''Meray Paas Tum Ho'' (; ) is a 2019
Pakistani romantic drama
Romance films or movies involve romantic love stories recorded in visual media for broadcast in theatres or on television that focus on passion, emotion, and the affectionate romantic involvement of the main characters. Typically their journey ...
television series produced by
Humayun Saeed
Humayun Saeed Ansari (born 27 July 1971), professionally known as Humayun Saeed, is a Pakistani actor and producer.
He has appeared in dozens of Pakistani television dramas and limited number of films, and earned Lux Style Awards, and ARY Fil ...
and Shahzad Nasib under their production banner
Six Sigma Plus
Six Sigma Plus is a Pakistani independent film and television production company. The company was founded by actor Humayun Saeed and Shahzad Nasib. This company also co-produces TV dramas with Next Level Entertainment.
Six Sigma Plus Entertain ...
. Directed by
Nadeem Baig and written by
Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar
Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar ( ur, ) is a Pakistani writer, director, Urdu poet, lyricist and occasional actor known for writing such dramas as ''Pyarey Afzal'' (2013), ''Sadqay Tumhare'' (2014) and most recently the top-rated '' Meray Paas Tum H ...
, the show starred
Humayun Saeed
Humayun Saeed Ansari (born 27 July 1971), professionally known as Humayun Saeed, is a Pakistani actor and producer.
He has appeared in dozens of Pakistani television dramas and limited number of films, and earned Lux Style Awards, and ARY Fil ...
,
Ayeza Khan
Kinza Khan
professionally known by her stage name Ayeza Khan (born 15 January 1991), is a Pakistani actress and model who primarily works in Urdu television. Khan has done over 30 roles and is the recipient of several accolades including Lu ...
and
Adnan Siddiqui
Adnan Siddiqui ( ur, ) (born 23 October 1969) is a Pakistani actor, producer and model who has worked in Lollywood and Hollywood and also made his debut in Bollywood with the Hindi film '' Mom'' (2017). He also has his own production house, '' ...
. The show aired on
ARY Digital from 17 August 2019 to 25 January 2020.
It is digitally available on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
and ARY Zap App.
Plot
Summary
Danish is a simple man with moral values of idealized Pakistani culture. He works as a government officer. His whole world revolves around his wife Mehwish and son Roomi (the new childstar). Subsequently, his wife Mehwish gets in extramarital relation with a businessman Shehwar Ahmad getting under influence of his flattery and attraction of his wealth. He even offers Mehwish a high position job in his office with a very high salary and added perks but Mehwish's son and husband disapprove of her job in his office as they suspect the extra marital relationship.
After sometime, Mehwish leaves her husband and son and starts a new life with Shehwar. After almost six or seven months of a live-in relationship with Shehwar, she convinces him to marry her but on the day of their wedding, Shehwar's first wife Maham arrives back to Pakistan. She is the sole owner of the wealth that Shehwar has. When she realizes that Shehwar was going to marry Mehwish, she slaps Mehwish tightly across the face and asks her to leave her house immediately. Subsequently, Shehwar Ahmad loses both his wealth and respect because of Maham who put him in jail hence he abandons Mehwish.
When Mehwish visits him in jail he refuses to even acknowledge her and asks her to go away from his life and blames her that she is the reason his wife put him in jail. Mehwish has nowhere to go now and on the other side Danish sold his old flat and invested the money in the stock market and became rich over the course of these months.
During the course of these months Danish develops a friendly relationship with Roomi's teacher – Hania but she develops real feelings for Danish. She even proposes him as she fell in love with him but Danish does not reciprocate her feelings. Mehwish on the other hand contacts Danish's business partner- Salman for help. He is also a mutual friend of theirs from college. Through him she asks for Danish's forgiveness repeatedly and requests to meet him once. Danish sends her a message through Salman that he has forgiven her but he does not want to meet her. She even attempts suicide but Danish doesn't show any affection neither turns up to meet her at the hospital. Shehwar Ahmed's jail term is broadly diffused by the media.
After being prodded by Roomi and Salman, Danish agrees on meeting Mehwish once. When he meets her, he suffers a major heart attack due to facing her and all the grief of disloyalty that she gave him. He passes away in the hospital. Even Maham forgives Shehwar and brings him home but demotes his post in the office from the CEO to a minor executive. This doesn't go well with Shehwar and he realizes all of his mistakes and leaves from Maham's home and life forever.
Cast
Main
*
Humayun Saeed
Humayun Saeed Ansari (born 27 July 1971), professionally known as Humayun Saeed, is a Pakistani actor and producer.
He has appeared in dozens of Pakistani television dramas and limited number of films, and earned Lux Style Awards, and ARY Fil ...
as Danish
*
Ayeza Khan
Kinza Khan
professionally known by her stage name Ayeza Khan (born 15 January 1991), is a Pakistani actress and model who primarily works in Urdu television. Khan has done over 30 roles and is the recipient of several accolades including Lu ...
as Mehwish
*
Adnan Siddiqui
Adnan Siddiqui ( ur, ) (born 23 October 1969) is a Pakistani actor, producer and model who has worked in Lollywood and Hollywood and also made his debut in Bollywood with the Hindi film '' Mom'' (2017). He also has his own production house, '' ...
as Shehwaar Ahmed
Recurring
*
Hira Mani
Hira Salman (''née'' Saleem; born 27 February 1989), known as Hira Mani, is a Pakistani television actress, singer, presenter and former video jockey. She starred as lead in several hit series, including '' Jab We Wed'' (2014), ''Preet Na Kari ...
as Hania; Roomi's teacher
*Shees Sajjad Gul as Roomi; Danish's son
*
Mehar Bano
Mehar Bano ( ur, ) is a Pakistani actress. She has played the role of Umama in social-drama '' Daagh'' for which she received a nomination for Best Actress at Lux Style Awards. She also played the roles of Batool in ARY Digital's '' Balaa'' ( ...
as Anushey; Mehwish's friend
*
Hina Javed
Hina Javed is a Pakistani actress. She is known for her roles in dramas ''Jia Na Jaye'', '' Zid'', ''Alif Allah Aur Insaan'', '' Sila'', '' Pardes'' and ''Meray Paas Tum Ho''.
Early life
She was born in 1985 on 25 August in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia ...
as Wateera; Hania's sister
*
Mohammad Ahmed as Mateen; Danish's colleague, Hania's father
*
Furqan Qureshi as Salman; Danish's friend
*
Rehmat Ajmal as Aisha; Danish and Mehwish's friend, Salman's wife
*Musaddiq Malik as Monty; Danish and Mehwish's neighbour
Guest appearances
*
Savera Nadeem
Savera Nadeem ( pa, ) is a Pakistani actress, producer and director. Primarily known for her work in television, she also acted in theatre and films. Nadeem is the recipient of a Lux Style Award for Best Television Actress out of five nomin ...
as Maham Sayed
*
Shamim Hilaly
Shameem Hilaly (, born 1947) is a Pakistani actress who has acted in both films and television. She is most famous for acting in PTV Dramas. She is noted for her performance in '' Maigh Malhar'' during the 1990s. She has also acted in Pakista ...
as Roomi's school principal
*
Anoushay Abbasi
Anoushay Abbasi is a Pakistani television actress and model. She started her career as a child artist at PTV. In her acting career, she is widely known for her leading roles in the television series '' Mera Saaein 2'' (2012), '' Meri Saheli Me ...
as Ifra; Monty's wife
*Waseem Lashari as Anti-corruption officer
Episodes
Reception
The show became one of the most popular serial of 2019 after airing its first episode in Pakistan. The show received best ever TV ratings becoming the best ever ranked drama in the history of Pakistan. Last episode of the drama was viewed by almost more than 79.6 million people in Pakistan.
The Performances and Chemistry of Saeed and Khan were praised by critics. Alysha Khan of ''HipInPakistan'' wrote, "Saeed absolutely killed it with a Good Boy Avatar, and he shares great on-screen chemistry with Khan and also praised Khan's performance". Sarah Shaukat of ''Entertainment Pakistan'' wrote, "Saeed stole the show with towering performance in every scene he managed to impress with his attitude and dialogue delivery while Khan was consistent and looked really good". Laiba Sabeen of ''OyeYeah'' wrote, "The Superb Performances of Saeed, Khan, Siddiqui, and Baig's brilliant direction keeps the viewers engaged in a crisp story". Maliha Rehman of ''
DAWN
Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's hori ...
'' wrote, "
Humayun Saeed
Humayun Saeed Ansari (born 27 July 1971), professionally known as Humayun Saeed, is a Pakistani actor and producer.
He has appeared in dozens of Pakistani television dramas and limited number of films, and earned Lux Style Awards, and ARY Fil ...
at his very best, making his audience cry with him. Beautiful dialogues by Khalil-ur-Rehman and
Nadeem Baig directing with such sensitivity".
Feminist view
The TV drama serial was received in
Pakistan's feminist circles with skepticism & reservation.
Specially the script writer got criticized for his misogynist views. Author Aisha Sarwari says drama convinces audience that it is okay to slur at and
slut shame
Slut-shaming is the practice of criticizing people, especially women and girls, who are perceived to violate expectations of behavior and appearance regarding issues related to sexuality. The term is used to reclaim the word ''slut'' and empower ...
materialistic women, and this double standard is morally questionable since Pakistani society in general & bridegrooms in particular are known for
dowry
A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment ...
seeking and can not claim high moral ground vis a vis materialistic women.
While actually Pakistan is known for acid attacks, domestic violence, serious levels of
honor killings
An honor killing (American English), honour killing (Commonwealth English), or shame killing is the murder of an individual, either an outsider or a member of a family, by someone seeking to protect what they see as the dignity and honor of t ...
of women even at suggestion of
freedom of choice
Freedom of choice describes an individual's wikt:opportunity, opportunity and autonomy to perform an action selected from at least two available options, unconstrained by external parties.
In politics
In the abortion debate, for example, the te ...
. Sarwari says sadly depiction is falsified far from real life and one won't find even in 1000 km of
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...
any very positive, patient and giving protagonist as depicted in the drama.
Sarwari believes that this kind of content trends in Pakistan since there is lack of actual better actual life characters than this in Pakistan society.
Afiya S. Zia not only criticizes the author for his sexist views but also criticizes content of family drama scripts dished out by Pakistani Television channels since last 20 years as advice literature of digest authors as writing such content which rather than questioning, normalizes & internalizes injustices to women in Pakistan in garb of piety, modesty, and religious agency preaching lessons to women to submit themselves and continue to remain subservient to a male dominated patriarchy of Pakistan.
Afiya S. Zia says the TV series presentation creates a false narrative that Pakistani patriarchal family structure do take care of all family members equally, practically which is far from the truth rather Pakistani women are meted out with discrimination and violent backlash for demanding their sexual freedoms.
Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar
Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar ( ur, ) is a Pakistani writer, director, Urdu poet, lyricist and occasional actor known for writing such dramas as ''Pyarey Afzal'' (2013), ''Sadqay Tumhare'' (2014) and most recently the top-rated '' Meray Paas Tum H ...
entered into altercations with Pakistani feminist
Marvi Sirmed over slogans in
Aurat March on
International Women's Day including
Mera Jism Meri Marzi
( ur, ; ) is a slogan used by Feminism in Pakistan, feminists in Pakistan to demand Bodily integrity, bodily autonomy and protest Violence against women, gender-based violence.
The slogan was popularized during the Aurat March in Pakistan, whic ...
during a television debate in March 2020.
Quite a few placards in
Aurat March on
International Women's Day 2020 were critical of misogyny & sexism of the author
Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar
Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar ( ur, ) is a Pakistani writer, director, Urdu poet, lyricist and occasional actor known for writing such dramas as ''Pyarey Afzal'' (2013), ''Sadqay Tumhare'' (2014) and most recently the top-rated '' Meray Paas Tum H ...
expressed through his participation in reality TV shows & drama both.
Controversies over dialogues and statements
Some of the dialogues in the TV serial and some of the later statements of
Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar
Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar ( ur, ) is a Pakistani writer, director, Urdu poet, lyricist and occasional actor known for writing such dramas as ''Pyarey Afzal'' (2013), ''Sadqay Tumhare'' (2014) and most recently the top-rated '' Meray Paas Tum H ...
invited debate controversies from liberal and feminists in social media and mainstream media both.
One of the TV serial dialogue refers to a character in the serial as "''do take ki larki'' (second rate / worthless woman)" became famous among misogynists of Pakistan and severely criticized by feminists. Feminist
Tahira Abdullah called out the wording judgmental, 'It's not for any one to judge a woman good or bad based on woman's loyalty; respect and dignity is woman's right not dependent on anyone else's willingness.
Just by being a woman she deserves to be treated human born equal to not beg but claim equal rights. Women do not need men to define standards of behavior for women and categorize who is good or bad woman", referring to the famous utterance of Qamar that women by definition are modest & loyal and those who are not modest and loyal do not deserve to be called women at all. In the same debate, Qamar called himself to be "the biggest feminist".
Pakistani actress
Iffat Omar pointing out that the last episode of the serial poses questions over the double-standard Qamar-presented Pakistani conservative narrative that a Pakistani woman is expected and idealized for forgiving a husband's disloyalty as Maham, the wife of Shehwar Ahmad, who was involved in an extra-marital relationship, forgives him. On the other hand, lead protagonist Danish is shown to not be able to bear the extra-marital relation of his wife Mehwish but rather prefers death as sign of non-forgiving. Pakistani males' non-acceptance of spousal choices and at the same time, entitled Pakistani males expect forgiveness for their own behavior.
In other debates
Khalil-ur-Rahman Qamar also made other controversial statements like: "women should gang rape men if they want equality."; "Aurat March is a conspiracy of some 35 women who belong to a specific class."
Pakistani actress
Iffat Omar responded back saying women do not ask equality to rape men but to redress patriarchal double standards & injustices towards fellow women.
Later, some actors of the serial preferred to distance themselves from ensuing controversies. Actress
Rehmat Ajmal accepted that she stumbled a little since she was not aware enough about how the TV serial will come out on the screen, and that she necessarily does not endorse controversial views expressed by the writer Qamar. Actor
Adnan Siddiqui
Adnan Siddiqui ( ur, ) (born 23 October 1969) is a Pakistani actor, producer and model who has worked in Lollywood and Hollywood and also made his debut in Bollywood with the Hindi film '' Mom'' (2017). He also has his own production house, '' ...
said that he understands the dialogues had problematic leanings and he wished drama could have been more nuanced in depiction of women.
Production
In an interview with Dawn Images
Ayeza Khan
Kinza Khan
professionally known by her stage name Ayeza Khan (born 15 January 1991), is a Pakistani actress and model who primarily works in Urdu television. Khan has done over 30 roles and is the recipient of several accolades including Lu ...
confirmed that she's starring in a drama serial Mere Paas Tum Ho, with
Humayun Saeed
Humayun Saeed Ansari (born 27 July 1971), professionally known as Humayun Saeed, is a Pakistani actor and producer.
He has appeared in dozens of Pakistani television dramas and limited number of films, and earned Lux Style Awards, and ARY Fil ...
. In an interview Khalil-Ur-Rehman Qamar said that
Sonya Hussyn,
Sanam Jung
Sanam Jung () is a Pakistani actress, model and former television host and VJ. She made her television debut with Hum TV's popular series Dil e Muztar in (2013).
Career
Jung started her career as a VJ on Play TV in 2008, while studying for ...
and Ayeza Khan was offered for the role of Mehwish. Likewise, the role of Danish was previously offered to
Feroze Khan who refused after a falling out with the writer
Khalil-Ur-Rehman Qamar
Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar ( ur, ) is a Pakistani writer, director, Urdu poet, lyricist and occasional actor known for writing such dramas as ''Pyarey Afzal'' (2013), ''Sadqay Tumhare'' (2014) and most recently the top-rated '' Meray Paas Tum H ...
. A Nadeem Baig's directional, written by Khalil-Ur-Rehman Qamar and Produced by
Humayun Saeed
Humayun Saeed Ansari (born 27 July 1971), professionally known as Humayun Saeed, is a Pakistani actor and producer.
He has appeared in dozens of Pakistani television dramas and limited number of films, and earned Lux Style Awards, and ARY Fil ...
and Shahzad Nasib the duo previously worked together in 2017 Blockbuster film
Punjab Nahi Jaungi. On 22 November 2018 shooting started and On 17 July 2019 the shooting wrapped. On being asked why he choose this drama Saeed said that "this script was great and it was witref>h him for 3 years but he was focusing on his films so Nadeem decided to cast someone else. But Khalil became angry because he wanted Saeed to play the lead role in this drama So Saeed agreed to do this Drama Serial". On 31 July 2019 The first look and teaser was released.
The second teaser was released on 3 August 2019.
Adaptations
Ratings
Meray Paas Tum Ho became the first Pakistani drama to trend no 1 on twitter worldwide. It started off very well, the first episode gained 10.9 TRPs which were the highest first episode ratings at that time (this record was later broken by Ehd-e-Wafa which garnered 11 trps in its 1st episode). Episode 23 which was the last episode of the serial got 37.1 TRPs, which is the highest ratings of any TV program of Pakistan. Episode 22 got 26.2 TRPs, which is the 2nd highest ratings of any TV program of Pakistan, while, Episode 17 got 24.9 TRPs, which is the 3rd highest ratings of any TV program of Pakistan. Episode 20 got 24.0 TRPs, which is the 4th highest ratings of any TV program of Pakistan.
The final episode was a 'mega double episode' and aired on 25 January 2020 and was simultaneously shown on TV as well as being screened in major cinemas across Pakistan (in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad). The cast were present at Nueplex Cinema in Karachi for the finale.
Soundtrack
The title song was sung by
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan
Rahat Fateh Ali Khan (Punjabi, ; born 9 December 1974) is a Pakistani Singer, primarily of Qawwali, a form of Sufi devotional music. Khan is one of the biggest and highest paid singers in Pakistan. He is the nephew of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan ...
. The music was composed by Naveed Nashad and the lyrics were written by
Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar
Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar ( ur, ) is a Pakistani writer, director, Urdu poet, lyricist and occasional actor known for writing such dramas as ''Pyarey Afzal'' (2013), ''Sadqay Tumhare'' (2014) and most recently the top-rated '' Meray Paas Tum H ...
.
Awards and nominations
See also
*
Divorce in Pakistan Divorce in Pakistan is mainly regulated under the Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act 1939 amended in 1961 and the Family Courts Act 1964. Similar to global trends divorce rate is increasing gradually in Pakistan too. In Punjab (Pakistan), in 2014 kh ...
References
External links
*{{IMDb title, tt11357100
2019 Pakistani television series debuts
Pakistani drama television series