Ohkay so, even though I had mixed feelings while watching the episode but the first & the last scene of this episode saved this entire drama for me. The last scene of this episode, rather drama put the emphasis on the bigger purpose that the writer had in his mind while he was writing this story that the love of Creator is everything one can wish for & one should strive for. It won’t be a lie if I will say that I am a tad bit disappointed with Isaac’s supposed & quick redemption & Hammad’s final decision of not accepting Sarah in his life, but if I see things separately, then they sure make sense, however one thing, rather one character that still didn’t make any sense till date was of Isaac, like he is beyond my comprehension.
Now speaking of the overall season where the drama-makers promised to show us the complete story, I still am not entirely happy with the way things progressed after the 16th episode. 16 out of 23 episodes, which makes 70% of the drama were dedicated to the first half of the novel, which didn’t leave any room for complaints because it was executed so brilliantly. However, if I speak about the remaining 7 episodes, I am clear about it that I don’t feel the same way about the second half like I did about the first half. They put so much of effort & hard work in the first 16 episodes, so if we see it that way, they only had to work a little harder for only 7 episodes more but not sure what went wrong there because the drama completely lost its charm in these last 7 episodes. The way things were executed in the second half, it suggested as if an entirely different team took over because nothing absolutely nothing matched the level of the first half of the drama. Also, if we see it that way, the team of Khuda Aur Mohabbat should’ve worked extra hard to convey the remaining story because the viewers had already seen the first half in the season which aired in 2011 so this time around, everyone was actually far more interested to see the remaining story but when they came to this part, they treated it like an after-thought which I believe was a wrong approach!
I completely understand that the writer had a bigger picture in mind & he was emphasizing on the love of the Creator but then again, seeing how they made whopping changes in the second half of the story where they changed the characters & the essence, I am left with a feeling that they could have brought Hammad & Sarah together too. I say this not because I am someone who always wants a happy ending, but I am saying this because it would’ve made so much of sense seeing how Hammad & Sarah shared the same ideology & were now at the same page in their lives where they both understood what the love of Allah is, so I think this message would’ve also resonated with so many viewers that two people, who struggled so much because of their religion & their identity were now at a position where their perspectives changed in such a way that they both could complement each other. Imaan never wanted Hammad to sacrifice his entire life for the sake of her love. So, if not completely in love with Sarah, out of sheer respect & for the sake of companionship, Hammad could have accepted Sarah’s love because even she knew that she would never be able to overcome Imaan’s love that Hammad had, but at least, she was ready to accept Hammad with his past that too with a lot of respect. I totally feel if the drama-makers had stayed true to the novel a 100%, then I would have never ever expected them to make these changes too but since they look the second half of the novel so lightly & didn’t really do justice to it, I totally believe that these changes could’ve been made as well!
Coming to this episode, it was all that I dreaded it to be, yes, it was dedicated to Isaac mostly where he was in search of his daughter who left his home because she was tired of his tyranny. Sarah made up her mind & she knew that she had to take a stand for her rights because now she was at such a stage in her life that she knew what the truth was & she detested all the lies that her father fed to her. Isaac was forced to step into the Masjid because he was pushed to that limit, but still he didn’t choose to change. I thought may be this will serve as an eye-opener to him but nothing of that sort happened. I am not too sure why every single time Hammad compared Isaac to Molvi Aleemuddin, not in the beginning but at least in this episode since he made up his mind that he wasn’t going to accept Sarah’s feelings, so to see him use the word ‘Mohabbat’ for this aspect didn’t really seem convincing & necessary. Yes, Hammad did have a valid point that it is not The Creator but the fake standards set by the society that makes the entire ‘Mohabbat’ difficult but then, this wasn’t the case of love that he was dealing with in comparison to the one he dealt with in the past.
Molvi Aleemuddin at least accepted Hammad’s feelings & regretted being so staunch but Isaac on the other hand stood by his decision that he was never going to accept Hammad, without even giving Hammad a chance to explain that he in the first place had no intention of bringing Sarah into his life. I am not too sure if Isaac redeemed himself because he just cried a bucket for the sake of his daughter but now that his daughter was back, he’d get on with his life & will get back to being his old unreasonable self. I am not sure that his one-liner in the end in Hammad’s praise was enough after series of negativity, bag checking, FBI trolling or his constant attempts of throwing Hammad out of the university. I really think if this is the ending that they had to meet in regards to Isaac’s character, then I am not sure if he deserved the coverage that he got all this while.
So, Sarah grasped all that she learnt from Hammad in such a short span of time. It was good to see that she took Hammad & Imaan’s personalities & their journey as an inspiration to get closer to The Almighty, because even in real life, you never know what it might take for someone to come to the right path. The thing that I’d definitely appreciate would be how they showed that even in such tough circumstances, Hammad never succumbed to the pressures & compromised on his demeanor because this is exactly what attracted Sarah towards him & then the religion that she believed taught him all of that. Hammad & Sarah’s last meeting was so beautiful & heart-breaking at the same time. Sarah still had some hope despite knowing Hammad’s answer but she never once put pressure on him & in stead only grew more respectful towards him. I think for me the best thing in these last 7 episodes would be Hammad & Sarah’s relationship, it was brilliantly executed & was the saving grace of the second half of the drama.
Now that the drama has ended, I think I will only take the first 16 episodes & then Hammad & Sarah’s friendship with me. I still feel the team lost the drive & the motivation they had when they were shooting the entire phase of the story which was set in Pakistan because when they came to the USA, it looked like they all turned their vacation mode on & didn’t really bother about the quality of the drama. I seriously feel if they had to give this treatment to the ending bits of the novel, they shouldn’t have promised the ‘complete story’ or they shouldn’t have made the first half just so perfect because they skyrocketed our hopes & when we entered the second phase of Hammad’s life, it just didn’t live up to the expectations because neither the situations, nor the characters were convincing. Honestly speaking, I feel quite cheated that they chose to tweak with the actual story because I feel it would’ve made so much more impact if they hadn’t made those changes because no matter what one says, I am not ever going to accept a Muslim Islamophobe that they showed in the form Isaac. Yes, I do accept the fact that Muslims can be judgmental & quite a a lot at that but to show a Muslim man just so petty that he would check the bag of a Muslim student just doesn’t make sense at all.
I wish in the second half of the drama, they had shown Hammad’s personality in a more detailed manner because one thing that I heard him say time & again was that it was because of him that people around him like Kamran, Behzaad & now Sarah were facing difficulties. They did show that Hammad was closer to The Almighty but then it would’ve made more sense if they hadn’t shown Hammad complaining about these trials because those who are firm on their faith accept everything as a test from Allah & never blame their luck for what people associated with them must be going through. Even in this episode, Hammad repeated the same thing when he was discussing about Sarah leaving her home. I think if he had only this much of confidence in himself, then Hammad shouldn’t have ever taken the responsibility of getting Sarah familiar with the actual message of Islam.
Anyways, now that the drama is over, I am reminded of the beauty that the first half offered, all the actors, characters & all the beautiful situations that made us connect to this drama on a whole new level. The actors who portrayed the characters of Imaan, Ghafoor, Shakir, Nighat, Haya, Najma, Siddique, Traveler, Abdullah & Kheru really elevated the level of the drama & each one of them contributed in the success of the drama. Rambo was phenomenal as Ghafoor. The actor who played the role of Shakir & Najma brought a lot of warmth in their scenes. The actor who played the role of a Traveler was another beautiful addition to the drama because even though his contribution was limited to a couple of conversations but those conversations changed the course of Hammad’s life. In the second half, the only characters that worked were of Behzaad Lucknowi & Sarah. Humayun Ashraf as Abdullah was quite convincing. The actor playing the role of Kamran did a decent job as Hammad’s best friend, who uplifted his mood when he was down & traveled all the way to Pakistan to bring his friend out of his misery. Hammad’s younger brother Ebaad had a little but decent contribution in the story as well. Firdous Jamal as Molvi Aleemuddin was so convincing that he actually made us detest that character. The eyesores in this drama were Isaac, Rebecca & Zeeshan & unfortunately, not only the characters but the actors were absolutely annoying.
Now coming to the stars of the show, Sadia Khan, Imran Abbas, Kubra Khan & Rambo, what phenomenal performances. Even though I have spoken about Rambo’s performance already but if I speak about the actors & the characters that are my favorites in this drama, Rambo/Ghafoor’s name definitely is in that list. Now coming to the rest of them, Sadia Khan surely improved & brought more charm in Imaan’s character this time around, she had so much of grace & elegance with which she portrayed Imaan’s character & that is why she made us fall in love with Imaan. Kubra Khan was phenomenal as Sarah, because she did the best she could in the circumstances where the rest of the scenarios were faltering. Kubra Khan is a find of our industry & that is why in such a short span of time, she has garnered so much of popularity. Imran Abbas; the man of the show definitely! It is because of Imran Abbas that I am sure a lot of people continued to watch this drama right till the last episode because other than that, after the 16th episode, this drama didn’t have much to offer. Imran Abbas was the perfect choice as Hammad in the previous version of Khuda Aur Mohabbat & in this one too because I firmly believe that there was no other actor who could’ve done justice to Hammad’s character the way Imran Abbas has done, where he made us cry & made our hearts ache with the pain that Hammad went through. My overall mixed feelings apart but yes, the team members deserve a lot of praises & appreciation for the hard work that they put in, especially in the making of the first half of the drama.
I want to thank all those awesome readers who stayed with me throughout this journey, appreciated the reviews & shared their agreements & disagreements in the most civilized manner. Thank you guys once again. Also, special thanks to Imran Abbas who in the initial stages of the drama personally responded to the feedback & the concerns that I would mention in my reviews. Thank you once again. Please share your thoughts about the last episode & the entire journey of Khuda Aur Mohabbat.
Keep Supporting,
Cheers,
Zahra Mirza.
