Mann Mayal

Plot

Mann Mayal depicts the story of Manahil, Mannu (Maya Ali), and Salahuddin (Hamza Ali Abbasi), who are neighbors and Salahuddin's sister Beeya (Aiman Khan) is a friend of Manahil. Salahuddin is ambitious for studies but is however asked by Manahil's father to give tuition to Manahil because of her low grades. Both fall in love but Salahuddin refuses to marry Manahil due to their social-class status and due to fear of rejection from her family. Manahil's parents accept the proposal of Mikaeel, who is unknown to Manahil's family, is a spoiled-habitual person. Salahuddin says last goodbyes to Manahil before her marriage only to end up in allegation that he took her, he then settles things out and leaves for Karachi to work at his friend Ifti's (Vasay Chaudhry) firm, where he meets Ifti's father Rehman (Talat Hussain) who is dying of cancer and is treated poorly by his daughter in-law, Cookie, (Arjumand Rahim) and housekeeper, Jameel (Saleem Mairaj). Salahuddin and Rehman develop a close bond and they confide in each other.

Salahuddin starts to take care of Rehman while Manahil marries Mikaeel who proves to be an abusive husband and also who has a gambling problem. Tensions between Salahuddin and Ifti rise when Cookie often deliberately blames Salahuddin, who makes a deal with Cookie to take care of Rehman on his own. Rehman later dies of his cancer and leaves his property to Salahuddin. Jameel asks Salahuddin for forgiveness and both develop a close friendship. After a one-year leap, Salahuddin becomes a successful businessman while Manahil becomes a mother of a baby boy. Mikaeel's behaviour becomes worse towards Manahil and their child. Despite breaking all ties with Manahil, Salahuddin secretly keeps an eye on Manahil through Jameel and blames himself for ruining her life. While in office, Salahuddin's employee Jeena (Ayesha Khan) who secretly loves Salahuddin, starts to intervene his life by making breakfast, dinner and clothes for him. The series takes another leap of three years, where Manahil gives birth to her second child (a daughter) and Mikaeel, who is once again deep in gambling, completely cuts off his life from Manahil. Jameel becomes a temporary servant at Mikaeel's house on Salahuddin's order. Salahuddin disguises himself as a "Guru" and talks to Manahil and consoles her by giving her advice to keep her life on track, when Manahil finds out she warns him to stay away from her. Jeena consistently intervenes Salahuddin's life, who keeps his distance and thinks of her as an employee and a friend only. Mikael's parents die in a car crash after finding out about his gambling. Manahil blames Salahuddin for her parents in-law's death, as she thinks he told them about Mikaeel's gambling. Despite Manahil's warning and threatening, he keeps himself close to her and constantly watches over her.

Things turn complicated for Manahil when Mikael decides to turn his house into a casino and throws her and children out. Manahil asks Jameel for help and takes shelter in Salahuddin's home. Jenna lures Salahuddin into their engagement but when he finds Manahil, he decides to help her, this leads to Jeena's jealousy. Manahil's father suffers a heart attack after hearing Manahil's situation where Jenna begins her conspiracies by luring Jameel into their fake relationship and turns Salahuddin's mother against Mannu who later realises Jeena's motive and apologised to Manahil. Moreover, Salahuddin breaks his engagement from Jeena and propose Mannahil for after which Jeena and Mikeel join hands. Jamil helps Jeena and Mikaeel with kidnapping of the children, where Mikaeel backs out after seeing Jeena's obsession. To trap Jamil and take him out of the picture, Jeena falsely blames him for trying to molest her after which Salahuddin fires him. Salahuddin's parents decide to accept Mannu and agreed for their marriage. Mannu accepts Mikael's condition to leave Salahuddin in exchange for the children back but after spending time with Tipu and Tania, he realises that his presence in their life is dangerous and instead asks Salahuddin to leave with the children. Mikaeel goes to his parents grave and begs for forgiveness realising that its too late, he then gets killed over his gambling debt. Failing in her plans Jeena tries to poison Manahil, but Salahuddin becomes victim, considering herself as Salauhuddin's murderer, Jeena commits suicide. Salahuddin suffers a heart attack and undergoes surgery, she confesses her love for him and blames herself for destroying the lives of those who came near her. She then leaves for Hyderabad where he asks her father that she wants to complete her studies and raise her children on her own. Determined on her decision, Salahuddin's family visits Manahil's parents for a proposal, but her father refuses, saying Manahil is not ready and he will not make any decision or force her against her will. Salahuddin searches for Manahil who is living in an hostel, where she shuts the door after seeing him and reminisces how once she left her house for him and he didn't open the door. She complains how he ruins their life, he apologizes to Manahil for not making a right decisions and both reconcile proclaiming their love.

Main cast

Recurring cast

Special guest appearance

Development

Man Mayal was originally conceived by Hum TV's senior producer Momina Duraid and fashion-stylist Sana Shahnawaz as Tera Ghum Aur Hum in late July 2015, with Duraid's hiring Haseeb Hassan for direction, who was the director of channel's then running serial Diyar-e-Dil that ended in October 2015. Haseeb returns to direct third year in a row since his first project for channel in 2013. The screenplay for the serial is written by Lux Style Award-winning writer Samira Fazal who, previously wrote the screenplays of channel's critically acclaimed serials such as Dastaan, Bari Aapa, Mera Naseeb and most recently Alvida, it also marked the writer's first collaboration with Hassan.

In August 2015, Samina Humayun Saeed and Tariq Shah came on board as a co-producers, both Samina and Tariq previously produced cult followed-drama serial Sadqay Tumhare that aired between 2014-2015 television season. while Sana marked her production debut with this serial, she explained, "I'm thrilled to get a chance to work with such an amazing team so early on in my career. I couldn’t have found a better project than Mann Mayal to kick-start this new phase in my creative journey. It’s always a blast working with a team who are not only talented artists but also very dear friends. I’m confident the audiences are going to love this serial."

Writer Khalil-ur-Rehman Qamar initially wrote the lyrics for series soundtrack and helped producer Sana coined then series name Tera Ghum Aur Hum. Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt sends regards to Shahnawaz for her production venture. Series music and background score is composed by Hamza Jafri of MAD music, while title track composition and lyrics is written by Shuja Haider and Momina hired Qurat-ul-Ain Balouch to perform the song making her second collaboration with Duraid since 2011, for drama series Humsafar.

Casting

Creative head and producers Momina Duraid, Sana Shahnawaz and writer Sameera Fazal mutually choose the cast, which includes Maya Ali, Hamza Ali Abbasi, Gohar Rasheed, Ayesha Khan to play the leading roles of Manahil, Salah-ul-Din, Meekail and Jeena respectively. None of the leading actors have appeared together on television except Hamza and Ayesha who worked together in a 2013 film Waar and Jawani Phir Nahi Ani, and Maya Ali, Ismat Zaidi and Shehryar Zaidi who have previously worked together in Geo TV's, Meri Zindagi Hai Tu. Saba Hameed and Hamza Ali Abbasi have previously worked together in ARY Digital's Pyaray Afzal. Speaking about her character Khan said, "my role is the surprise element in the drama. She is the game changer of the play. I opted for this role because she is not a typical damsel in distress which I think I have done umpteen times; instead she is needy for love. She gives unconditional love to others and expects the same for herself,". This is Mayal Ali second consecutive collaboration with director having previously worked in Diyar-e-Dil. Stating about her character Hamza said, "my character will create magic in this serial". Hamza who plays Afzal as his feature television debut in Piyaray Afzal in 2014, returns to play Salahuddin on the request of Sana. Hamza described his character "is close to who I am." In an interview Hamza explained that, "I have done this serial after giving a hit film because I don’t want to leave television and it is my moral commitment to myself to do one serial a year. Other than this, the story is not a typical saazishi aurto wali kahani and has room for me to come out as a better actor." Gohar who have worked with Abbasi in theater and films said about his character, "Mikail is rich and a little bit spoiled; he has his own set of insecurities which he tries to overcome in his own way."

Veteran actors' Saba Hameed and Naeem Tahir plays the roles Manahil's parents while veteran actors Shehryar Zaidi and Ismat Zaidi's Salah-ul-Din's parents, popular soap actress Aiman Khan plays the role of Rabiya as Salah-ul-Din younger sister and Manahil friend. Mehmood Aslam and Laila Zuberi plays Meekail parents and other roles with off-and-on screen appearances is played by Saleem Mairaj, Arjumand Rahim, Vasay Chaudhry and National award-winning actor Talat Hussain as Rehman.

Filming and locations

The series was officially decided to film in late 2015 till 2016, however creative head Momina Duraid decided to release it in 2016 along with few other shows to improve the position of channels Monday, Sunday and Tuesday slots for its future programming, as a result Director Haseeb Hassan and production house delayed the ongoing shoot of their series Sanam. Principal photography commenced on early June 2015, it was officially announced to finish in September 2015, but in late August production team ordered seven more episodes, as a result it concluded in late December 2015 with a total of thirty-three episodes. During the shoot the title of Tera Gham Or Hum was used. Shooting was extensively done in remote areas of Hyderabad, Sindh and in Clifton in Karachi, Sindh.

Several sets-locations were real including Salahuddin's home, which was a 'hundred-year' Haveli, director Hassan said, "The haveli we chose as Hamza’s house was almost 100 hundreds year old. I am glad we shot there because it has been demolished by government now,". Shooting locations were overseen by art director Zeeshan. In an interview Haseeb said, "The wonderful artwork you will notice in the drama has been done by Zeeshan. Whenever I take up any project I always have some period in mind; and this serial the props and accessories we have used would represent the old era and it has been done in a way that everything looks relatable,". Cinematographer Zeb Rao and editor Mehmood Ali return as director of photography and chief editing respectively as both previously worked with Duraid's Diyar-e-Dil that earned them critical praise and acclaim.

Music

The title song of Mann Mayal was composed by musician Shuja Haider, who also penned down the lyrics while the background score for the series is done by Mad Music. The OST was performed by Qurat-ul-Ain Balouch '"QB". with Shuja Hyder as being in the chorous. It marks the return of QB to Hum TV, since she performed the channels hit drama series Humsafar's title song "Woh Humsafar Tha" in 2012.

First half of the soundtarck was released on 23 January 2016 as after the final title was revealed as Mann Mayal and next half was released on February 1, 2016. Soundtarck is produced along with series production by Momina Duraid, Samina Humayun Saeed, Sana Shahnawaz and Tariq Shah under Duraid's production company M.D Productions.

Soundtrack was praised for its lyrics and composition and vocals, QB and co-singer Shuja Hyder received much appraisal for their singing as well as enthusiastic reviews for Hyder composing, particularly Hyder being praised for "his vocals add depth and variety to the proceedings." Popularity of "Tere Naal Mein laiyan" led an online competition where on February 9 Hum Network announced on its Facebook page to "record the soundtrack and inbox to series official page, to win a title of Voice of Art and gifts hampers." On August 8, 2016, a slower version of Tere Naal Mei Laiyaan Akhiyaan was released on Mann Mayal's Twentieth episode with Rasmia Baloch and Shuja Haider performing the OST.

Track listing

All lyrics written by Shuja Haider; all music composed by Shuja Haider and Mad Music.

Broadcast

Mann Mayal was originally scheduled to air in late December 2015, however due to post-production delays, Hum TV re-scheduled the series for January 2016. It was initially titled Tera Ghum Aur Hum in an early press releases but then it was changed to Dil-e-Jaanam and then to Mann Mayal, with no official reason given by Hum Network management to these changes. Mann Mayal aired a weekly episode on every Monday succeeding Maan who was shifted on Friday after the finale of Tumhare Siwa, starting from its premiere date, with time slot of 8:00 pm. It was announced that series will be premiered on January 22, 2016 after Tumhare Siwa but then moved to Monday with the premier date of January 25. The show approximately airs weekly episode for 35–40 minutes (without commercials). The series was ordered and comprised the section of 33 episodes where as initially it was announced to air 24 episodes. It was aired on Hum Europe in UK, on Hum TV USA in USA and Hum TV Mena on UAE, with same timings and premiered date. All International broadcasting aired the series in accordance with their standard times. By July 2016 Mann Mayal was broadcast by Hum Network's new channel Hum World HD for US region.

Home Media

In late November 2016, Hum Network released Mann Mayal's season on a DVD set along with other shows like Udaari, Gul-e-Rana, Diyar-e-Dil and Abroo. All episodes of Mann Mayal went available on Hum's official site by late 2016. In January 2017, iflix contracted Hum Network and picked few commercially successful seasons where they picked the entire season of Mayal Mayal on a subscription basis.

Television ratings

Mann Mayal premiered with 1.1 Million viewers in Pakistan, While on January 29, 2016, Hum TV announced that the pilot episode had received 4.9 Television Rating Points (TRP), which was the channel's highest ratings. Second week in a row it received the highest TRPs with 5.9 and for second and third episodes. For consecutive seven weeks it was the highest rated drama series with ratings of 6.2 TRP respectively, despite receiving mixed reviews from critics. On March 30, 2016 Hum TV announced that the channel has gained 5.8 TRPs for series tenth episode, the next week ratings were up further with 6.7 TRP for eleventh episode, with episodes twelve, thirteen and fourteen Mann Mayal was rated with TRP of 4.4, 6.7 and 5.8. Moreover, fifteenth-episode of series achieved highest ratings of 8.1 TRP, according to the channel, it was network's highest rating for any series in 2016. Hunza Gul of Brandsynario stated that Mann Mayal, was the highest trending topic of Twitter., with next three weeks it scored TRP of 6.7 for sixteenth and eighteenth episode and 4.2 for seventeenth.

From nineteenth episode to its twenty-first, the series scored TRP of 6.3, 6.5 and 6.7, while on Its Twenty Third and Twenty fifth episode It received 7.4 and 7.7TRP. It achieved the record breaking 9.7 TRPs on Its Twenty-sixth episode breaking all the previous records including channels 2013 series, Humsafar and Zindagi Gulzar Hai. Mann Mayal was placed on first position on a list of top 10 Pakistani shows of 2016, It scored 6.1, 6.7 and 7.1TRPs for episodes Twenty-seven, Twenty-eight and Twenty-nine, respectively. Close to finale, on Its thirtieth episode Mann Mayal peaked at 5.5 TRPs, furthermore on its thirty-second episode it averaged 6.1 TRPs. The Last episode of Mann Mayal averaged 7.1 TRPs peaking at TRP more than 9.3 and maximising 9.8 as claimed by the channel on their Facebook page.

From its eighth till fifteenth episode Mann Mayal averages 2.2 Million Viewers according to mediaLogics overnight ratings... onwards episode eighteenth, series begin receiving negative reviews from the critics, despite this it reached points more that 2.9 Million views till episode 21. Till episode thirty Mann Mayal received 20.9 viewers where as on its final episode Mann Mayal finally reached a point more than 3 Million viewers.

Critical reception

Before the premiere of series, Mann Mayal was listed as one of the most anticipated serials of 2016. Writing for Dawn News, Sadaf Haider moderately reviewed the series saying, "Hum TV back to more family-oriented viewing. The recent fervor at Hum TV to make dramas like Sangat and Gul-e-Rana which glamourise rapists may thankfully have abated." She concluded that, "This is a well-made drama worth watching. Anyone who sees the first episode can not wait to see the next. If Mann Mayal can steer clear of obvious clichés, it has the potential to not only be a blockbuster, or a 'must watch', but something iconic. All the ingredients are there." In April issue of The Express Tribune, Mann Mayal was ranked second behind Dillagi.

However, Sheeba Khan of HIP lauded the series positively praising it script, Haseebs's direction, Shuja's background score, and acting - particularly of Hamza and Aiman Khan, she also praised for family orientation script saying, "that old, traditional feel is hard to find in dramas these days...Diyar-e-Dil was the last family drama on air so it is grateful for Mann Mayal and how it was presented!". Writing for same publication Khan heavily praised the screenplay, direction and acting for third episode particularly raising Maya Ali's character saying, "Maya Ali delivered a performance that has now pit her against the best of the best in the industry." And said, "A flawlessly written episode, with flawless acting and direction!."

In a less enthusiastic review for The Express Tribune Kanza Riaz said that, "Mann Mayal is teaching our society some horrendously wrong things." She heavily criticized the serial saying, "the director and producer chose to tell a story of a weak woman who falls in love with her neighbour/friend's brother for no apparent reason. She then employs every cheap trick in the book to attract him and convinces him to ask her parents for her hand in marriage." She further evaluate the role of women in society being "powerful" not "weak" and condemn "love marriage" concept in Pakistani culture. She praised the previous women oriented dramas such as Daam, Durr-e-Shehwar, Zindagi Gulzar Hai and Alpha Bravo Charlie. She concluded by saying "our entertainment media has become extremely commercialised and rating-oriented." Ayesha Siddique of The Nation opposes the idea of spreading "wrong message" to the people and said, "Mann Mayal is attempting to make girls more expressive and bolder," and explained that, "If a girl likes someone she should express her feelings. It is not against the dignity of a woman. It is not against anyone’s dignity at all. The taboo over a woman proposing to a man should be revisited."

The soundtrack of the series was heavily praised and has garnered more than a million views on YouTube, according to Saavn, the series ranked the top charts for three consecutive weeks of its release, and on the new official Pakistani music app Taazi, the song was among the highest rated original soundtrack of series followed By "Yar-e-Man" of Diyar-e-Dil. In luke warm reviews for Dawn News Sadaf haider felt that series suffers from "obvious plot holes" and stated "What doesn't make sense is that each character can see a clear path out of distress but they refuse to take it." She also said, "Despite the soaring music Hum TV uses to invoke a pavlovian response out of its audience, much of the dramatic tension required to connect emotionally with the plot is lacking." She further said, "Team Mann Mayal has managed to produce a very slick product, easily digested by the masses. While there are complaints of plot loopholes and one dimensional characters, this started off as a very popular serial and still is. So far, Mann Mayal has offered nothing new or challenging. It confirms every stereotype and comforts its audience’s prejudices, making it a winning and very commercially viable combination."

The character of Mikaeel (portrayed by Gohar Rasheed) received critical appraisal from critics, but he faces criticism and harsh reaction as Mikaeel from public, in an interview he said, "a woman came up to me and asked if i am Mikaeel from Mann Mayal, when i said yes, she responded, You are a bad person and you should leave this place before we slap you." He further said "when the drama aired, I received messages from women on my Facebook page and profile saying, ‘Thank you so much for playing your character so well, our ex-husbands used to behave exactly like that; mistreating us while we used to sit naively and thinking no, he is my husband, there was also the societal pressure. Now after watching Mann Mayal we realise we were only ill-treating ourselves. Thank you so much for playing this role and you’re a terrible person’." Gohar has been associated with organization that run for Down Syndrome Program causes and in a wake of this cause he auctioned all of his wardrobe from series to raise funds for this programs, he said, "I am honored to be a part of this auction and to do something for these children and I hope everyone to be a part of this auction and raise money for Karachi Down Syndrome."

Despite receiving highest-ratings, Mann Myal has been a subject of skeptical reviews and reception. In addition to critical reviews Jeenas character received wide media attention and has been a subject of controversy since beginning. Commenting on her character Ayesha Khan said, "With Mann Mayal, people hate my character Jeena but that’s the success of the character. What is frustrating though is when people can’t seem to differentiate between my onscreen persona and who I am in real life."mean I’m going to take their words to heart and change who I am over it. For me these judgments by bloggers are trash and that’s exactly where they go," She further said, "social media has given a voice to every idiot – that doesn’t mean I’m going to take their words to heart and change who I am over it. For me these judgments by bloggers are trash and that’s exactly where they go". The supporting characters were also heavily criticised. Many veteran supporting characters of Saba Hameed, Naeem Tahir were criticised due to their irresponsible parenting towards their daughter and sudden disappearance. Role played by veteran actress Ismat Zaidi who played Durdana, Salahuddin's mother was appreciable and was a major supporting character throughout the series but was criticised in episodes 24 and 25 due to her negative role as she is famous for playing innocent roles.

Sadaf Haider of Dawn Images wrote, "Mann Mayal is an undeniable runaway commercial success, it will not have the repeat value or iconic status that Humsafar, Diyar-e-Dil, Pyarey Afzal, Dastaan, Aun Zara, Parsa or other great iconic serials have. It will go down as just another pot boiler that made a lot of money, which is shame because this serial started off with a spark of brilliance." Furthermore, it was criticized for its storyline with critics saying it "senseless", and was panned for its overrun which initially was to have only twenty-four episodes. The finale episode of series revived widespread criticism and critical reviews both from public and critics. In a brief review of series, Sadaf Haider of Dawn News wrote, "even Mannu's newfound feminism couldn't save Mann Mayal's last episode," she further said, "Mann Mayal had some great production value in the first 20 episodes, the script still had some internal logic and it has always been beautifully picturised. High ratings may well have been the reason for its decline in quality, as the producers realised that this cash cow could be milked for another 10 episodes." Haider, also equipped "Mann Mayal may well be a testament to the patience of the Pakistani public, the dogged determination of watching a serial to the end once it’s started but the real X factor was, of course, Hamza Ali Abbasi," and advice him that he should concentrates "on quality before his brand starts to lose its luster."

Controversies

Kanza Riaz of The Express Trubune wrote for her February 2016 blog stating that Mann Mayal is teaching our society some horrendously wrong things! Riaz discouraged the plot of Manahil and Salahuddin's love story saying that Mannu's young age love has a negative affect for Pakistan's youth, she also says that it highlights a bad influent for women. Riaz discouraged the introduction episodes saying Just three episodes in, I have to say that I, for one, am heavily disappointed. The director and producer chose to tell a story of a weak woman who falls in love with her neighbour/friend’s brother for no apparent reason. She then employs every cheap trick in the book to attract him and convinces him to ask her parents for her hand in marriage. Lastly Riaz comments on Mann Mayal's Television Rating The rating of Mann Mayal has gone through the roof; young women are ardently watching the show and what’s sad is that they are even impressed and inspired by it! We are showing these girls that it’s okay to lust after our smoulderingly handsome teachers. Looking to this Director Haseeb Hassan cleared the entire controversy in his interview with HIP.