Mann Mayal is considered one of the most watched dramas of the current season yet there are so many glaring flaws in this drama which also make it the biggest disappointment of this season. Here are the top 5 reasons why Mann Mayal is an epic fail!
Best love story of the season or the worst sob story of the year?
This drama was promoted as not only the best love story of this season but the kind of love story which will make people forget all others. The love story ended in less than 6 weeks and after that viewers had to sit through one episode after another of watching the heroine sob and suffer. The hero also struggled until he got rich and then he sobbed and suffered for different reasons! Everyone in this drama is sad whether it is Mikael, Mannu or Salahuddin which is why it is the worst sob story of the season!
The promos which were shown to promote Mann Mayal showed a very happy bubbly side of Mannu maybe because the producers knew that this side would attract the viewers more than the struggling times which Mannu faced after she got married but most of the drama revolves around Mannu’s marital problems.
From Pyare Afzal to not so Pyare Salahuddin!!!
When Sameera Fazal talked about Mann Mayal in Jago Pakistan Jago she said that this drama revolved around the love of a man for a woman. Salahuddin therefore is the central character of the play around whom the whole story revolves and not Mannu. This ‘hero’ has been tagged as a stalker, coward and confused character by many viewers. First he pushed Mannu to marry Mikael and then when he got rich he was in a ‘position’ to shower Mannu with all the ‘love’ in the world! In the last episode Salahuddin put a ring on Jeena’s finger without giving it a second thought – has he learned nothing from his last experience? Or is it that he is fully convinced that money can buy love or it puts you in a position to play with people’s feelings!
Hamza Ali Abbasi said in his interview that Salahuddin was a ‘khuddar’ (self-respecting) man – a man so khuddar that he had absolutely no problem living in someone’s house even when he felt uninvited right from day one and later on accepted the money left by Ifty’s father like he deserved it! The viewers would have been far more convinced of Salahuddin’s khuddari had he worked hard to earn that money!
Jeena and Salahuddin’s relationship
For the longest time Salahuddin failed to see that Jeena was in love/infatuated by him. Even when she was less than 2 inches away from him staring at him with all the desperation in the world in her eyes, Salahuddin could not tell she liked him! Hamza Ali Abbasi said in Jago Pakistan Jago that Salahuddin was a practical man who made decisions with his mind and not his heart but this practical man failed to see how much Jeena loooooveeed him and also put a ring on her finger because he was following his errrr mind????
The relationship Salahuddin has with Jeena isn’t in line with his character. He is a reserved man who knows when to tell people off when he doesn’t want them around. He asked Mannu never to call him again, he made sure Mannu had nothing to do with him when he thought that was best for him and Mannu. We still remember the scene when Mannu came to his door and he refused to open the door for her.
This ‘practical’ and self-respecting man who did not give the feelings of the girl he loved any consideration because he thought that was best for her, put a ring on Jeena’s finger, let her stay in his house and talked to her for hours just to kill time even though he knows he shouldn’t be doing any of this!
Ayesha Khan said in her interview that Jeena was a grey character – why did she think that? Somehow none of these actors were willing to admit that the characters in this drama were quite black and white or just plain confused but not grey!
Confusing timeline, weak direction, bad editing
Haseeb Hassan, the director of the play said in Jago Pakistan Jago’s special show which was dedicated to Mann Mayal that this drama was edited by the best man in the business yet Mannu’s parent’s concerns are shown when they are least expected, the mention of Mikael like Mannu just got married to him, no reaction from them when it was needed the most (when Mannu left for Karachi without informing) prove that either some very important scenes were never shot or were chopped down during editing.
Also, the director Haseeb Hassan has failed to keep all the primary characters of the story in the loop even when they were needed the most. The disappearance of Mannu’s parents after her marriage in particular was a glaring flaw.
When Mannu got married the timeline was terribly confusing, there were times when the viewers felt that she was married only for a few days and then there were times when it felt like she was married for years!
Weak characters and an even weaker plot
Mannu turned from a go-getter into a weakling the second she got married. Every time she needed help she turned to Salahuddin and never her parents who were always very supportive and loving. Even after so many years when Mannu was thrown out of her house, she once again turned to Jamil and ended up being spotted by superman Salahuddin!
Salahuddin was supposed to be an ideal hero but his character has confused the viewers right from day one. Practical Salahuddin turns into a much softer, less practical person who put a ring on a girl’s (woman!) finger just to see her smile! The fact that Salahuddin inherited all that money and was pursuing Mannu only after getting rich gives all the wrong messages – Is it because he has plenty of time on his hands, if he had to work hard to earn all this money he would have had a life and he would be too busy feeling inferior.
And let’s not forget there are times when Jamil’s problem solving capabilities are much more impressive than that of Salahuddin!
Jeena’s character lacks depth, it is a forced character which hasn’t added anything to the story so far. In the end Jeena might turn into an anti-hero or might bring Salahuddin and Mannu together but so far she is just plain annoying.
Mikael seemed like a very ‘normal’ person before he got married. Someone like him who couldn’t care less what people think about him somehow managed to put up an act, for what? The second he got married he turned into the ultimate villain. Mikael is all black – there is nothing good about his character at all. Mikael’s character is a one-dimensional character which does not have much to offer except of course making the heroine miserable so that Salahuddin has reason to continue stalking her.
The basic plot of the story is the same as many other dramas, therefore the storyline has nothing new to offer.
I know many of our regular readers watch this drama but get frustrated and agitated by all the loopholes in the story and so much more. Would love to hear from all of you!
Fatima Awan