Hareem Farooq's Bismil is entertaining, but too lengthy

Bismil, starring Hareem Farooq, Naumaan Ijaz, and Savera Nadeem in pivotal roles, is down six episodes, with the next two episodes releasing this week.

The story follows Masooma (Hareem Farooq), an intelligent young woman, who wants to make it big in life, but unfortunately, despite her education and intelligence, mistakenly believes that marrying a wealthy man is her only path to success.

When an accident brings Masooma and T.T. (Naumaan Ijaz) together, she quickly decides that he is her golden ticket to the kind of life she wants. What unfolds is her putting this strategy into action.

Bismil is engaging. You will become invested in the characters and their outcomes and will find yourself forming strong opinions on the events onscreen. You may even sympathize with certain situations.

In this respect, Bismil succeeds. The mark of good storytelling is to engage the audience through the various characters and their arcs.

Bismil falters slightly in its execution. The Pakistani TV drama's tendency to undulate long sequences set to the OST is strong with this one.

If you do watch Bismil, you will mostly do so for Farooq’s convincingly irritating portrayal of Masooma. She truly is a treat to watch: conniving, endearing, and toxic in equal measure.

Despite that, what you might not appreciate are long internal monologues and overdone thinking-out-loud scenes. Some of these even occur in the presence of others, leaving viewers to wonder why no one seems to hear her.

Then there are some tropes we wish Pakistani dramas would drop.

Masooma is friends with a very friendzoned Zohaib (Asad Siddiqui), whose marriage proposal she turns down very clearly. The writer, Zanjabeel Asim Shah, seems intent on making Masooma regret this decision repeatedly.

Look, we get it, Masooma is not great. She’s a gold-digging, and frankly harebrained piece of work. But everyone - even someone as misguided as Masooma - has the right to turn nice guys down. It’s fine. Zubi should move on.

On the other hand, Masooma flatters T.T by saying she prefers commanding men, which he quickly internalizes. He then goes on to monologue about how his wife is aging and doesn’t hold the same appeal for him. In another scene, he yells at his wife for not complying with his decisions.

That's the extent of what has transpired so far. The reason for this slow pace is the overuse of monologues and filler sequences, including a scene where Zohaib walks around an empty house and tears up Masooma’s picture.

Will I keep watching Bismil? Most likely, but only to see if the budding romance between T.T. and Masooma truly succeeds. We know it results in marriage thanks to the teasers, but as we know, marriage doesn't always mean a successful relationship.