Ghissi Pitti Mohabbat has turned out to be one of those rare dramas which concluded on a positive and satisfying note andviewers couldn’t be happier.
The drama, which had audiences hooked from the first couple of episodes, ended with Samia (Ramsha Khan) choosing the single life after a string of failed relationships and marriages. She decided that she has had enough of societal pressures and dealing with workplace issues and set up her own restaurant where she employed transgender staff. The ending was refreshing and remarkably different from what we are used to seeing on Pakistani television.
Writer Fasih Bari Khan brilliantly used satire and sarcasm to send across social messages and presented a solid script and story. That coupled with brilliant performances from the lead cast including Khan, Wahaj Ali, Ali Abbas, Shahood Alvi, Saba Faisal, and Sajeeruddin made the drama a winner.
Audiences have lauded the show for showing a positive and empowered woman in the form of Samia. Check out some reactions below:
I’ve been following this drama since Episode One. The acting, the direction, the script writing, everything was nop notch. Rimsha’s acting in Ishqiya was quite boring TBH, but her potential has been fully utilised in this show. A perfect ending ❤️#GhisiPitiMohabbatpic.twitter.com/q3fkjIItW4
What a breath of fresh air was #GhisiPitiMohabbat in the mundane /mediocre storylines our risk averse writers and directors take on these days. Well done to the whole team and @ramshakofficial for a memorable performance. More power to you.
Ali Abbas and Ramsha Khan, who are currently sharing the screen opposite each other in Ghissi Piti Mohabbat, are cousins in real-life.
In a recent interview, Ali revealed that Ramsha is his first cousin.
“I don’t think a lot of people know this but Ramsha is my first cousin. She is my aunt’s daughter,” shared Ali. “Since childhood, we hung out – all the cousins – and she used to call me Ali Bhai.”
“Now there we were holding hands and we had to look into each other’s eyes and deliver all these lines [in Ghissi Piti Mohabbat],” he added.
Abbas further shared that he had to tell director Ahmad Bhatti that they had this problem.
“Then the ice broke, we sat down because we were destroying the scenes and we decided to put the cousinship aside and to focus on work,” he said further.
Both the actors are impressing audiences with their acting. In the recent plot development, Ramsha and Ali’s characters in the drama have gotten married.
Hania Aamir, Feroze Khan, Ramsha Khan and Gohar Rasheed’s painstaking romantic saga Ishqiya came to a close Monday night with a finale that left viewers torn. While some thought the ending was fitting, others were rooting for a happy ending for Rumi (Hania) and Hamza (Feroze). But alas that did not happen, even though Hamna (Ramsha) and Azeem (Gohar) got their happy ending. If you ask me, I’m just glad that no one died or lost their sanity.
To be honest, I really was not a big fan of Ishqiya given its ridiculous storyline and I made that pretty clear at several instances (Here and here). But given the nature of my job and the fact that the drama trended every week on YouTube (the last episode is trending at number two on YouTube Pakistan) and social media, I had no choice but to follow it and try to figure out what exactly made it a hit. After much thought and going through audience comments, I came to the conclusion that strong performances by the lead and supporting cast, Rumi (Hania) and Azeem’s (Gohar) characters and the chemistry between Hania and Feroze is what attracted audiences and made them tune in every Monday.
To sum up the plot in a few lines, Ishqiya was the story of two sisters Rumi and Hamna (Ramsha Khan) who have conservative, yet loving parents. Hamna is in a relationship with her class fellow Hamza but her father Siddiqui sahib (Shabbir Jan) gets her married to Azeem. Being an obedient daughter and a weak person, Hamna does not protest and goes ahead with her father’s wishes. This is when the problem begins. Hamza is heartbroken over Hamna’s marriage and thinks she betrayed him so he sets out to seek revenge from her by marrying her sister so he can be close to her and mentally torture her. In the process, he ends up falling for his wife but as they say, you reap what you sow. Pretty convoluted if you ask me.
While the actors did complete justice to their roles and delivered above-average performances – Hania was great as the bubbly, chirpy Rumi, while Ramsha fit perfectly as the sober and introverted Hamna; Gohar was wonderful as the soft-spoken Azeem and as for Feroze, he seems to have perfected the role of the ‘bad boy’ – they were let down by a weak script, bizarre plot and poorly written characters. The drama relied heavily on flashbacks, greatly testing our patience because while the present featured someone crying, the flashback saw the person crying even more. Basically, there is lots of crying in the drama, except a few moments of comic relief by Hania. Gohar and Hamna became monotonous in a few episodes because they maintained the same expressions. But then again that was more of the script’s fault than their own.
Similarly, Hania and Feroze’s chemistry was crackling and straight out of a Mills and Boons novel but again it was neither explored nor developed properly. The two complimented each other well and were one of the highlights of the drama.
Badar Mehmood has given us many memorable dramas including Cheekh and Balaa and I’m still trying to figure out why he opted for a project like this. But given the drama’s success, I’m scared that our directors and producers will continue to churn out such senseless and nonsensical stories. Written by Mohsin Ali Shah, Ishqiya was produced by Fahad Mustafa and Dr Ali Kazmi under their production house Big Bang Entertainment.
Pakistani dramas generally are far from reality – even though they do pretend to be realistic. But more often than not you come across dramas that are so far-fetched from reality that they begin to test your patience. And Hania Aamir, Feroze Khan, Gohar Rasheed and Ramsha Khan’s Ishqiya is one of those.
To begin with, the plot doesn’t make any sense. Hamna (Ramsha Khan) and Romaisa (Rumi) are two sisters who have typical Pakistani drama parents: old-school and simple. While Hamna is the sober and serious one, Rumi (Hania Aamir) is the lively and playful one. Hania in this drama is no different than Daneen, her character in Anaa and from the first 10 episodes, I think it is fair to say that her fate will somewhat be the same. Rumi’s over-the-top energy is a bit annoying and her dialogues are borderline cringe.
On the other hand, Hamna is in a relationship with her class fellow Hamza (Feroze Khan). The two love each other passionately to the point that Hamza is a bit obsessive about Hamna. In the first few episodes, Hamza gives major Kabir Singh vibes: the public possessiveness, the self-destructive nature etc. In a typical twist of fate, the girls’ father Siddiqui Sahab (as Rumi calls him) has ill health and wants to get his daughters settled (in other words married) as soon as possible. When his colleague approaches them with a rishta of his son Azeem (Gohar Rasheed) for Hamna, Siddiqui Sahab does not hesitate to say yes and Hamna is soon married to Azeem. When Hamza finds out, he throws a major tantrum and in the process ends up getting involved in a car accident. After he recovers, Hamza decides that the best way to get back at Hamna is by marrying her sister Rumi and soon the two also end up getting married with the reception of both the sisters scheduled on the same day.
I’m pretty sure by now, after reading the plot of the drama, you must also be thinking keh yaar yeh kya drama hai? My sentiments exactly. The plot makes zero sense to me – how can a someone not tell their sister that ‘Dude the boy who is approaching you for a rishta is my ex-boyfriend and that he is only doing this to get back at me?’
Not only that, ever since Hamna got married to Azeem, she has a long face, barely eats and is always teary-eyed. That is literally visible to everyone except her own family who are oblivious to her tears.
After mentally torturing Hamna through four episodes and making her uncomfortable at every opportunity, the latest episode saw Hamza finally take his new bride, Roomi home. Hamna also moved to her husband Azeem’s house. It appears that now that the basic matters have been settled and the two former lovers have married other people, we’re in for a major plot twist and a whole lot of drama, which I’m thinking I will skip given how the plot of Ishqiya isn’t the most original. The Pakistani drama scene has seen plenty of such dramas before: one I can remember on top of my head is Yaariyan featuring Ayeza Khan, Moomal Sheikh, Junaid Khan and Muneeb Butt. It also had a similar premise involving two sisters.
Written by Mohsin Ali Shah and directed by Badar Mehmood (Cheekh, Balaa), Ishqiya airs every Monday at 8pm on ARY Digital.
