“Nauroz” has never claimed to be an easy watch and yet, despite the heavy nature of the show, it’s an oddly compelling, engaging watch which leaves the audience wanting more. Starring Mawra Hocane, Shamyl Khan, Rana Majid Khan, Mahnoor Shaukat and Manzar Sehbai, the story has been written by Kashif Anwar and directed by Shahzad Kashmiri. Up until now, our lead character, Reshtina (Mawra Hocane), has been going through an internal journey. This is a young woman who has been more than just sheltered all her life – she was kept away from the outside world, protected entirely by her parents. Now, without their protection, she’s learning a lot about the world…..and is completely unprotected.
In episode 9, Reshtina dons Hira’s (Mahnoor Shaukat) costume and dresses like a man, making the drive back home to find Agha Jaan (Shamyl Khan) on her own. While we’re impressed by Reshtina’s confidence in herself and the guts to make such a big move despite the dangers, it’s not shocking at all when her Chacha stumbles across her, suspicious of her costume. Reshtina – and Hira – could’ve definitely done better. The facial hair in itself looked fake – and she should’ve known better than to walk into danger with such a weak get-up. Reshtina escapes, but barely, learning of Agha Jaan’s death and then hitting her Chacha on the head. She makes the drive back in tears and it’s a wonder she manages to get herself back home in one piece with the trauma of her father’s death and almost being caught.
This is a huge blow for Reshtina, who has been waiting for her father the entire time, holding out hope and making videos just to reach him. Rustam (Rana Majid Khan) and Hira are a blessing for Reshtina, a girl who quite literally has no one in the world now. These two have become her family and we can only hope their love and care remains regardless of what happens moving forward. Both Mahnoor Shaukat and Rana Majid Khan are lovable in their roles and it will be interesting to see how their roles shape up as Reshtina’s priorities change.
By the end of the episode, Reshtina is fed up of her TikTok driven life, walking out of a shoot. Her head space is still suck on her father’s death and she is yet to discover any meaning in life. Mawra Hocane is absolutely incredible as Reshtina. She has done a great job of transforming into this naïve, innocent young girl – and now, that naïve, innocent young girl is on yet another journey, trying to unlearn and change gears towards life. What’s not the greatest is the way the show seems to mildly look down upon the social media world. All content creators are not silly and they do not always make meaningless videos. Reshtina is now making the trek to visit the mountain man, indicating that she’s done with the material world. But is there a safe balance between the two? One does not have to live in the mountains and swear off the world in order to find internal peace. It would be great to see Reshtina continue with her videos and continue to make a living off of these videos, but potentially changing her aim to help herself and others through her videos. “Nauroz” has a very different, fresh concept and we can hope the ultimate message is one of meaning – but also practicality.