What we loved about this episode of Mann Mayal

“You see we spent a year making Mann Mayal,” Hamza Ali Abbasi said about his on-going play Mann Mayal, back when we met him at the Pakistan Super League kick-off ceremony in Dubai. Now, several months later, as the play progresses towards its ending, we do believe it’ll be a happy one. Here’s what he said…

Mann Mayal had started to drag its feet but now, finally, there are a couple of loose ends that we’re really curious to see tied up…

1. The latest episode of Mann Mayal has us intrigued and interested now that it appears that there may be some justice for Mannu and that her whining may come to an end. Salahuddin has finally decided that he does want to marry her (he always did but, by his own admission, wasn’t man enough to take control of the situation).
2.  Jameel has emerged as another intriguing character as one can’t decipher whether he’s actually besotted with Jeena (played annoyingly accurate by Ayesha Khan) or whether he’s playing her as effectively as she’s playing him. He is pretty creepy and the way he prowls around Jeena is unsettling. She is leading him on but one wonders how dangerous he can get when and if he finds out.
3. Mother knows best: We love the fact that Salahuddin’s mother, despite being mean to Mannu, can see through Jeena’s fakeness. She picks up on the fact that, on one hand, Jeena says she doesn’t take Salahuddin’s name and on the other hand she has no trouble pitching her own marriage to him to his mother.
4. Jeena, as we saw in the promo, will knock at Mikail’s door in desperation and we know it won’t end well for her. This may be the writer’s way to ensure we have no sympathy for the little yateem girl whom no one loves.
5. A little romance between Mannu and Salahuddin couldn’t hurt and it appears to be on the horizon. Mannu does remind us of an obstinate and unforgiving Khirad (in Humsafar) but we know she’s harbouring love for the man and it has to surface sooner or later.

So, despite what HAB said to us – or didn’t say, actually, we feel Mann Mayal will have a happy ending. Let’s just wait and see.