THE WEEK THAT WAS

Humrahi | Geo Entertainment, Fri-Sat 8.00pm

Ghazi Yusuf (Shahzad Nawaz) is a ruthless crime boss and land developer, but he has one weakness: his son, Sayhaan (Danish Taimoor), who is determined to be the better man. Sayhaan is an odd mixture of a passive-aggressive, wounded child with his father, and a kick-the-door-down Amitabh Bachchan from the 1980s for everyone else.

While Sayhaan’s character and actions are a walking cliché, the female lead, Hiba Bukhari as Elif, is not far behind, doing everything every heroine in a Danish Taimoor drama has done before. She is feisty for no good reason and foolhardy, despite being educated enough to become a doctor. While Ghazi Yusuf is busy terrorising the poor, Sayhaan is busy fixing things his father breaks.

Sayhaan’s friend, Maryam’s (Laila Wasti) restaurant becomes a bone of contention between father and son. Ghazi threatens an already sick Maryam and this stress, combined with other disappointments, leads to her death. Writer Zanjabeel Asim Shah has written a role specifically tailored to Danish Taimoor’s mass popularity as an angry young man. So far, the only novelty is the uptick in violence and guns.

Rahmat | ARY Digital, Daily 7.00pm

Bad fathers seem to be this drama season’s most popular plot device, and in this serial — written by Mehreen Sheikh — we have two. The first is Alam (Shahood Alvi), who has long abandoned his first wife and three daughters in favour of a second wife, with whom he has managed to have sons he enjoys spoiling. The other is Shayan (Khalid Anam), a wealthy business tycoon who neglected his children for his business, but now needs his son Bari (Junaid Khan).

Pareshay (Hina Tariq) plays a typical, hardworking, eldest daughter who is taking responsibility for the family that Alam, her father, ignores. Educated and capable, she is appointed the personal secretary to Bari by his father, Shayan, to keep his son on a schedule he resents. Despite some hackneyed elements, the story has an intriguing track about a physically challenged younger sister (Reham Rafiq) who determinedly strives for independence while rejecting victimhood.

The story moves at a good pace and, unlike some so-called premium projects, the plot turns and characters make sense, without melodrama. The writer has used the format wisely and allowed the characters to grow and develop. If the audience can get past Junaid Khan not looking like the 25-year-old he is supposed to be, the performances are believable.

Muamma | Hum TV, Wed-Thurs 8.00pm

Just when Muamma looks like it might slow down, writer Imran Nazir throws in a new twist.

Jehan Ara (Saba Qamar) has become fearless: she falls in love with the “new” Shah Jehan (Shehzad Sheikh) and openly asks to be a part of his life. She also threatens her imprisoned, abusive husband, Sarmad (Syed Jibran), that she will send him to his death. A desperate Sarmad begs for the help of his uncle and the bride who was once rejected, Zuleykha (Maria Wasti). Pirs and the misuse of spirituality are a recurring theme in Imran Nazir’s work. Zuleykha has become a pirni (spiritual leader), leading a powerful life and secretly finding love. Here is another woman who does not pine away in self-pity, who finds a way to live on her own terms under her conservative father’s nose. Sarmad wants to use Zuleykha, but she is no fool and refuses to be trapped.

Is Jehan Ara really in love, and will she spoil another marriage? Two lives are lost: Sarmad’s mistress and Shah Jehan’s colleague (an innocent bystander). Who will pay for this toll of blood and pain?

What To Watch Out For (Or Not)

Winter Love | Hum TV, Coming soon

From the pen of Sarah Majeed, the writer of the smash-hit drama Fairy Tale, comes a new romance starring Khushhal Khan and Mawra Hocane.

Published in Dawn, ICON, April 12th, 2026

There used to be a cafe inside Koel Gallery in Karachi’s Clifton area. A cafe that had somehow sustained itself over whispers about their shikanjbeen [lemonade] being good and, maybe, a creamy spinach and asparagus dip served with pita bread. It had a whole lot of other things, too, but recommendations from diners rarely ever moved beyond the aforementioned items.

You’d think if a cafe in Karachi just focused on having maybe one or two worthy food items, it surely had to be struggling. Maybe it was — but not as much as you think. You see, the ambience was so tastefully done and it was located inside one of the most happening art galleries. Sunlight poured through from every direction, illuminating every corner. You couldn’t hide there even if you tried. It was bright and green, surrounded by plants, and vibes — as people now say on the internet.

On December 31, 2025, a post quietly went up on their Instagram, stating they were closing their doors for good. The post said that it was “making way for a new space.”

The “new space”, it turns out, was Mizu. A restaurant brought to life by Sikandar Rizvi (owner of Xander’s, one of the city’s most popular restaurants) and Mustafa Sardar (who owns Izakaya — a private dining concept that lets diners choose a pre-set menu of 10 courses).

Some dishes soar, some fall short and the ambience does a lot of the heavy lifting — but Mizu still earns its place at Karachi’s ever-crowded table

While people were waiting for Koel Cafe to magically re-open, Mizu offered no nod to its memories. Koel Cafe’s menu had mezze platters, kulcha [flatbread] sandwiches and paneer tikka and Mizu is keeping Asian flavours, specifically Thai inspired notes, at the forefront.

When you walk in, the place looks very “structured”, with rows of dining tables and chairs occupying every corner. The seating is not constricted by the indoor premises, it spreads out in the outdoors too, surrounding the tree and only stops at the signature Koel Gallery door.

During the day, it retains the sun-lit aspect of the earlier cafe but, at night, it dims, so that every table is mostly just lit by a small candle and a few light sources at the counter. The people seem to just keep walking in.

Karachi, albeit a competitive backdrop for businesses, always offers warmth to the “new”. Moreover, with Mizu, people are showing up with a certain assuredness in their step because of its association with Xander’s.

What about the food? The social media chatter would encourage you to order their chicken lime coconut soup, their Thai steamed fish and their Thai green curry, and it would be correct. The restaurant handles the balance of flavours in each dish in a masterful way. In the Thai green curry, the bright, green earthiness of the lemongrass comes through, while the richness of the coconut curry is retained. In the Thai steamed fish, a herb-forward and citrus dressing makes the steamed fish come to life and, in the chicken coconut soup, a mildly sweet coconut base is lifted by hints of spice and lime.

Other popular items on the menu are sesame beef, where a drizzle of rich sesame butter adorns thinly sliced, flavourful beef. The flavours land in a way where you go in for a second bite immediately, while also wishing the beef had a little less chew on it.

Then there is a dish called popcorn beef, which is similar to crispy beef served in most pan-Asian restaurants in Karachi. You can tell that it is there to signal a sense of familiarity for diners. The execution falls slightly short, because does it make you think this is the best crispy beef you have had in the city? No, but if you order it as a shared plate for the table, not many would complain.

There is a range of items in the menu titled under ‘Crostina’ and it includes options revolving around tuna, salmon, caviar, wasabi and truffle. But the items listed underneath this sound way more unique than they taste.

The truffle toro, which has thinly sliced tuna over very thin flatbread, would immediately make you think of the tuna pizza at another Karachi restaurant, Banchan, except the latter executes the concept way better. The wasabi salmon crostina would make you expect a sharp, punchy note but the flavours just blend in, leaving no room for a party trick to occur.

The chicken pancakes arrive with deconstructed condiments. A plate carries shredded chicken with hoisin sauce and a chilli jam, while savoury wraps that look like mini-crepes arrive in a bamboo steamer basket that usually houses dim sum.

While the chilli jam was not a flavour I particularly liked, the experience of assembling your own wraps at the table does offer some enjoyment. I even took a detour and used a savoury wrap to include some sesame beef instead of shredded chicken and, I have to say, it worked so much better for me.

Mizu attempts to use familiar flavours to lure people in while also attempting to introduce them to something new but, overall, the flavours that it offers are not new enough.

Will diners still seek comfort in its ambience, familiar orders of crispy beef, Thai curries and warm soups? Yes. But Karachi is like that strict math teacher you had in school — even when it wants to compliment, it dismisses. So, while Mizu is nothing ground-breaking, it is still a trustworthy addition to the city’s ever multiplying dining scene.

The reviewer is a food writer and a digital content creator. Instagram: @GirlGottaEat

Published in Dawn, EOS, April 12th, 2026

The common assumption that a popular politician is naturally a powerful one reflects a persistent misund­er­standing of how contemporary political systems function. High poll numbers, large rallies and dominant social media metrics are frequently misinterpreted as a mandate that allows a leader to govern as they please.

Political science demonstrates that this is often an illusion. Being liked by the public is what political theorists call a “soft asset”, because it frequently fails when it collides with the realities of how government actually operates.

As the American political scientist Robert Dahl argued in 1990, the idea of a heavy mandate is often a “pseudo-concept.” It rarely functions as a practical tool for making laws. In reality, a leader’s power is not a blank cheque signed by the voters. It is a limited currency that must be spent within a complex web of rules and competing interests.

The American political theorist Richard Neustadt observed that a leader’s true power is not the power to command but the power to persuade other officials. A president or prime minister may have millions of admirers in the streets, but if the PM or president cannot persuade the bureaucracy, the legislature and the judiciary to cooperate, they usually struggle to achieve their goals. Neustadt maintained that actual change requires navigating institutional friction and laws. This is a reality that cannot be addressed by public applause alone.

From Barack Obama to Imran Khan, political history shows that mass appeal rarely translates into effective governance because public approval is a fragile asset, often neutralised by institutional constraints and perception gaps

The presidency of Barack Obama between 2009 and 2015 serves as a case in point regarding the tension between popularity and institutional power. When Obama assumed office, he carried an impressive mandate, having won the popular vote by a significant margin and holding a rare majority in the Senate alongside approval ratings of over 60 percent.

This reflected a level of power that many believed would allow him to bypass traditional political tussles. However, as the theories of Dahl and Neustadt suggested, public adoration did not translate into a frictionless path. Obama’s high approval ratings proved to be more of Dahl’s “pseudo-concept” than a practical tool for passing laws. Despite Obama’s fame, he faced deep institutional pushback that made passing key bills nearly impossible, rendering popularity rather useless in the face of lobbyists and the opposition.

According to the German political philosopher Jan-Werner Müller, political leaders often fall into the trap of claiming they alone represent the ‘real people’ because they are ‘popular’. This creates a democratic paradox, where popularity becomes a tool to bypass friction by delegitimising the opposition and state institutions.

This observation is reinforced by the fate of various 21st century populists. Despite enjoying an impassioned support base, Donald Trump saw major policy goals stalled by congressional gridlock and judicial blocks during his first term (2016-2020). He is again likely to face more of the same during his remaining second term, more so as he tries to wriggle his way out of the Iran war. Similarly, former UK prime minister Boris Johnson’s 2019 heavy mandate failed to prevent internal party revolts, proving that public applause cannot replace institutional cooperation. In Brazil, the populist Jair Bolsonaro was forced to make constant concessions to centrist and progressive legislative blocs, despite having a fervent support base among the electorate.

Then there is also the question of how one measures political popularity. It is a complex exercise. American political scientist John Zaller’s Receive-Accept-Sample (RAS) model suggests that voters do not hold fixed opinions but (during surveys) construct “preference statements” based on whichever political cues are most recently salient in the media.

This contributes to a “perception gap” within a polity. This term was first used in a 2019 study by academics S. Hawkins, Daniel Yudkin, M. Juan-Torres and Tim Dixon. A perception gap emerges when individuals are heavily influenced by media framing, leading to a distorted understanding of political reality. A leader’s standing can be manufactured by a narrative regardless of the broader factual reality. A politician seen as ‘one of us’ can maintain high support while failing to pass any significant laws.

The public often values the image of relatability over actual achievement. This is something that the current ‘hybrid regime’ in Pakistan is experiencing vis-a-vis its conflict with the party of former populist prime minister Imran Khan. The perception of Khan’s ‘widespread’ popularity is largely an outcome of a perception gap rather than a reflection of overall electoral dominance.

While his personal appeal is impressive, its scale is frequently exaggerated through the digital ‘echo chamber effect.’ As noted in the 2025 study ‘Echo Chambers on Social Media and its Role in Political Polarisation’, digital platforms produce a “reinforcement effect”, where users outrightly disregard information that does not fit their existing beliefs, no matter how authentic the information.

Khan’s identity was always, and continues to be, constructed through a populist lens that emphasises his role as a singular ‘saviour’, a process the Pakistani linguist Muqadas Fakhar describes as “employing a linguistic and rhetorical process to create polarised mass opinions that mask a more divided reality on the ground.”

In Pakistan, surveys have consistently shown a deeply polarised public rather than a monolithic support base. Just before the February 2024 elections, surveys by firms such as Institute for Public Opinion Research (IPOR) and Gallup Pakistan showed Khan’s national support hovering between 31 percent and 40 percent, with rivals such as Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leading in key battlegrounds in Central Punjab and Sindh.

During the elections, while candidates backed by Khan’s party secured the most seats of any single group, they won approximately 31.17 per cent of the popular vote. Indeed, this represents a notable following, but it falls quite short of the ‘unanimous support’ often projected by Khan’s social media apparatus.

According to the French political scientist Christophe Jaffrelot, Khan’s rise between 2011 and 2018 was facilitated by “managed political conditions”, where institutional support helped marginalise traditional rivals. This suggests that his perceived ‘invincibility’ was a product of strategic engineering rather than a purely organic revolution.

After Khan lost power in 2022, claims of his ‘popularity’ continue to be exaggerated. This serves as a case study for Zaller’s RAS model, where a constant flow of partisan social, mainstream and print media cues leads to the belief of him commanding a ‘large mandate’ even from jail. But the perceptions in this regard ignore the structural friction and fractured electoral loyalties that still define Pakistan’s political terrain and reality.

Published in Dawn, EOS, April 12th, 2026