Actor Danish Taimoor was a guest on “The Talk Talk Show” where among many things, he opened up about his relationship with wife Ayeza Khan , who is also an actor. The two have been married since 2014 and have two children. In the interview, Taimoor revealed that he always made sure that the couple’s household expenses would remain his responsibility, and that whatever Ayeza had earned in her career would solely belong to her, leaving her free she to do whatever she liked with it.
“I do this because even in Islam, this is what we’ve been told to do,” said the actor. “What ever earnings your spouse makes, these are her own and for me to even use Rs1 from it is haram. If its her intention, then she may give it to me if she wishes. But anything regarding grocery or household, I tell her that it is solely my responsiblity,” he categorically said.
Taimoor also talked about those roles that attracted a lot of public criticism in dramas like Deewangi and Kaisi Teri Khudgarzi. He said that it was not his responsibility to become a teacher, as he was an entertainer: “Do not connect these characters with myself…I don’t take responsibility for all of this. I am here to entertain public, otherwise I would have become a teacher.”
Be it daily soaps or serials, Pakistani dramas have an enormous viewership around the globe. In 2022, we witnessed blockbuster gems like Parizaad, Mere Humsafar, Hum Tum, and Pinjra, depicting unconventional stories that kept the audiences hooked to their screens.
While 2022 was a good year for Pakistani television, 2023 seems to be even better with a good line-up of projects with some fresh concepts and pairings.
Here’s a list of the year’s most promising serials:
Tumhare Husn Ke Naam
Currently, in its last leg of the shoot, Saba Qamar, Sidra Niazi, and Imran Abbas starrer, THKN has already become the talk of the town, ever since it was announced. The project will touch on themes like jealousy, friendship, and complicated love.
Kuch Ankahi
Although its first episode aired last week, the drama is purported to be a social comedy with a message. Written by Mohammed Ahmed and directed by Nadeem Baig, it is co-produced by Kashf Foundation and Six Sigma Plus. Kuch Ankahi is about family values, women empowerment, and strong female characters. While the cherry on the top is its hit-leading pair. The drama stars Bilal Abbas Khan, Sajal Aly, Mohammed Ahmed, Irsa Ghazal, Mira Sethi, Adnan Samad, Babar Ali, Vaneeza Ahmed and Qudsia Ali.
Main Manto Nahi Hoon
Director Nadeem Baig, superstar Humayun Saeed, and writer Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar will be reuniting for this project after London Nahi Jaunga. Saeed has roped in Maya Ali as his romantic interest in the play. Contrary to the title, the plot is not based on Manto’s life but will have a symbolic representation of the writer in a contemporary narrative, and you won’t regret setting the bar of your expectations high.
Chaand Tara
Celebrity spouses, Danish Taimoor and Ayeza Khan are set to star in a Ramadan 2023 serial, Chaand Tara. The series is set to be directed by Danish Nawaz and written by Saima Akram Chaudhry, the maestro of Ramadan serials. While this is Danish’s first Ramadan play, Ayeza has earlier wowed her fans with comic characters in Chupke Chupke and Chaudhry & Sons.
22 Qadam
This is a project that is being awaited for the longest time, featuring Wahaj Ali as a cricketer, opposite Hareem Farooq, and Kinza Razzak. ’22 Qadam’ is directed by Anjum Shahzad of ‘Pehli Si Mohabbat’.
Serial Killer
Another Saba Qamar starrer, this one is certainly a unique and promising show, which is evident in the title. Saba plays a cop alongside Daniyal Raheal. Serial Killer is written by Umera Ahmed and will hit our screens soon on ‘Green channel’.
Jo Bachay Hain Sang Samait Lo
Ever since Farhat Ishtiaq announced her next novel that is going to have a drama adaptation is JBHSSL, fans and viewers have been speculating a mega blockbuster. Be it Ahad Raza Mir and Mahira Khan’s debut project together or Mohammed Ehteshamuddin’s supposed direction, the project has been in the news for a long.
Seems like Pakistani television has an exciting lineup of star-studded upcoming dramas that will hopefully set new benchmarks of viewership and success in the near future.
Celebrity spouses, Danish Taimoor and Ayeza Khan are set to star in a Ramadan 2023 serial, Chaand Tara.
The series is set to be directed by Danish Nawaz and written by Saima Akram Chaudhry, the maestro of Ramadan serials. While this is Danish’s first Ramadan play, Ayeza has earlier wowed her fans with comic characters in Chupke Chupke and Chaudhry & Sons.
The Jab We Wed duo tied the knot in 2014 and have two children daughter Hoorain, and son Rayan Taimoor.
Khan recently won the best actor award for her performance in Chupke Chupke at the Hum Style Awards.
ARY drama serial Kaisi Teri Khudgarzi just aired its second last episode recently and it has naturally left the viewers in an informal panel of their own, discussing the trajectory of the drama. Actor Nadia Jamil shared her thoughts on the show and called out the male leads for being cloaked with toxic masculinity. She said that our dramas are setting the bar too low for heroes.
Um. But he tortures her father and brother. Has them locked up. Kidnaps her. Humiliates her and forces her to marry him against her will, then imprisons her in his house and loses his shit when she visits her dad. Continuing to harass her family and insulting the life out of her. https://t.co/WoCdepADJl
Kaisi Teri Khudgarzi stars Danish Taimoor (Shamsher), Dure Fishan (Mehak), Nauman Ijaz (Dilawar), and Atiqa Odho (Shamsher’s mother). The drama is about the son of a business tycoon, Shamsher, falling in love with Mehak, who belongs to a middle-class background. His family does not approve of their relationship and drama ensues.
On Friday, she retweeted a tweet by journalist Fifi Haroon describing the drama as ‘well developed’, saying it was very much possible for Mehak to fall for the first man she gets close to despite all his red flags. Jamil responded by bringing up all the messed up things the male lead has done to manipulate the woman he loves into staying with him.
In response, the journalist said that her point was not to romanticize the behaviour, to say that it wasn’t “implausible” for a girl with such a background to develop feelings for a guy like that.
The Mujhay Jeenay Do actor said that though she is horrified, it is entirely plausible that she did. “Many many women forgive their abusers. Low worth. The ultimate fantasy being validation from the abuser,” she wrote, adding that what was actually implausible was the personality change the guy went through “from the extreme devil to extreme angel”.
Im horrified she did. Not implausible at all. Many many women forgive their abusers. Low worth. The ultimate fantasy being validation from abuser. Common. What’s implausible is his 360 personality change from extreme devil to extreme angel. V mentally unstable that character. https://t.co/uYpxyEGWaB
Referring to real-life cases of abusive men, she said that compared to other horrible crimes, Shamsher could be considered a hero, which sets such a low bar for men.
Nothing is implausible. In real life men are decapitating women, beating them to death. Ye to phir bhi didn’t burn her or beat her to a pulp. It’s just that we set the bar so low when we are writing our heroes. & now evil dad is all remorseful and giving himself up 2 the police https://t.co/eCXqJ5QWJ9
Absolutely Stockholm syndrome v real. But the abuser becoming so angelic. Kaaash Watch it. It’s v entertaining. Especially since the baddies get what they deserve. Satisfying to see that. https://t.co/IFgd1U5yD4
She affirmed that it was Stockholm syndrome on the woman’s part and said it was entertaining since there was some sense of justice around the end. Calling toxic masculinity “nauseating”, the Behadd actor said that so many dramas propagate it, such as Habs starring Feroze Khan and Ushna Shah and Fraud starring Saba Qamar, Mikaal Zulfiqar and Ahsan Khan.
She criticised Shamsher’s “change”, terming it “a bit far fetched”. Bringing up his obsessive codependent love, she also called out Mehak’s father for the toxic elements in his personality. “CONSTANT crying about being a dad of daughters. That was the worst. Much as I love the actor playing the dad — and he’s acted well. But those dialogues against being a dad of two daughters, uff.”
Actor Ayeza Khan has landed in hot water after strong accusations by her brother Ahad’s ex fiancee Aruba Tariq. The incident came to light when Aruba took the matter to her Facebook account and described it in detail. She blamed Ayeza for sabotaging her wedding, mistreating her, being a terrible mother, arrogant, bitchy and for hating her in-laws.
Tariq said that she and Ayeza’s brother used to like each other and he (Ahad) proposed her after they connected on social media. She further added that the plannings of their wedding events were in full swing but then they didn’t marry because Ayeza’s brother Ahad is a cheater and his family is a liar, she also disclosed that Ayeza’s brother was not even graduated but his family told that he’s a well educated guy and is doing a good job.
She accused Ahad and said that he is solely relying on Ayeza’s financial support. She further disclosed about Pyare Afzal actress that she is a horrible mother and she also hates her husband’s family as well.
Aruba also disclosed that Ayeza’s family mistreats their servants and they didn’t even give job to any person who belongs to a different sect. She also said that all their servants run away within the short period of three months.
Not only this, she also said that Ayezha Khan’s brother was also with the actress Sarah Khan.
According to Galaxy Lollywood’s conversation with Aruba, Ayeza used to taunt her that “pehle mere bhai ki shaadhi Sarah se honi thi, wo to bohat kamati thi.” Indirectly she wanted Aruba to take financial responsibility of Ahad and take him abroad with her.
Game shows in the holy month of Ramazan are a major form of entertainment for television audiences in which people are entertained by interactive games with enormous prizes.
Three private channels are telecasting game shows such as ARY ‘s Jeeto Pakistan League hosted by actor Fahad Mustafa, Game Show Aisay Chalay Ga Ramazan League on BOL Entertainment headlined by Danish Taimoor and Khel Kay Jeet With Sheheryar Munawar, on Express Entertainment.
According to the YouTube viewership, Jeeto Pakistan is the number one game show this year.
Viewership Analysis (April 15)
Jeeto Pakistan League Ramazan Special
This game show was launched in the year of 2014. We have analysed an episode of ARY’s game show from Friday episode which has got around 434,513 views with 8,000 likes till April 22. This game show is based on the seven teams from different cities and each has a celebrity captain. In each team, the audience plays the game under the captain’s leadership. The winner’s team gets grand prizes. This year, the program has added one more team, Gujranwala Bulls. The concept of teams is similar to the Pakistan Super League (PSL). Some team captains are led by cricket players such as Shoaib Malik and Sarfaraz Ahmed.
Game Show Aisay Chalay Ga Ramazan League
This game show was launched in December 2018 and was hosted by actor Nabeel Zafar. Now it is being hosted by actor Danish Taimoor. The Friday episode of this game show has gotten around 66,000 views with approximately 2300 likes till April 22. In this game, all teams consist of young social media influencers mainly from the TikTok platform. Besides social media teams, audiences also get involved in several games such as the tug of war segment.
Khel Kay Jeet with Sheheryar Munawar
This show is currently lagging in the number game. According to its Friday episode, it has gained only a few thousand views on YouTube. This show is launched this year.
Until now, it has around 29,00 views on the first part of the program. Other parts of the episode have only a few thousand views on YouTube.
In an exclusive conversation with The Current, actress Mathira opened up on her tussle with senior director Sangeeta.
The Raasta diva stated that in this industry, people promise something else but deliver the opposite, she doesn’t appreciate exploitation, if a women is bold that doesn’t mean you make her go nude.
Earlier Mathira appeared on The Mazedaar Show hosted by Faizan Sheikh and Aadi Amjad. The Blind Love actress stated on the show that she has unfortunately worked with all the ‘bad people’ in the beginning of her career.
Elaborating her answer she cited the example of the veteran director and actress Sangeeta who directed her in the Danish Taimoor starrer Sirf Tum Hi To Ho. The film released in July 2019 and tanked at the box-office.
The actress mentioned that in this industry, people promise something else and deliver something else which really disturbs her. Hinting at the length of her role being reduced to a second fiddle. The Main Hoon Shahid Afridi star said that the biopic of Shahid Afridi starring Humayun Saeed brought her negative fame which affected her on-screen image.
She also confessed that now she prefers television over films. She is currently hosting shows on a private channel.
Actor Danish Taimoor recently bagged the Best Actor Award for his hit play, Deewangi at the Lux Style Awards 2021, however he opened up on a lost Bollywood opportunity in resurfaced interview.
When the Deewangi star appeared on Bol Nights With Ahsan Khan along with his superstar wife Ayeza Khan, he revealed that he was offered to work alongside Bollywood glam girl Kareena Kapoor Khan but due to his misfortune, his big break in India never came.
During the show, the Mehrunisa V LubU actor disclosed that he was approached for a lead role opposite Kareena Kapoor Khan in the star-studded Bollywood movie Veere Di Wedding which played in cinemas in 2018. According to him, the dates were finalised but then tensions between the two countries escalated in 2016 and he could not go to India to start shooting for the film.
Sharing the details of how he was asked to work with the megastar, Taimoor stated: “We were all ready to go for the shoot but then we got to know that Kareena was pregnant. After Kareena delivered her baby in 2016, the situation between India and Pakistan got worse.”
He was later replaced with actor Sumeet Vyas, who played Kareena’s reel husband eventually.
As the situation worsened between Indo-Pak after the Uri attacks in September 2016.
On the work front, Danish is currently hosting a game show on a local TV channel and is shooting for a romantic serial opposite Dur-e-Fishan Saleem for ARY Digital.
Pakistan is a third world nation, the majority population is rooted in patriarchal norms and customs, and crimes against women are alarming, our dramas don’t do a lot in trying to eradicate the misogynistic morals demanded from a woman.
A female in a patriarchal society is often burdened with the responsibility of carrying the family’s honor all on her own and Pakistani dramas continue to further mindset by introducing increasingly problematic tropes.
Many recently released dramas featured sequences of a father not being able to handle his daughter’s misfortunes and ending up dead because of it. This has now become repetitive to garner ratings by sensationalising the death of a heroine’s father. The fathers’ biggest problem are often associated with the daughter’s married life. It really is an unfortunate development of recent times that mainstream media has further escalated the regressive mindsets about the parental burdens of a daughter. Scenes of a father suffering from a fatal heart attack because of the disgraceful situations that arose due to the daughter’s actions or misfortunes.
Ayeza Khan’s Meherposh shows the female protagonist’s father getting a heart attack the moment Mehru’s husband divorces her in front of her entire family in a very distasteful dramatic sequence. The father dies as he couldn’t bear the dishonor his daughter’s misfortune brought the family.
Drama serial Jhooti starring Iqra Aziz showcased Nirma as the trouble maker of the family.
She emotionally blackmails and tortures her family for various reasons after being incited by her conman husband. The resulting family feuds lead to her father dying from a heart attack. Nirma’s mother is also shown to have died previously due to constant disturbances created by Nirma in the house.
In Yaariyan when the father, upon realizing how his one daughter toyed with the life of his other daughter’s prospective marital life, he is unable to bear the burden of the truth and ends up dying by heart attack.
Geo TV’s soap Uraan featuring Kinza Hashmi showed the father of one of the central female characters getting a heart attack while he is driving from his nephew’s house, who threatens to forcefully marry his daughter if she doesn’t consent to the marriage willingly. The heart attack leads to his demise.
ARY’s Ghalati also had a sequence where the female protagonist’s father dies of a heart attack after he sees his daughter being divorced amidst a family gathering. In other dramas if the fathers are not shown to directly drop dead because of their daughter’s misfortunes, the dramas push them to death by indirectly making the daughter the culprit for it.
Ruswai based on a rape victim, showed a father of a gang-rape survivor dealing with how the incident has shaken up the lives of both his children. He tries his best to settle things however, he is unable to do so. He feels helpless and in an emotionally burdened state, he loses his life in a car crash. Later in the same episode, it is revealed that the father wanted to commit suicide.
Pyar Ke Sadqay shows the female protagonist’s father being falsely prisoned due to his daughter’s step-father in law who wanted to use this opportunity to manipulate her into marrying him, in exchange for her father’s bail. The father gets a heart attack while imprisoned which leads to his death.
Saboor Aly’sTum Ho Wajah also has a similar situation where the father, weakened by his daughter eloping, ends up dying after getting a heart attack.
Nand shows a father dying in a car crash because he is chasing after his daughter, who has been forcefully taken from the house by her husband in the father’s absence. The father’s disturbed psychological state leads to a fatal car crash.
The heroine’s father in Zebaish dies trying to save his daughter from falling victim to the evil plans of the villain.
The trivialization of ethos attached to a daughter’s married life for a dotting father has been brutally dramatized and exploited by the scriptwriters for cheap thrilling sequences in the drama. The death sequences are also used to justify juvenile twists and plot changes.
Why are the fathers of only female characters shown to have such terrible consequences due to their daughters’ actions or their dwindling married life?
Fathers, are believed to be the biggest support system of a girl. But our Pakistani dramas have made the parents yet another way for a female character to face more miseries. They are pushed to death or shown to be out of their senses to either punish the female character’s wrongdoings, for instance, Jalan, or just to add some more misery to the female character’s life.
Daughters are supposed to be blessings and they should be shown in the same light instead of a burden that ultimately crushes her parents to death.
