Danish Taimoor already has “Jaan Nisar” running with Hiba Bukhari on air. “Teri Chhaon Mein” is his second show to go on air this month – and honestly, expectations have been low with this one. Written by Radain Shah and directed by Abdullah Badeni, “Teri Chhaon Mein” stars Danish Taimoor, Laiba Khurram, Sohail Sameer, Tara Mehmood, Behroze Sabzwari, Hassan Niazi, Angeline Malik, Shabbir Jan and others in prominent roles.
Salaar (Danish Taimoor) is a carefree young man who spots the love of his life at the bus stop. How? No idea, considering half of Wadeena’s (Laila Khurram) face is covered by a dupatta and she’s standing with her father who could’ve very well been her husband for all he knows. The whole scene is ludicrous, because any way that you spin it, Wadeena’s get-up is not such that would fall into the category of creating an obsessive lover. Salaar follows Wadeena to her college, creates a spectacle of declaring their “friendship” in front of her mother and then acts like a fool when she walks away. Of course, the narrative highlights how controlling Wadeena’s father is and why this obsessive lover would be appealing to Wadeena, who would want to escape her father’s clutches.
There’s a point where the audience becomes bored with watching repetitive characters and storylines on-screen. This is made even worse when those characters are all played by the same actor. Danish Taimoor has had “Deewangi,” “Kaisi Teri Khudgarzi,” “Ishq Hai,” “Rah E Junoon” and now “Teri Chhaon Mein” all within 4 years, dramas in which he has played the role of an obsessive lover. It has honestly become exhausting watching Danish, who is actually a good actor, in these repetitive roles. Even more glaring is how Danish has refused to play age-appropriate roles in the past 5 years. He can do better. He needs to do better.
All of this aside, “Teri Chhaon Mein” has a painfully tedious first episode. Why are we rooting for Wadeena and Salaar? That’s right, we are not. Why should we? Salaar does not know her even a little bit. His love is based purely on physical appearances and quite honestly, his attraction is not the least bit believable. Danish Taimoor is a wonderful actor and is genuinely talented, but can someone advise him to take on roles which require him to exhibit talent? Laiba Khurram is wooden as Wadeena and does not have the sort of on-screen charisma required of her character on-screen. There is absolutely nothing about this first episode which holds audience attention and fuels the desire to return for episode two. This show has already raked in over a million views within twelve hours, so it is on its way towards being a hit – but in terms of everything that matters, “Teri Chhaon Mein” is a write-off.
