''Pyarey Afzal'' or ''Pyaare Afzal'' ( ur, ) ( en, Dear Afzal) is a 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 serial that aired on

ARY Digital ''ARY Digital'' ( ur, ) is a Pakistani pay television network available in Pakistan, the Middle East, North America and Europe. The ARY Group of companies is a Dubai-based holding company founded by a Pakistani businessman, Abdul Razzak Yaqoob ...

, directed by Nadeem Baig, 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 ...

and production of Six Sigma Entertainment. The drama starred

Hamza Ali Abbasi Hamza Ali Abbasi (Urdu/ pa, ; born 23 June 1984) is a Pakistani film and television actor and director. He is known for his roles as Afzal in the drama serial ''Pyarey Afzal'', and as Salahuddin in the drama serial ''Mann Mayal''. In 201 ...

and

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 Lux ...

in lead roles. ''Pyaray Afzal'' won many people's choice awards from Dawn readers in 2014. At the annual

Lux Style Awards The Lux Style Awards is an award ceremony held annually in Pakistan since 2002. The awards celebrate "style" in the Pakistani entertainment industry, and it is the oldest event dedicated to cinema, television, fashion, music and film industry ...

, ''Pyarey Afzal'' won five awards from seven nominations, including Best Television Play, Best Director for Baig, Best Actor for Abbasi and Best Actress for Khan. ''Pyaray Afzal'' also aired in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

on Zindagi Channel with the same name. The ''

Express Tribune ''The Express Tribune'' is a daily English-language newspaper based in Pakistan. It is the flagship publication of the '' Daily Express'' media group. It is Pakistan's only internationally affiliated newspaper in a partnership with the ''Intern ...

'' stated Indian viewers liked "The script, dialogue delivery, background score and overall finesse" and there was much social media response.

Plot

The story starts in the city of

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

where the protagonist Afzal Subhan (

) son of Maulvi Subhanallah (

Firdous Jamal Firdous Jamal ( ur, ) is a Pakistani television, theatre, stage and film actor. Beginning his career with a Hindko drama serial called ''Badnami Dey Toway'' in the mid-1970s, he has since then acted in at least 300 TV plays, 150 stage plays, 2 ...

) is playing

Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

. Afzal spends his time playing sports, cards and

betting Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three eleme ...

which his father despises. He has a crush on Farah Ibrahim (

), the mill owner's daughter, and claims to receive letters from Farah which he reads in front of his friends, although he refuses to disclose the name of the girl. Farah on the other hand is to marry Mahtab (Umer Naru), a family friend, but she does not want to marry him. Farah along with her sister Lubna (

Sana Javed Sana Javed (born 25 March 1993) is a Pakistani actress who appears in Urdu television. She made her acting debut with a minor role in the acclaimed television series ''Shehr-e-Zaat'' (2012). Javed is best known for portraying Sanam Khan in Geo ...

) hire Afzal to be Farah's love interest so that Farah can convince her parents that she loves another person, which they succeed in doing so. Meanwhile, Afzal falls in love with Farah and his sister (

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 ...

) convinces his parents to take marriage proposal to Farah's parents. In the family meeting Farah humiliates and insults Afzal. Heartbroken Afzal leaves Hyderabad for

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

vowing to never return. Afzal arrives in Karachi and lives with Babu Hameed (Alie Sheikh) in a rented room. The house is owned by a landlady and her daughter Yasmeen (

Sohai Ali Abro Sohai Ali Abro ( ur, sd, سھائي علي ابڙو) is a Pakistani actress, dancer and model, who appears in Pakistani television serials and films. She is known for her roles in serials such as Geo TV's '' Saat Pardon Mein'' (2012), Hum TV ...

). Afzal witnesses an incident in which Wali, Yasmeen's gangster cousin harasses her to marry him. Afzal fights Wali who vows to take revenge and returns after a few days with his men comes and shoots Afzal. Yasmeen is moved by what Afzal has done for her and falls in love with him. Wali taking advantage of Afzal's absence comes to Yasmeen's house again. Babu Hameed attempts to shoot Wali but gets shot instead. Afzal receives the news of Babu Hameed's death and decides to take revenge. Afzal's parents came to Karachi in order to meet him but he runs away before they met him. Undercover Police gets interested in Afzal and decided hire him as a

vigilante Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without Right, legal authority. A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a pers ...

and pays him to create a gang for

targeted killing Targeted killing is a form of murder or assassination carried out by governments outside a judicial procedure or a battlefield. Since the late 20th century, the legal status of targeted killing has become a subject of contention within and betw ...

the criminals. Their first target was Wali and he was assassinated. Afzal becomes infamous gangster and nobody knows that he actually works for the undercover police. Meanwhile, Farah's psychologist Sibtain proposes to Farah who agrees reluctantly. When Afzal is informed he also decides to get engaged with Yasmeen on the same day as Farah's engagement. Farah's engagement is cancelled when Maulvi Subhanullah has a heart attack. When Afzal hears about his father's heart attack he returns to Hyderabad with Yasmeen. Afzal's parents are initially reluctant to accept him but Yasmeen successfully resolves his issues with his parents. Afzal receives a call from the undercover Police to resume his target killing but he informs them that he no longer wants to be their target killer. Yasmeen is curious about the Farah who writes letters to Afzal. Afzal, unable to express his feelings to Farah had written letters from Farah to himself. Yasmeen goes to Farah and confronts her. She realizes that Farah is also in love with Afzal. She breaks her engagement with Afzal and decides to go back. Farah calls Afzal and admits to loving him. The police shoots Afzal while they are having this conversation because he had left the undercover police and they had warned him a long time ago that he can not leave his post. As Farah confesses to loving him, Afzal succumbs to his bullet wounds as the drama ends.

Cast

Main

.. Afzal Sub'han Allah *

.. Farah Ibrahim *

.. Lubna Ibrahim *

.. Yasmeen

Recurring

* Saba Hameed .. Ruqaiyya Sub'han Allah *

.. Maulvi Subhan Allah *Aliee Shaikh .. Babu Hameed * Anoushey Abbasi .. Arfa Subhan Allah *

Saba Faisal Saba Faisal ( Punjabi, ur, ) is a Pakistani actress and former news anchor. In her career more than a decade, she has appeared in several acclaimed television serials, theatre, plays and films mainly in Urdu language. Film Television Award ...

.. Irsa Ibrahim *

Shehryar Zaidi Shehryar Zaidi is a veteran Pakistani television actor. He is known for his acting for PTV Home and other networks tv dramas. Career He has appeared in a variety of television dramas and musical shows. He has worked with some big names of Paki ...

.. Sheikh Ibrahim *

Farah Nadeem Farah Nadeem is a Pakistani actress. She is known for her roles in dramas '' Jaal'', ''Adhoora Bandhan'', '' Tarap'', '' Besharam'', ''Aakhir Kab Tak'', ''Mere Humsafar'' and ''Kam Zarf''. Early life Farah was born on June 3, 1970 in Karachi, Pa ...

.. Yasmeen's mother *

Vasay Chaudhry Vasay Chaudhry ( Punjabi, ur, ; born on 12 November 1981) is a Pakistani screenwriter, actor, director, producer, host, and comedian. He is best known for writing sitcoms and comedy-dramas for Pakistani televisions. He is also known for writi ...

.. Dr. Sibtain *

Umer Naru Umer Naru is a Pakistani television and theatre actor. Filmography Theatre * The Taming of the Shrew, Globe Theatre The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare ...

.. Mehtab *Birjees Farooqui .. Mehtab's mother *Malik Raza .. Wali *

Saqib Sameer Saqib Sumeer is a Pakistani actor, director and writer who performs mostly in theatre and also works in television and films. He made his cinematic debut in 2017 with Yasir Nawaz's ''Mehrunisa V Lub U''. He is also known for his roles, as Dilawar ...

.. Babloo

Soundtrack

The title song of the series "Pyar Ko Pyar Mila" is a remix of a song of the same name of the 1967 Bollywood film ''

Pyaasa ''Pyaasa'' (; ) is a 1957 Indian Hindi drama film directed and produced by Guru Dutt, who stars alongside Mala Sinha, Waheeda Rehman, Rehman, and Johnny Walker. Set in Calcutta, it focuses on the disillusioned Urdu poet Vijay (Dutt), whose ...

''.

Reception

Critical reception

While reviewing the series, ''

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 horizo ...

'' praised the female portrayal and dialogues, but mentioned some writing faux. In July 2017, it was listed among the 10 iconic Pakistani TV dramas by ''

DAWN Images ''Dawn'' is a Pakistani English language, English-language newspaper that was launched in British Raj, British India in 1941. It is the largest English newspaper in Pakistan, and also serves as the country's newspaper of record. ''Dawn'' is the ...

''.

Accolades

The drama serial grabbed all the awards under television category at 14th Lux Style Awards.

References

External links

* {{ARY Digital Programs Pakistani drama television series ARY Digital original programming Urdu-language telenovelas 2013 Pakistani television series debuts 2014 Pakistani television series endings Television series set in Hyderabad, Sindh Films directed by Nadeem Baig (director)