Ever since its introduction on social media, drama serial Khan created a lot of hype and was rumoured to be inspired by the life of cricketer turned politician, Imran Khan. Though the play has nothing to do with Imran Khan, it does revolve around the life of a politician named Khan and, with each new episode, unfolds various aspects of his personality.

Starring Noman Ijaz as the indomitable Khan, Khan is one of the few male-centric plays that have emerged on our television screens in recent times. Khan’s political backdrop sets it apart from the average drama serial on most channels these days but what compounds the viewer’s interest is the fact that it is quick paced and fast.

Directed by Ali Faizan, the play refers to past events every now and then and reveals how they have shaped the lives of those involved. The character development is also on point as we learn more about each character and what makes them behave in a certain manner.

As far as the story of the serial goes, Khan plays the kingmaker who’s an important part of the government and takes major decisions. He’s married with four children, two sons and two daughters, out of whom one son is a special child whom he shares all his secrets with. Given his position, he definitely has several enemies who keep an eye on him all the time. The recent episode centered on investigating the death of a member of opposition, Jamil (played by Aijaz Aslam), who is said to have committed suicide but his family insists that it’s a murder. When he committed suicide, or was rather killed, Jamil was heading to his party members with some evidence against Khan, who once had an affair with Jamil’s wife Sarwat (played by Shaista Wahidi). Sarwat accuses Khan of killing her husband and ruining her once again; he earlier took the blame for a crime committed by someone else and went to jail, leaving Sarwat all alone.

Other tracks in the play include that of Khan’s daughters; one is a widow whose husband was killed by Khan when he learnt that he’s abusing his daughter while the other daughter is in love with an artist from a middle class background. Aside from that, Khan’s widowed sister (played by Saba Hameed), who lives with him along with her children, also adds a twist to the tale. Khan killed her husband too and now her husband’s friend, who’s apparently in love with her, appears in the latest episode to take revenge from Khan.

Khan’s character is a very complicated one. He loves his wife and children but he has another woman in his life, he kills his brother-in-law and son-in-law but he is providing food and shelter to his sister and her family; he appears to be very strong but then he also cries reminiscing past incidents. This makes his character realistic and complex at the same time as the play highlights his journey.

Coming to performances, Ijaz fits the character very well and steals the show in every episode. While Odho and Hameed impress with their remarkable acting and dialogue delivery, Wahidi emotes very unimpressively and fails to make a mark.

With a number of mysteries to be solved, the story of Khan is getting more interesting with every episode. There is romance, intrigue and tragedy to some extent but the character portrayal and the overall storyline is very relevant to the political times we live in. The next few episodes will tell if the play manages to live up to our expectations or not.

The News

Related Stories

Dawn: Rare letters of Allama Iqbal and Maulana Maudoodi

The News: New records on the block

The Express Tribune: Hadiqa Kiani set to return with new music album

The Express Tribune: Shahid Jalal paints the flowerscapes of Lahore