Maya Ali and Sheheryar Munawar’s comeback drama, Pehli Si Muhabbat is probably one on the most highly anticipated dramas of the year 2021. The first episode premiered last night after much hype and introduced us to the main characters of the play.
Earlier, writer Faiza Iftikhar shared that Pehli Si Muhabbat is about young passionate love. “When you are young and in love, you do not care about family, traditions, or society,” she had said.
The first episode featured two families from Hyderabad living peacefully in the same neighbourhood until one day, things get unpleasant.
Rakhshi (Maya Ali) is a motherless girl living with her father, Faizullah (Shabbir Jan) who happens to have a decent image in the community till he brings home a second wife (Rabia Butt). The marriage comes as a surprise for Rakhshi as well as the curious neighbours who want personal details and a background check.
On the other hand, we are introduced to Aslam (Sheheryar Munawar) who had been living in Karachi with his maternal grandmother. His mother (Saba Faisal) fixes his engagement with her brother’s daughter upon which he cannot continue living there. The mother along with her elder son, Akram (HSY) bring him back home after telling him about the engagement and Aslam, like most young boys his age is happy with the agreement and has no issue. However, this short-lived happiness related to the new relationship status is interrupted by sobbing sounds from the adjacent roof.
Akram’s wife (Nausheen Shah) breaks the news to her mother in law and husband about Faizullah’s marriage. While Akram is a religious guy who values morals and doesn’t believe in hearsay, he is offended when Faizullah himself confirms that his second wife is not from a reputable family.
He along with other neighbours throw rocks at his house even after Rakhshi tells them that her father is not at home. Nargis opens the door and fearlessly asks the crowd the reason for their involvement in something that doesn’t affect them personally. She asks them if they would have wanted their daughters or sisters in her place. Triggered by her courage to come forward and question, the angry group attacks the house with stones and Aslam jumps into the house to see if Faizullah is home.
There he bumps into Rakhshi and a magical love-at-first-sight moment takes place.
Like scenes from most romantic films, there is no exchange of dialogues and their eyes do all the talking. However, when Faizullah returns home and threatens to call the police, Rakhshi asks Aslam to escape through the roof which hints at a subtle soft spot she has grown for him and hence it is the beginning of a love story.
The episode showed that a close community can build a strong support system, for example, you can just walk into your neighbour’s house and ask for a cup of sugar, but it can also create disputes due to invasion of privacy and too much involvement.
There are questions regarding Faizullah’s sudden marriage, in fact, even his daughter questions him when he asks her to mingle and bond with her ‘new mother’. A protective father who did not like his daughter to be friends with someone with a bad reputation has suddenly brought home a wife who he himself says doesn’t come from a reputable background. There are fears that Rakhshi would fail to find a suitor due to her father’s carless decision while neighbours even feel that one rotten egg would spoil the whole basket.
The actors have played their roles exceptionally well. Starting from Maya Ali and Sheheryar Munawar who have great chemistry to HSY who sinks flawlessly into the role that is poles apart from his real-life personality and Rabia Butt who has a strong on-screen presence, to veterans Shabbir Jan and Saba Faisal who are impressive as usual, everyone did justice to their roles.
The drama has begun on an engaging note and we’re excited to see how the story unfolds after seeing the chaos between the characters.
Directed by Anjum Shahzad and written by Faiza Iftikhar, Pehli Si Muhabbat airs on ARY every Saturday. Watch the first episode here:
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