This year has seen some good drama, but it seemed like after flirting with innovative stories like Ghissi Pitti Mohabbat, the channels reverted to their old schemas of stereotypes and pulp fiction that fit their business model and brought risk-free ratings. There were few good, truly complete dramas that ticked all the boxes of story, directing, and acting, but there were many that more than reflected the kind of hypocrisy and dysfunction that is. culturally acceptable, such as Fitoor.

On the lighter side, all this audience-seeking melodrama provided a lot of unintended humor and meme material.

Here’s a look at what 2021 looked like in terms of drama.

The best dramas

Raqeeb Se

Dil Naumeed Toh Nahi

Chupke chupke

Parizaad

Khuda Aur Mohabbat

Ishq Jalebi

Hum Kahan Ke Sachay Thay

Both Raqeeb Se and Dil Na Umeed Toh Nahi were the standard bearers for which Pakistani dramas are known. Both were genuine, nuanced scripts that never lost their vigor. More importantly, they were completely conceptualized from start to finish and not an ad hoc pipe dream created to satisfy a range of business and career goals.

While serious dramas are hard to do, comedies can be even more difficult as they can easily slip into over-the-top silliness. Both Chupke chupke and Ishq Jalebi were fantastic examples of this genre, contrasting hilarious one-liners with often serious audience-related situations. A little aside for the producers – why is such light and fun entertainment limited to Ramazan?

Despite regressive themes, Khuda Aur Mohabbat 3 and Hum Kahan Ke Sachay Thay were technically well done and made efforts to counter criticism of their stories. So why Fitoor and Rank Mahal – two incredibly additive dramas – missing? The two relied on thoughtless and absurd twists to stretch what could have been good stories.

Parizaad is standalone – a wonderful combination of mass appeal and clever writing, grounded in reality, but not above taking that imaginative leap to increase one’s audience’s understanding of the world around them. It is disappointing not to see any series of ARY burst onto this list. Apart from a few better series like By and Pehli Si Mohabbat, it seems that the channel’s goal was entirely commercial.

Remarkable performances – feminine

Sania Saeed – Raqeeb Se

Yumna Zaidi – Dil Naumeed Toh Nahi

Mahira Khan – Hum Kahan Ke Sachay Thay

Kubra Khan – Hum Kahan Ke Sachay Thay

Ayeza Khan – Chupke chupke

Iqra Aziz – Raqeeb Se

A round of applause for these wonderful performances which not only captured our hearts but made us think. Thank you Sania Saeed for perfectly describing all the disappointments and triumphs of a life of love; and Iqra Aziz for perfectly capturing the urgency, confusion and ignorance of youth. With just his expressions and the emphasis on a sentence or two, Kubra Khan let us glimpse the world of pain and vulnerability, the pain behind Mashal’s all-consuming anger and bitterness.

We would like our heroines to be strong, we are taught that if women are patient they will win. Mahira Khan’s heartbreaking portrayal of a young woman, who gradually falls apart after battling a life of physical and emotional abuse, looks like a new career high.

Ayeza Khan was the 2021 surprise package, breaking free from the serious and stilted stereotypes she was limited to, pulling off the playful and fun Meenu with enviable style.

Yumna Zaidi is still a great actor who delivers once again as a victim of sex trafficking, giving a much needed human face to this cruel enterprise.

Exceptional performance – men

Usman Mukhtar – Hum Kahan Ke Sachay Thay

Feroze Khan – Khuda aur Mohabbat

Osman Khalid Buttocks – Chupke chupke

Wahaj Ali – Ishq Jalebi

Sheheryar Munawar – Pehli Si Mohabbat

Ahmed Ali Akbar – Parizaad

If we can be generous and put aside the totally unnecessary use of the black face, Ahmed Ali Akbar stole our hearts with this career-best knockout performance, making Pari wish he could be prime minister. Osman Khalid Butt is a versatile actor, but comedy is always his strong suit – his flawless timing and liners delivered with deadly precision make this almost Austen-esque character one of his best avatars to date.

Toxic lovers have become an art form for Feroze Khan and he is generally praised for his presence and intensity on screen. However, Feedi’s character arc, from a simple Lahore boy to at least one repentant toxic lover, was a role he played very well.

We all love to hate Aswad – and there were times when throwing a brick at the TV screen seemed like a reasonable option – but while we might not like this character, it’s a tribute to the game. actor of Usman Mukhtar that he not only took on such a difficult role but made it completely believable.

Cute, devious and someone in need of a major wake-up call, Basim is just one of the outstanding performances Wahaj Ali has given us over the past few seasons.

Finally, Sheheryar Munawar has made an impressive return to the small screen as Aslam, the Boy Next Door, and even better as a mature man, making sense of his past.

Best director

Kashif Nisar – Dil Na Umeed Toh Nahin

Syed Wajahat – Khuda aur Mohabbat

Farooq Crust – Hum Kahan Ke Sachay Thay

Danish Nawaz – Chupke chupke

Shehzad Kashmir – Parizaad

Best screenwriter

Bee Gul – Raqeeb Se

Amna Mufti – Dil Na Umeed Toh Nahi

Umera Ahmed – Hum Kahan Ke Sachay Thay

Saima Akram Chaudhry – Chupke chupke

Hashim Nadeem – Parizaad

There are also a number of trends that need to change.

Real charity workers from Pakistan

Forget the Edhi Foundation, instead marvel at these charity workers always ready to help, beautiful young women in difficulty.

Fazullah of Pehli Si Mohabbat who thinks the only way to help a prostitute escape her predicament is to marry her even if it means ruining her daughter’s life.

Sad of Kiya Kahenge log who tried to force his best friend’s widow to marry him until she literally fled to another town to escape his unwanted attentions.

Marriage can fix that

Marriage remains the one and only solution in all situations. In Hum Kahan Ke Sachay Thay, despite a murder case hanging over her head, everyone’s main concern is who Mehreen will marry. Now that she has survived a suicide attempt, knowing whether she will divorce remains the primary focus rather than a cure or recovery. This pattern recurs through every drama, and if that can really fix it all, can our playwrights tell us who needs to marry whom so that we can solve bigger issues like global warming, the trade deficit and the price of fuel? gas ?

Adultery is always a woman’s fault

Fitoor continued the trend of Mother Paas Tum Ho and Jalan where it is only adultery if a woman does it.

The worst proposition in the world

Apart from all that was wrong with it Ishq hai, he also romanticized the Worst Kind of Behavior when he showed the hero, Shahzeb, forcing the heroine to marry him by pointing a gun at her head.

The Bholi-est of all

The competition is tough this year, but we’ll say this year’s winners are Nimra from Azmaish, Sara Bhabi from Haari Piya principal and Navera from Mohalat. With all the personality of a wet piece of lettuce, the greatest superpower of these heroines is the ability to float in rivers of their own tears.

We have to see more of

Salaar of Rank Mahal

A straightforward middle-class Karachi guy who empowers rather than saves, encourages instead of taking over and stands up for the woman he loves when the supposed hero spent over 20 episodes calling her a slut. To top it off, Asim Mehmood’s fantasy game asked us why he wasn’t the hero.

Guru of Parizaad

A fascinating transgender character who, despite his dangerous exterior, has proven to be both wise and kind, shattering the usual effeminate stereotypes we see on our screen.

Grandmothers duel in Chupke chupke

The epic battles between Naik Parwar and Naik Bhakht were legendary this Ramazan and added some terrific new phrases to the comic lexicon – Paindoo Pastry and Mere Ko Jeenay Dey Mital.

Aslam and Rakshi say goodbye in Pehli Si Mohabbat

While the rest of the drama may have strayed into long twists and turns, slow-paced direction and stretches, these two beautifully written characters saying goodbye were unforgettable. The latest episode of two people letting go of their painful pasts and moving on struck a rare note of authenticity and maturity instead of a forced happy ending.

Most disappointing drama this year

Soak

It was a huge missed opportunity to explore the important issues around #MeToo and sexual assault in the workplace. Instead, it turned into a series of lengthy confrontations across tables and in lounges that didn’t resolve anything. Desperate to create some kind of climax, the creative team came up with a mind-boggling storyline in which the hero kidnaps the accuser and threatens her with rape so that she admits that she lied about her previous rape allegations.