When the promos of “Mujhay Qabool Nahin” first went on air, interest was immediately piqued due to the exciting, talented cast. Starring Sami Khan, Madiha Imam and Ahsan Khan in lead roles, “Mujhay Qabool Nahin” also stars Saba Faisal, Azra Mansoor, Mohammad Ahmed, Behroze Sabzwari, Humaira Bano, Osama Tahir and Sidra Niazi – essentially a show full of strong Pakistani actors. Written by Adeel Razzaq and directed by Aabis Raza, “Mujhay Qabool Nahin” promised to tell a thrilling story of manipulation and the internal fight between an educated mind and cultural practices. Unfortunately, after 26 episodes, has the story really gone anywhere?
Maira (Madiha Imam) and Salman (Sami Khan) are now married, along with Mishaal (Sidra Niazi) and Arsalan (Osama Tahir). The two couples are as different as night and day with one being a love marriage and the other being one of force. While Mishaal and Arsalan share a sweet, supportive, friendly relationship of love and trust, Maira is suffering on a daily basis over Salman’s antics. Shakeel (Mohammad Ahmed) and Salman have hatched the ultimate plot to blackmail and extort money from Atir (Ahsan Khan) at every possible turn, more recently acquiring a car. While Maira is genuinely trying to hold her marriage together for the sake of the family and distance herself from Atir, Salman’s intentions are entirely different, intending on milking Atir’s feelings for Maira for as long as humanly possible.
There’s a lot to say about “Mujhay Qabool Nahin” and, at the same time, there’s absolutely nothing to say about “Mujhay Qabool Nahin.” This is, essentially, a really weak script which was written for lesser actors, but has become a bigger show due to the star cast, otherwise there’s nothing praise-worthy about this script other than Maira’s independent-minded character. Unfortunately, does her being independent-minded really make a difference when she’s been trapped into an abusive, toxic marriage thanks to family tradition and an emotionally unsupportive family? Atir continues to coddle Salman in an effort to protect Maira, but for what reason? Atir fell in love with Maira just by looking at her and now, he’s trapped in a lifetime of throwing money at Salman? Is this really a logical, reasonable storyline? Ahsan Khan is a better actor than this – and is worth more. Salman’s character is that of an absolute psychopath and while Sami Khan is playing him with conviction, as always, this is a character who is always negative, 100% of the time. There isn’t any humanity here. Salman wanted to marry Maira himself, for whatever reason, but now his sole purpose is to use her to extort money from Atir. Please give this black character more shades. Honestly, it’s sad that between episode 7 and episode 25, the story continues to move in the same circular motion with little to no movement other than the couples getting married. It’s very much possible than Salman’s next move will be to divorce Maira and ask Atir to marry her – for a price, of course. The only positive outcome of this show would be for Maira and Atir to wind up married, but quite honestly, do any of us care about the journey there?