All eyes have been on “Laapata” for over a month with its talented cast and interesting character presentation. The show stars Ayeza Khan, Ali Rehman Khan, Sarah Khan and Gohar Rasheed in lead roles and has been written and directed by Khizer Idrees. After the first episode, it’s clear that there will be much to look forward to as these characters progress in their motives.
As episode one begins, we are introduced to Shams (Ali Rehman Khan), a young man who works at his father’s store, but has dreams of being a “big man” with money, cars and everything he could possibly dream of. He also dreams of having his cousin Falak (Sarah Khan) by his side, the two deeply in love. Despite knowing each other very well, these characters are very different – Falak is hard-working, driven, education-oriented and athletic while Shams has dreams of making it big without actually having any ambition. Adding to it, Shams also appears to have a major vice – gambling. Ali Rehman Khan and Sarah Khan share some really sweet chemistry and look great together, which adds to the entertainment factor, and they are both performing their roles well.
Enter the third wheel – Geeti (Ayeza Khan). Geeti is a silly girl who spends her days on Tik Tok creating videos of her favorite television/film characters – and uses social media for her wayward ways as well, such as getting out of paying grocery store bills with the threat of harassment. Geeti is not your general straight-forward heroine. This is a girl who is fun, bubbly and cute on the outside, but is a true manipulator on the inside. She not only forcibly convinces her boyfriend to run away with her, but also mentally decides to keep Shams as a “backup,” which she decides to utilize when her boyfriend abandons her at the station when his own sister runs away. It’s then that she begins to realize there’s something going on between Falak and Shams – and blackmails the two in order to keep quiet about it.
Overall the first episode of “Laapata” is interesting enough. There are some lagging moments, particularly when the OST is being used in full for no real reason. The editing is not as tight as one would hope and honestly, this love triangle jumps on board immediately within the first episode, that too within cousins, which isn’t very innovative. Still, the characters are very interesting and it’s great to see that each character has worked hard on their roles. This will definitely be a show to watch out for – and Geeti will be a character who will stir the pot soon enough!
