Ohkay so, I’ll be completely honest with you guys, I enjoyed the first half of this episode a lot which revolved around the transition that Hammad was making & the closure he gave to all his relations before moving to USA, but for first time ever, while watching the second half of episode, I couldn’t wait for it to end because I found quite a lot of characters, situations & scenarios a bit too unconvincing & unnecessary. Please, make no mistake, I am still a fan of this drama, still a fan of Hammad’s character, still have a lot of faith in the overall message that this story is going to convey but I really hope that they make us fall in love with the second half of the story & the characters just as effortlessly as they made us fall in love with the first half of the story & those characters. I am glad I found 1 such character in the new lot which I’d be looking forward to but the rest were meh!
Seeing Hammad finally agreeing to go to USA was good but his final meeting with every single person who mattered to him the most was quite an emotional sight. It was quite hard for Hammad to leave everything, especially when it was a reminiscent of Imaan every step of the way but he finally understood how important it was for him to get back to normal because this is what Imaan expected him to do & this is something that his family wanted as well. It was evident that Hammad decided to move forward in his life because this is the promise that he made to Imaan, also his traveler friend put things into perspective & made him look at the bigger picture, which made Hammad realize that his love no where demanded him to forsake everything or not be normal & now that he has already proved his love, he has achieved everything!
I loved watching how warmly Hammad was greeted by everyone, especially Ghafoor & Abdullah. It was quite emotional seeing Ghafoor telling Hammad not to forget him because he shared such a beautiful bond with him & the amount of respect Ghafoor had for Hammad was something special. Molvi Aleem seemed quite apologetic but still, no ounce of sympathy for him! I will say, I was actually looking forward to Hammad’s final meeting with Najma & Siddique Sahab but I think they made the biggest mistake by not including that scene because Najma & Hammad have shared some very deep & meaningful conversation in the previous episodes, also the way Najma always encouraged Hammad & showed him the light at the end of the tunnel was absolutely beautiful, so to see Najma missing in such an important part was disheartening. It might’ve been that the actress playing the role of Najma wasn’t available for shooting those scenes, otherwise there’s no justification to why her character wasn’t given coverage in such an important time when Hammad was ready to finally move on & when Hammad needed her encouragement & motivation the most. I was actually looking forward to another meaningful conversation but, sigh!
So, Hammad finally came to the USA & decided to get back to normal by enrolling in the university & pursuing his education but the things that happened one after another made me lose interest in this episode pretty quickly. Let me talk about the good thing first because there’s only one & that was the introduction of a new character who became Hammad’s friend in just a single meeting, yes, I am talking about the Muad’dhin (sorry I missed his name), it was nice seeing how effortlessly he & Hammad related to each other & once again, that guy ended up being someone who motivated Hammad to come to the Masjid, even though Hammad on his own was holding onto his habit of praying that he instilled in himself back in Pakistan.
Now let’s talk about all the bad things, firstly, Sir Isaac’s character, like seriously, if they had introduced him as a random stranger then his judgmental attitude would’ve seemed justified because Muslims usually get judged a lot, but to see a Professor & a dean of the university filled with students from all over the world, belonging to all sort of ethnicity, religions, cultures, races – being so judgmental that he decided to conduct another personal interview of Hammad was quite unconvincing. Hammad’s replies were the only apt part of that entire scene but then again, I wonder how many students were questioned by Sir Isaac because they were Muslims? Yes, I do get it, they are still focusing on the fact that everywhere Hammad goes, he attracts people good & in this case bad, but then again, if they wanted to show that, they could’ve done it a little effortlessly because everything seemed a little too forced. Also, Sir Isaac’s call to his PA telling him to keep an eye on Hammad was actually quite funny, also I am still not sure why was he being bothered about the fact that Hammad was a practicing Muslim? Like seriously!?!?! I am sure they will show us a change in the perspective of all the Hammad haters as the story will progress but at this stage, I found it a little too funny & unconvincing!
Second bad thing, Zeeshan, like seriously? Just because Sara had a misunderstanding he had to take the matters in his hands & beat Hammad up? I don’t know why Hashim Nadeem loves getting his male characters beaten up by goons in his dramas, like this entire scenario of seeing Hammad with a bandage around his head was such a reminiscent of Dhaani because in the second half of the drama, Sameer was bruised & bed ridden the entire time because he was like a punching bag or a stress buster for the villains, lol! I don’t think they needed to rely on such a similar scenario because we all have a lot of sympathies for Hammad already, he is such an amazing character & he is not weak like Sameer that these things are needed to stir emotions for Hammad that is why this entire scene seemed unnecessary where Zeeshan beat Hammad just because he was furious. I won’t say I have formed an opinion about Sara because she is like this for a reason & that is pretty understandable because as the story will progress, she will eventually fall for Hammad because of his niceness so I’d rather wait to see that side of hers before saying much about this ignorant side which is being shown right now!
I found a little too many editing issues in this episode, like Rebecca was excited that Hammad was going to the USA with Kami & her & she also confirmed that she had completed Hammad’s registration process at the university & later, she was shown receiving both Hammad & Kamran at the airport & then Kamran asked her about Hammad’s registration as if she never left USA & was there taking care of Hammad’s admission & stuff while still being there when Hammad & Kami were travelling? Another mistake was that Hammad was in white jumper & Rebecca in orange shirt when Rebecca tells him that he has to go for another interview, next thing we know, Hammad was in a checkered shirt during his interview scene, later again as suggested it being the same day, Hammad informs Rebecca that he cleared the interview & he is was once again wearing that white jumper & Rebecca was in orange shirt. Also, I am not too sure why Zeeshan called Hammad ‘molvi’ & told Isaac that he is known for bothering girls, whereas it has been suggested that this is the new university that Hammad is attending & considering his admission was still in process so probably he was there for a couple of days, so how come Zeeshan had a knowledge about Hammad & his activities or his behavior? I really hope, I really really hope this drama doesn’t go down Dhaani’s lane because it was quite interesting in the first half too but just because they had to stretch it till the 30th episode, they butchered the entire thing, but yes, I do have faith in Khuda Aur Mohabbat because there’s a lot left to be revealed & Sara/Hammad’s track has yet to begin, so I am definitely hoping for the best!
Overall, the first half of this episode was interesting because it included the set of characters which we have formed a connection with so far, but the second half wasn’t my favorite as the new characters, apart from Hammad’s neighbor’s, weren’t amazing. While watching this episode, I had a feeling that just to keep things spiced up, they are introducing a couple of new villains which would be Zeeshan & Sir Isaac, also it was justified by reminding us of what the traveler uncle said ‘mohabbat mai aur bohat imtehaan ayeinge’, but again, abhi Hammad ki mohabbat kisi aur se shuru hi nahi hui so wo imtehaan wahin pe ruk jana chahiye tha but let’s see. I am interested in Kubra Khan’s character only at this moment. Also, another reminiscent of Dhaani was seeing Rebecca being overly concerned for Hammad which did showcase her feelings for him, she played the same role in Dhaani as well where she was in love with the hero only to get ditched in the end because he fell in love with someone else, so I am getting the same vibes too, I really wish they had kept her strictly as Hammad’s friend because that would’ve been refreshing & better. Obviously, needless to say, Imran Abbas made me teary eyed in the scene where Hammad visits Imaan’s grave for the last time & bids farewell to her for the time being with a very sweet promise that she is going to be with him & his soul is going to be with hers, sigh, absolutely beautifullll! Let’s hope the next episode is just as amazing as all the previous episodes have been! Please share your thoughts about this episode of Khuda Aur Mohabbat.
Keep Supporting,
Cheers,
Zahra Mirza.
ps: I have noticed that every time I share an opinion, those who have read the novel start justifying what is being shown by telling me about the future happenings in the novel saying that everything is going to be explained later, but please try to understand that I am not a novel reader, I am a drama viewer, so I am going to form an opinion about what is being shown at the moment because yes, I knew what the first half of the story was about but when it comes to the second half, I am oblivious & I have no idea. So, I do feel a lot of those guys who have read the novel might find my objections that came along with this episode uncalled for & will try to reason with me but seriously, this is my opinion, based on what I watched in this episode & I am going to take things as they come because I have not read the novel & I don’t want to find out about everything beforehand, so I hope you guys understand & leave the arguing for some other day, thanks! ;)
