Reviews 
 

Web series

‘Hum Aapas Mein’

United We Stand

By Syeda Maham Rasheed | April 2020

It seems the web series trend is fast catching on. One such series is called ‘Hum Aapas Mein’ by Mehrdar Art and Production and Khayaal Studios. This is happening after Wajahat Rauf’s web series ‘Enaaya’ which had Mehwish Hayat, Azfar Rehman and Asad Siddiqui.

‘Hum Aapas Mein’ has been written and is directed by Sabeeh Ahmad. It tells the interconnected stories of five families struggling with social cohesion and acceptance. The families live in the same apartment building called Ronaq Manzil, that represents life in Karachi. The inhabitants of Ronaq Manzil represent Karachi’s diverse population.

Though they are different from each other in every way, these people battle over water shortages, crime, encroachment, ethnocentrism and the rest. The viewer understands and empathizes with the characters and hopes they will come together.

Produced by Fahim Shad, the eight-episode series shows how we are conditioned to discriminate against each other based on religion, ethnicity, caste, colour and culture. With time, these families get to know more about each other and realize how they are all different but they don’t mean harm to anyone.

‘Hum Aapas Mein’ hopes to show that everyone has his fair share of problems and people are more alike than different.

The web series really gets you hooked as Ahmad tactfully addresses some difficult yet important social issues. A young boy and his friends find it strange as they are not allowed to touch a plate which belonged to a housemaid. The children, along with their grandfather, start investigating the sinister force that lies in this plate, ultimately arriving at an eye-opening revelation. Also, the taboo that goes with the word ‘transgender’ is highlighted in the series. Among the five families, one comprises four transgenders. One of the four has just arrived in the city and fears for the struggles he/she has to face.

In one of the funny scenes when robberies start in Ronaq Manzil, an aamil is discovered who has arrived with an agenda. The change of characters is easily visible at this point.

The plot is simple and at times predictable but the dialogue lines are very engaging. Though the scenes are long but they unfold impressively and without a dull moment. All thanks to the cinematographer Asghar Ali Ghanchi. The sound is also good. The music is quite powerful and unique for a web series with each family being assigned its own music theme. With focus on each aspect, the art direction and wardrobe choices lack in detail, especially for the transgender characters.

The characters are well-defined like Shaukat Qureshi who plays a bigot. He is, at first, not willing to consult his neighbouring doctor because she belongs to a different sect but by the second last episode, he is vying for his Hindu neighbour to teach his children Islamiat.

The web series is targeted at audiences of all ages and genders because Karachi, being the sixth most populous metropolis in the world, has millions of people. They are divided along ethnic, sectarian and cultural lines and often refuse to interact with people belonging to different backgrounds in their neighbourhoods.

This lack of cohesion is used by extremist groups to spread negative information about others, which results in further fragmentation of society. To reduce the community members’ vulnerability to narratives of extremism about division and segmentation, it is essential to make them aware of why it is in their benefit if they live in harmony with their neighbours belonging to diverse backgrounds.

‘Hum Aapas Mein’ was screened for underprivileged communities at 13 different venues in Karachi, including Baldia Town, Lyari, Ibrahim Hyderi, Sachal Goth and Mauripur, to promote the idea - ‘In Unity, There is Strength’ and ‘United We Stand, Divided We Fall’. After these showings, the series was released on Facebook and YouTube. The message in the series can prove to be a game-changer in putting an end to the misconceptions we have about each other. If you haven’t watched the series yet, then you definitely should as it has all the reasons to keep you glued to your screen.

Read More