is a delusional and an annoying as hell goody two shoes (with an invasive and meddling nature) and Sara is a reformed gold digger who can’t figure out why Harib, after she ditched him in his days of poverty, isn’t attracted to him anymore. It’s been almost a decade since they dated and she has a daughter from her currently crumbling marriage. Just a decade, heartbreak and humiliation, a marriage … that’s all. She still has the audacity to ask him what he’s punishing her for. Okay then, talk about stupidity. Again.
Nothing about Sanam makes sense. The fact that Ayla’s mental disorder was not evident before Harib married her. Or the fact that her parents play no role in her life for the first five episodes. The fact that Aan, from a conservative family, has no qualms ghussofying in Harib’s home, kitchen, life. Or the fact that Sara, a decade after ditching him ruthlessly (for a richer man) expects him to forgive and forget because…why? It’s not exactly clear but perhaps because she thinks she’s still as hot as she was back then.
It is xtremely convoluted. If you thought that Sanam drew attention to a woman with a bipolar disorder then you should know that the play itself has a disorder for jumping from act to act without actually progressing. It’s in a time loop, with no apparent signs of respite. I’m going to stop watching now. There are better things to do on a Monday evenining.
