Reviews 
 

Mere Paas Tum Ho

Bold Statement

By Muhammad Ali Khan | February 2020


Although many TV plays are being broadcast on various channels, the one which recently caught most attention was ARY Digital’s ‘Mere Paas Tum Ho’ featuring Ayeza Khan as Mehwish, Humayun Saeed as Danish, Adnan Siddiqui as Shahwar and Hira Mani as Hania. The kind of attention this serial got was unmatched. The popularity was because of many reasons, from marketing tactics to creating a hype about the plot or the ploy to delay the finale and screen it in a cinema.

It would be unfair to treat ‘Mere Paas Tum Ho’ just like another story about betrayal because for the first time viewers got to see a man’s perspective in such detail. The serial was all about unequal gender relations, infidelity, second marriage and the role of women in Pakistani society. The audience might have liked the theme, more because the story showed what a man went through when he was hurt and betrayed. The serial had numerous twists and turns and created uproar. Even Adnan Siddiqui said that more men than women were watching ‘Meray Paas Tum Ho’, which was not quite surprising as the plot was entirely different from the usual Pakistani stuff.

Mehwish and Danish were a middle-class couple who lived with their son Rumi (Shees Sajjal Gul). From the start, Mehwish was seen as being greedy for money; she forced her husband to earn more, by doing illegal deeds while working in a government job. Trying to make ends meet, he even took bribes to gift his wife a diamond necklace. Mehwish’s friend Anushey (Meher Bano) introduced her to Shahwar at a café. His flirtatious conversation made Mehwish believe that Shahwar was in love with her. The money lured Mehwish because she was fed up with living a middle-class life where she always had to compromise while Shahwar was a wealthy man. Soon they got very close. Eventually, Mehwish left Danish on their wedding anniversary. She went with Shahwar. Danish was aware that he could not do anything to bring her back. What Mehwish didn’t realize was that Shahwar was simply using her and soon he would be fed up of her.

The real struggle unfolded when Maham (Savera Nadeem), Shahwar’s wife, came back on Shahwar and Mehwish’s nikkah day and slapped Mehwish for her deed and sent Shahwar to jail for committing fraud in the company. Mehwish was then left alone and soon realised that by leaving Danish she had made the biggest mistake of her life as she also knew that she always loved Danish but got carried away by Shahwar’s charm and luxuries, the consequences of which, she has to pay. In between, the young son Rumi became mature enough to understand what divorce meant. Meanwhile, Rumi’s teacher Hania got emotionally attached to Rumi and with his father Danish.

People were rather quick to judge Mehwish for her lack of character but no one paid any attention to Shahwar as he did the same thing. They both were married to someone else when they decided to leave their wedded partners and live together. Why wasn’t Shahwar criticised? Did someone also notice that Danish repeatedly said to Mehwish that he was very possessive about her? What transpired was not possessiveness and was more of a psychological aberration. The way he kept saying at the wedding of Anushey’s brother, ‘Ab woh Shahwar tumhari taraf kiyun dekh raha hai?’ and ‘Woh mere janey ke baad hi kiyun aya tum se baat karne ke liye?’ was totally strange. People can say, ‘Jab biwi ko baar baar bolega kay woh dekh raha hai, woh dekh raha hai, to biwi bhi to dekhegi na phir usko’. This would be a more logical perception.

Now comes some sarcasm. The writer of the serial, Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar, is someone who himself does not seem to know what will happen next. He has even declared somewhere that a man cannot resist a woman tempting him. His views were squarely criticized though soon the ‘do takay ki aurat’ dialogue surfaced and the social media became a war zone. However late, Maham’s thappar (slap) tended to rescue the narrative. In the final analysis, most people did not endorse the ideas or the words that the writer used with reference to women.

Humayun Saeed, the love-struck guy who later turned against the woman he loved, was impressive in his sincerity, honesty and simplicity. He seemed to be experimenting with the role. Ayeza Khan was like a breath of fresh air. She came across as a natural actress and perhaps this is why people really hated the character she played. Adnan Siddiqui seemed to take his acting very seriously and, as Shahwar, blended his flirtatiousness with the right amount of charm. Hira Mani came across as a good actor. The serial had excellent performances and sharp direction.

‘Mere Paas Tum Ho’ had a web of complicated relationships. The play emphasized that in Pakistani society, what is okay for a man is never okay for a woman. It showed how the repercussions for breaking a norm can mean something else for a woman and something completely different for a man. Women generally forgive their partners to normalize their lives but men have their way.

Directed by Nadeem Baig, the serial proved to be a big hit on the basis of its powerful performances and a beautiful soundtrack by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. The gender-bias and double standards prevailing in Pakistani society clearly come across, making ‘Mere Paas Tum Ho’ a bold venture.

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