Wednesday and Thursday nights have held audiences captive with “Tere Bin” over the past several months. After the “Tere Bin” finale, it was only a matter of time before a new show arrived to fill the spot. “Mujhay Qubool Nahin” has arrived a week later with an impressive star cast and an interesting storyline. This drama stars Ahsan Khan, Sami Khan and Madiha Imam in lead roles and supported by Sidra Niazi, Saba Faisal, Mohammed Ahmed, Azra Manzoor and Osama Tahir in prominent roles. The story has been written by Adeel Razzaq and directed by Aabis Raza.
In episodes 1 and 2, we are introduced to Nudrat (Saba Faisal) and her two daughters, Maira (Madiha Imam) and Mashaal (Sidra Niazi). When their father fell ill, both girls were forced into a Nikkah in their early teen years with their two cousins, Salman (Sami Khan) and Arsalan (Osama Tahir). Now grown up, Maira wants to work to help Nudrat support their household, a choice that is unpalatable for Daadi (Azra Manzoor), a woman from a generation which expected young girls to sit quietly and listen to every demand from their spouse. From suspecting her of infidelity to criticizing her appearance and trying to stop her developing career, Salman is a perfect male chauvinist with the desire to control his wife. Salman is not a man who sees his wife as an equal partner, rather she is someone who he expects to walk five steps behind him and an object to show off as a trophy. Unfortunately, while Maira fights tooth and nail against spending any time with Salman, his behavior is supported and encouraged by Daadi despite his lack of education, lack of a job and lack of basic manners. Unfortunately for Maira, she must continue to tolerate Salman for the sake of her sister, who is marrying Salman’s brother Arsalan.
Meanwhile at work, Maira meets Atir (Ahsan Khan), our “true hero.” Atir meets Maira at his office during an interview and falls in love with her at first sight. While it’s nice to have this princely character in place, his way of going about it comes off as too much too soon. While Maira is a pretty girl, Atir dreaming about her for days after barely carrying on a conversation with her seems excessive. Ahsan Khan has little to do in this episode but smile and look lost. Hopefully coming episodes will give him more scope to perform.
To be honest, the first two episodes of “Mujhya Qubool Hai” are interesting and fun to watch. Unfortunately, we’ve all been down this road before. How long will it be before the episodes begin to drag and the storyline is destroyed? We will have to wait and see how the show is handled after a few weeks. Sami Khan is excellent in roles like these and it’s a joy to watch him in a negative role like this where he plays an insecure, controlling man while playing nice guy to the world. Madiha Imam is sweet and confident as Maira. At this point, “Mujhay Qubool Nahin” is a thoroughly entertaining show with a serious topic that’s thought provoiking – and worth a watch.
