Ek Jhoothi Love Story Review: 3.5/5 Stars (Three and a Half Star)

Be it any side of the border, marriage and the shenanigans around it till date remain the same. What changes is just the presence of social media being an option for the individuals who venture out to find ideal partners online. Ek Jhoothi Love Story is a light-hearted tale of finding love and well, not really get it as planned. For a person who loved Asim Abbasi’s Churails, Ek Jhoothi is a specimen that there is a lot of mettle in the Pakistani digital content and its creators.

Cast: Bilal Abbas Khan, Madiha Imam, Kiran Haq, Syed Mohammad Ahmed, Beo Rana Zafar and ensemble.

Ek Jhoothi Love Story Review: What’s It About?

Salma (Madiha) and Sohail (Bilal) both are out there dreaming about their ideal partners. Both belonging to a middle-class family, dream of marrying someone that it way above their reach. To achieve this, the two create fake social media profiles, and destiny plays its game. 4 lives are intervened in the dynamic, while the families already struggle to loosen the complicated knots of life.

Ek Jhoothi Love Story Review: What Works:

The second Pakistani show to get a farther reach, Ek Jhoothi Love Story comes out from the same pen that wrote the (please let the breeze in at this point) ZINDAGI GULZAR HAI. On that note when it’s writer Umera Ahmed is creating the characters, you know the flaws will shine like diamonds, and we will treasure them.

Umera Ahmed yet again creates a tender tale, that as per reports she calls ‘comedy of errors’. Taking a break from the melancholic vibe the author stands for, she focuses more on the satire of relationships and marriage in a middle-class Pakistani household.

Umera Ahmed and director Mehreeen Jabbar together weave a tale that shows how the technology and it’s presence in our personal life might have evolved. However, patriarchy and ‘log kya kahenge’ syndrome still very much lurks around us. For this, they sketch two humans, who also have fake social media identities. Now what happens in the fake/dream space, is a stark contradiction to the real lives of these two. What begins with a girl starring at her screen where Meghan Markel and Prince Harry are getting married, ends at a point where she finds her prince where you least expect her to.

The writer-director duo clever brings in their commentary at this point. Without being preachy even once, Ek Jhoothi Love Story sheds light on a lot of issues around us. Not comparing it to Churails at any point, but both the shows are evident that women in the landscape are finally getting a voice.

Add to this cathartic storytelling a stellar cast that knows their craft and what the filmmakers have envisioned. I have already become a fan of Syed and Beo Rana’s pairing ever since I saw ‘Cake’. Beo becomes the heart of this story. It is her transformation and the resistance to it that defines the journey of Ek Jhoothi. Her character is an embodiment of everything that Umera and Mehreen want to address. But at the same time, they never make her the villain, so to say. Baring her orthodox ideas, I found an absolute cuteness in her. And that is authentic; we have all seen here in some of our family members.

Imam and Bilal, both Pakistan’s new-found heartthrobs, are a perfect match. It is amazing to see actors not judge their parts and look innocent when they know what they are doing as the person is wrong. Imam who sees the world through her round glasses (which make her look adorable by the way), gets to show a range of emotions and she does it perfectly. Bilal who we meet as an ultimate Bollywood fan is fun to watch. All others, including Kiran, and the ensemble are highly dedicated to this project.

Talking about music, the title track is a gem, and I am listening to it on loop while writing this review. The show in its course gives a homage to several yesteryear songs which adds a layer.

Ek Jhoothi Love Story Review: What Doesn’t Work:

First, the length for sure. 18 episodes with an average runtime of 30 minutes each make it a tiring and long watch in a go. A crisper approach crunched into a 10 episode drama would have made it edgier.

I say that because the stretched version at parts gets too diluted. For a fact, the first half turns out to be repetitive. I understand the conflict is personal, and the matchmaking part appearing several times has to have significance, but after a point, you hope you could skip some.

Sohail and Salma though being connected from the beginning, start exploring lives together a bit late in the show. Maybe pulling that part, prior might have worked as a plus.

Ek Jhoothi Love Story Review: Last Words:

Watch Ek Jhoothi, and you must even if you don’t belong to the country it is set in. As I said either side of the border, the essence remains the same. Fall in love with Salma and Sohail, see them break their hearts but also mend those broken parts. Enjoys the cuteness Beo Rana is but don’t hate her when she doesn’t allow her daughter to pursue her career ahead, because it’s her way of looking at the world and it will take time to change.

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