Commercialism and aesthetics go hand in hand in the sixth episode of mystery series Dhund. While a commercial aspect of Maria being a domestically abused woman has been included, the story of Humaira (Marina Khan), a delicate woman of fine taste and who happens to be Maria’s aunt continues in this episode. This woman who owns a flower shop has bought a house and in order to furnish it in the most artistic manner possible, she is busy buying beautiful decoration pieces wrapped up in old newspapers, which she opens daintily, sending curtains to the dry cleaner and looking after plant pots.

To add to the elegance, Humaira orders a wooden rocking chair from an antique shop, but this rocking chair is what makes the whole story revolve around itself. It moves. It turns around. It changes places and makes Humaira jump out of herself, who through her mixed expressions of fear and surprise makes us admit once again that Marina Khan is an actress par excellence. It also gets heavy sometimes with the weight of an invisible being. While it is the chair only that is creating the pandemonium, Humaira believes that there is someone in the house besides her, in order to communicate with whom she calls Maria, the medium. Maria does so and is able to talk to the ghost, but in order to find out why the ghost roams on the earth and what is its association with the chair which keeps rocking itself, the episode is to be watched.

However, it must be known that the ghost this time is that of a well-mannered barrister named Hashmat (Adil Waadiya) who has lived a disciplined life based on a scheduled routine. While in the previous episodes, the ghosts have been sinister, this ghost creates an aura of restlessness owing to its mischievous acts which he perpetrates on Humaira who he believes is living a dis-ordered life since she goes in the afternoon to her shop and stays up late at night. Apart from the fact that the ghost slightly mentions about his indifferent family during his abode on the earth and his loneliness as a consequence, nothing serious or dark has been addressed, and I feel that there is no need to dig something out forcefully, for it might destroy the beauty of the episode which lies in its petite things which make life beautiful. Tube-roses, flowers with a fragrance which fills the nostrils in a way that no matter how many years pass without smelling them, one can still recall the freshness and comfort associated with them, have been manifestly discussed in the episode. Humaira’s shop at times falls short of these white-coloured tube-roses while she keeps receiving orders for them, and at times, there is an abundance of them both at her shop and at her house, adding to the element of mystery in the episode. Chrysanthemums are what she is left with at one point, but the next moment, a boy at her shop makes her look into the fridge with a number of tube-roses.

When Humaira calls Maria for searching the unseen at her house, Maria makes fun of her first and finding no sign of anyone on her first visit, asks Humaira to make coffee for her, which she desires to drink in the bedroom. The wall along the stairs leading towards the bedroom has been embellished with paintings, which at one point in the episode, fall down as a result of the ghost’s anger. The wooden rocking chair bought from an antique shop which is the real concern throughout the story is a classy piece of furniture. Maria, when receives a mysterious call which she realizes later on was from her son, is checking out books. Thus, aestheticism hovers over the episode, making it an attractive piece for the admirers of arts and literature.

Apart from all this, Uzair (Hassan Ahmad) makes his appearance in the episode after long with a ray of hope, telling Maria that her son has been located. While Uzair is concerned for Maria which is evinced from his cooking for her, he is also turning frank towards her, addressing her in a slightly informal manner. This adds a romantic tincture to the story, moving towards a probable conjecture.

However, one ineluctable flaw in this episode is that in one of the scenes, Maria is discussing it with her maid Nasreen (Zahida Batool) that since Humaira’s maid Fehmida Bee had gone for a few days, they are supposed to send her food. But after a few scenes, when Maria goes to help Humaira, she inquires about Fehmida Bee, hence creating a contradiction.

This episode of Dhund is not serious or does not address as important an issue as in the previous episodes except for the fact that indifference of family members does create chaos in one’s personality. Even this issue has been dealt in a very light-hearted manner. A priggish ghost who needs everything prim and proper, Maria’s wincing and the funny faces she makes at the chair which has annoyed the heck out of her makes the episode neither horror nor darkly mysterious, but interesting and amusing. The whole team seems to have put in a lot of effort in the episode, especially the set designers. Marina Khan’s graceful personality for Humaria’s role and Adil Wadiya’s robust physique for a well-disciplined man are apt choices for the characters. Although one keeps forcing the mind not to destroy the beauty of the episode by trying to dig out some hidden meaning but only enjoying this comic piece, one thing, however, which we learn from this episode is to admire beauty, appreciate art, and lead a well-mannered life.