Meem Se Mohabbat aired its first episode and here are our thoughts. First episode, first review!
A chulbuli young girl (of which we’ve seen many, yet seem to enjoy the visual treat), a grieving young man (of which we’ve seen many, yet it’s how you play it), loads of family moments, some fun and some not so fun – this was the first episode of Meem Se Mohabbat, first episode wrapped, well, because it’s the season of wrapped, isn’t it?
Meem Se Mohabbat is penned by Farhat Ishtiaq with direction from Ali Hassan. The drama airs on HUM TV as a Momina Duraid production with a cast featuring Ahad Raza Mir, Dananeer Mobeen, Asif Raza Mir, Zarrar Khan, Khadija Saleem, Faiza Gilani, Tehseen Wajahat, Rabia Rizwan, Zainab Mazhar, Muhammad Hunbal, Naveen Naqvi, Arshad Mahmood, Irfanullah, Neha, Abu Hurairah, Raana Zafar, Touseeq Haider.
Here’s how it went down, but first, the story.
Roshi and Mahi are sisters, and surprise, surprise, poles apart on their perspectives on life. Where Mahi is disciplined and hardworking, our heroine Roshi essayed by Dananeer Mubeen is anything but. After failing to obtain admission for an Engineering program, she disappoints her ambitious mom (Navin Naqvi) and amuses her laid-back, chill feels dada played by none other than the endearing Arshad Mehmood. Yeah, welcome back to the screen.
Roshi’s family also has dadi played by the talented Beo Rana Zafar, who occasionally spars with dada on Urdu poetry.
On the other side, we have Talha, a single dad who lives with his father, played by none other than Asif Raza Mir. Together the two are also bringing up Talha’s son Mohid, who seems to have suffered an event that led him to have speech issues. Talha is our silent, strong hero who suffers an inner sadness as he struggles with his son’s challenge. Apparently, he is to be married to Sabeeka soon, but we’ve yet to see her appear onscreen.
Meem Se Mohabbat balances light-hearted moments with sober, poignant ones. Where Roshi’s desire to live life to the fullest is offset by Talha’s inner silence. The characters give off slight shades of Haseena Moin lead characters who often played in similar zones – young girl, brave at heart, ready to live life on her terms, often erring yet never giving up, and then a tall, dark handsome hero who is mature beyond his years, plagued by a sadness beyond his years.
A New Story
It is great to see the narrative pick up on single fathers and also, young girls who might not have any desire to pursue higher studies, which is also becoming a Pakistani drama trope as we speak. However, the young girl undesirous of higher education needs to have some purpose in life and we hope our heroine will too. And the young man mature beyond his years will hopefully give us many moments of an endearing journey where both characters have lots to learn from each other.
A hint of a conflict is revealed as Roshi’s phuppo Saleeqa played by Faiza Gilani has an old score to settle with Sadaf, Roshi’s mom. So far, her character, though rattled, has not been shown as too toxic and we hope that stays. There is also Umar, Roshi’s cousin played by Zarrar Khan but more on that character will be revealed later we suspect.
Performances
One has to say that although Roshi’s character might have been a tad over the top, Dananeer managed to carry it off in the first episode. Such is her relationship with the screen that her onscreen presence delivers a gripping performance every time. We hope for more toned-down interactions as her character journey progresses.
It was Talha and Mohid’s story that had our hearts for now. It was great to see Ahad Raza Mir back onscreen. Ahad delivered a character injured deep inside his soul, and audiences felt the heavy heartedness of the performance.
The child actor playing Mohid deserves special mention here. He nailed his performance to the tee. From the first scene where he wakes up Talha till the moment he flinches from attempting to jump off a ledge and then weeps as he recalls his mother, all this with minimal dialogue, deserves resounding applause.
The Roshi household helped balance the heavy narrative a bit with dada and dadi providing comic relief. However, the scene with the gol gappas is an idea done to death and we hope young heroines, brimming with life can be depicted in diverse ways, not stereo-typed into eating gol gappas as the sole source of entertainment in life.
To sum it up, the first episode of Meem Se Mohabbat sealed the deal so far. The drama intrigues and the story has opened up a space on Thursday evening prime time shows. We’d suggest giving this one a watch.
Drop a comment to tell us what you thought of the first episode of Meem Se Mohabbat, and would you recommend it to Pakistani drama fans?
🙂